Automarionette

Diller + ScofidioWW-1982-114620

1982·Ink on sepia Mylar·61 × 30.5 cm (24 × 12 in.)

Founded by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, Diller + Scofidio (now Diller Scofidio + Renfro), is a practice known for exploring the experimental and performative aspects of architecture and technology. This early drawing documents their interest in manipulations of the human body, depicting their design for a suspended apparatus or prosthetic that controls the position of the body with a counterweight system. A modified version of Automarionette was produced as part of a set design for the performance piece The Rotary Notary and His Hot Plate (A Delay in Glass), inspired by artist Marcel Duchamp's work The Large Glass. This performance was created with an experimental theater company for the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Duchamp Centennial in 1987. Although documenting a highly conceptual project, the lush sepia tones and fine rendering technique used in this drawing recalls the red chalk sketches created by early modern European artists as preparatory studies for paintings.

Catalogue

Year: 1982
Medium: Ink on sepia Mylar
Dimensions: 61 × 30.5 cm (24 × 12 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Diller + Scofidio

Artist

Diller + Scofidio

Drawing

Diller + Scofidio is an American architectural and design practice founded in 1981, known for integrating performance, video, and interactive media into built and spatial environments. Their work combines rigorous formal experimentation with conceptual frameworks drawn from dance, cinema, and technology. Projects range from temporary installations and museum exhibitions to permanent architectural commissions that challenge conventional distinctions between architecture, art, and theater. The practice has collaborated with major institutions including the Guggenheim Museum and Lincoln Center. Their approach characterizes architecture as a performative medium capable of engaging bodily experience and temporal unfolding.

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