Displaying Desperation

Can't Help Myself

The artwork 'Can't Help Myself' set up in 2016 by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu a big machine inside of a glass cubicle this robot has one job, to contain a thick, red liquid that surrounds it and slowly crawls away from it (Sun Yuan And Peng Yu | Can’t Help Myself | The Guggenheim Museums And Foundation, z.d.). The robot has sensors and when they detect that the fluid has strayed too far from the arm, it tries to sweep it back into place, splattering and smudging the red everywhere. It's and endless, useless, Sisyphean task but it can't help itself, something desperate about its need to keep sweeping. Slowly its energetic movements became more fatigued until it stopped working, or 'died', after three years (Can’t Help Myself | By Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, z.d.). While it was active it interacted with the visitors of its exhibition, dancing and entertaining between its stressful display of sweeping the blood-like liquid and a lot of people had a strong emotional reaction to this artwork and how it regressed (WidowCranky, 2022). I personally can't help but feel bad for this machine, how its entire 'life' it spend desperately gathering liquid in a glass prison.