Edward Ihnatowicz

Cybernetic Sculptor active in the late 1960's and early 1970's. His ground-breaking sculptures explored the interaction between his robotic works and the audience, and reached their height with The Senster, a large (15 feet long), hydraulic robot commissioned by the electronics giant, Philips, for their permanent showplace, the Evoluon, in Eindhoven in 1970. The sculpture used sound and movement sensors to react to the behaviour of the visitors. It was one of the first computer controlled interactive robotic works of art.

1926 Born in Poland. 1939 to 1943 War refugee in Romania and Algiers. 1943 Arrived in Britain. 1945 to 1949 Attended the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford. Created bespoke furniture and interior decoration. 1962 Left home to try to find his artistic roots. Lived in an unconverted garage. Experimented with life sculpture and portraiture and sculpture made of scrap cars. 1968 Created SAM. 1969 - 1971 Created The Senster. 1971-1986 Worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College, London. 1973 Created The Bandit. Oct 1988 Died of a myocardial infarction (heart attack).

Articles

• Edward Ihnatowicz, "Towards a Thinking Machine", 1975 [1]
• more: [2]

http://www.senster.com/ihnatowicz/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Ihnatowicz