Baroque Automaton, April 2018

This image is an imaginary re-creation of a Baroque-era "automaton", a term once used to describe a "mechanical-man" (or in this case, a mechanical-woman). Automatons were essentially puppets or proto-robots, powered by wind-up, clockwork-like mechanisms.  These complex productions of engineering and design were handmade by highly skilled craftspeople, and were considered valuable treasures, much sought after for display in the collections of curiousities which fashionable nobles and wealthy merchants curated to delight their peers.
I conceived of this automaton as being in the collection of a Spanish nobleman, circa 1600. Constructed from plates of silver which were looted from Mexico, this mechanical-elf would dance and sing when its' internal mechanism was wound and then released.  This 'renaissance-robot' would sing Andalusian and Catalonian folk songs, while dancing a rudimentary and primitive version of the dance now termed "flamenco." The halls of the royal palace echoed with the startled voices of the assembled audience, the pounding of the automaton's heavy metal boots, and the eerie hollow voice as she sang her sad songs.
This photograph is made entirely from a single source image which has been repeated over and over, at different sizes. The source image, which can also be seen here, is a photograph of a piece of metal which was found lying in the middle of a residential street in Chicago. That sad bit of 21st century detritus has here been elevated into an example of 15th century high-technology.