Dirk is a life-size humanoid robot/automat who looks like a vagabond and walks behind a shopping trolley. His legs are driven by a (partly visible) mechanism located in the shopping trolley. The legs move in a natural way and with enough strength to make the robot walk as well as a human (and move the trolley).

The performance is purely a street show as this is the natural habitat of a vagabond. Dirk strolls through the streets pushing his rattling shopping trolley. Sometimes he pauses his journey to play a little tune on his organ and hold out his hand to collect some coins from the crowd around him. People have instinctive repulsion from homeless people but in this case there also is a strange attraction. This dilemma creates tension excitement and heated discussions among the audience. It is both confronting and amusing for the audience when they realize they have mistaken a robot for a human being. It’s an experience no one in the audience had ever encountered before (until now).

The inventor Fred Abels’ main goal is to create a robot that on first encounter would be indistinguishable from a human being. With the help of puppeteer Mirjam Langemeijer he has achieved and surpassed this goal. Dirk took his first steps in 2004. Finishing the Dirk project has taken several years. Fred and Mirjam are still developing Dirk to have more interesting interaction with the audience. Now in progress: during the performances Dirk is operated by a (hidden) remote control. The artists are now working on programmed functions and sensors to give Dirk a more autonomous life. Maybe one day he will stand on his own two feet, as a free robot vagabond, wandering through the streets.

Links: www.electric-circus.eu

Fred Abels (NL) is an artist and inventor specializing in kinetic art. He has worked for the Kröller Müller Museum in the Netherlands, as a restorer for kinetic sculptures and as an assistant to the artists Dennis Oppenheim and Jim Whiting. His projects have been shown in galleries, exhibitions, dance parties and festivals worldwide. With his companion Mirjam Langemeijer he creates unusual street theatre with robots, playing all over the world.

Mirjam Langemeijer (NL) is a puppeteer and a maker of visual theatre. She has immersed herself in visual storytelling with her enchanting puppets and unusual objects. Mirjam has experimented extensively with the art of puppet theatre, in particular with street shows. Since 2004 she has been working with the artist/inventor Fred Abels. Together they pioneer new approaches to puppetry using several techniques such as animatronics.