KI-BI

LYM ART × Katya Rabinovich × Evgeny Toma

Since ancient times, humans have sought to connect with what lies beyond them: light, knowledge, presence, the invisible. For this act of reaching out they use a thoroughly material object — the hand.

Reflecting the nature of human inner conflict, the mechanical hand wavers between two ways of engaging with light: the desire to accept it and the urge to take possession of it.

The mechanical hand and the light travel from cautious exploration to conflict in search of a new form of contact.

The KI-BI installation unfolds a cycle of interaction between two forces: from first appearance and attempts to draw closer to collision, reconciliation and a return to the beginning.

1. Appearance
2. Contact
3. Play
4. Conflict
5. Connection
6. Silence after the conflict
7. Return

Mechanical hand — servo drives
KUKA KR240 industrial robot
Drawing lasers
Laser bars
Spotlights

At the heart of the work is a two-metre mechanical hand weighing 50 kg, mounted on a KUKA KR-240 industrial robot. The machine becomes a new instrument of gesture, carrying on the search for contact with something that has no physical body.

A barely perceptible gesture of the hand crosses the edge of the wall of light and slowly explores the space.

At this stage the hand is not yet read as a clear-cut character.

Side boundaries of light gradually emerge, forming something like a room around the hand. The light begins to respond to the hand’s presence, and the hand to the light.

The long, slow development of the scene, in which a physical object shapes the boundaries of light, induces a state of watching and hypnosis.

Precise synchronisation of the hand’s movements with the light triggers creates the illusion of a living interaction: the hand stretches the beams and pushes the boundaries of the space apart, while the light now follows it, now seems to slip away from its touch.

From this moment the bond between object and light reaches a new level — their dialogue becomes full and mutual.

A pulse focused in the centre of the palm breaks the measured rhythm: the light stops obeying and bursts into spontaneous flashes. Calm exploration gives way to a feverish attempt to keep control. The abrupt shifts of phase and the chaos of the hand’s lunges hold the central question — does the machine subdue the light, or does it become its hostage?

In the end the hand breaks free of the space of light.

The light disappears, leaving the mechanical hand alone in the dark. Deprived of its centre of meaning, it gropes at the space around it and reaches blindly for rare, elusive flashes — trying to regain the one thing that gave it life.

Light gradually begins to fill the whole space.

Now it becomes part of an environment in which the hand is at peace.

Little by little the beams extend beyond the installation and spread across the entire hall, letting visitors experience interaction with light first-hand.

The boundary between object, light and viewer dissolves.

Beyond the main dramaturgy, the installation also has an interactive mode: through a computer vision system, a visitor passes their own gesture to the mechanical hand with minimal latency.

Original idea, Multimedia Artist: Katya Rabinovich
Multimedia Artist, Lighting Artist at LYM and the holyprism collective: Evgeny Toma
Sound Artist, Sound Design: Ivan Shvedov
Concept Artist: Tatyana Pisarevich
Executive Producer: Evgeny Timashchuk
Project Manager: Valentina Yakunina
Technical Producer: Sergey Kalinnikov
Robotics Engineer: Alan Yarullin
Creative Developer, R&D Engineer: Alexey Oleshchenko
Lighting Artist: Daniil Grebenshchikov
Technical Manager: Andrey Belozerov

Original idea, Multimedia Artist
Katya Rabinovich
Multimedia Artist, Lighting Artist at LYM and the holyprism collective
Evgeny Toma
Sound Artist, Sound Design
Ivan Shvedov
Concept Artist
Tatyana Pisarevich
Executive Producer
Evgeny Timashchuk
Project Manager
Valentina Yakunina
Technical Producer
Sergey Kalinnikov
Robotics Engineer
Alan Yarullin
Creative Developer, R&D Engineer
Alexey Oleshchenko
Lighting Artist
Daniil Grebenshchikov
Technical Manager
Andrey Belozerov

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