I’m not a robot

The exhibition traces a cultural and technological history of robots from early mechanical fantasies to today’s learning machines, situating Gramazio Kohler’s experimental robot‑fabricated architecture and Ai‑Da’s humanoid‑designed lunar and Martian housing within a wider field of digitally designed fashion, films, design objects and artefacts. It presents robots not only as tools but as co‑creators and “mirrors of our time,” opening up critical questions about how AI and robotics are reshaping creativity, labour and what it means to be human in future built environments.​

Building on this, Ai‑Da’s Space Pod and iStudio projects imagine a studio‑home that exists both virtually and as a speculative habitat for humans and humanoids on the Moon, Mars and Earth, designed to support the UN’s AI for Good initiative by exploring how shared living might foster positive collaboration between people and intelligent machines. In an interview on the occasion of this exhibition, Ai‑Da describes architecture as the place where “relationships become lived experiences,” using AI algorithms, robotic drawing and new materials to design modular units for lunar lava tubes that are both practically protective and emotionally evocative, echoing optimistic mid‑century visions of the future while questioning how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing the spaces that shape human life.

“Ai-da is confrontational. The very fact that she exists is confrontational. And that’s why she is interesting and worth exhibiting as part of a broader cultural and technological historical framework for Swiss Gramazio Kohler. She is an AI shaker, a conversation starter," states Line Nørskov Davenport, Director of Exhibitions at Utzon Center.

“Ai-Da presents a concept for a shared residential area called Ai-Da: Space Pod - a foreshadowing of a future where AI becomes an integrated part of architecture. With intelligent systems, a building will be able to sense and respond to its occupants, adjusting light, temperature and digital interfaces according to needs and moods. As a humanoid robot, Ai-Da acts as a mirror for this development, demonstrating how technology can also be embodied and interactive,” explains Aidan Meller, creator of Ai-Da and Director of Ai-Da Robot

About Ai-Da

Ai-Da is the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist, inviting us to rethink what life means in a technological, post-human world. She paints using cameras in her eyes, specially developed AI algorithms and her robotic arm. She is also a performance artist, poet, designer and sculptor whose work encourages reflection on the human condition in an era of rapid technological acceleration. Ai-Da was developed in Oxford and built in Cornwall in 2019. Her works have been exhibited at the Design Museum, Tate Modern’s Tate Exchange and the V&A Museum (all in London), Chelsea Factory in New York, the pyramids of Egypt and during the Venice Biennale. She has also delivered a TEDx talk at the University of Oxford and exhibits annually at the UN in Geneva in support of the “AI for Good” initiative. www.ai-darobot.com

About Utzon Center

At Utzon Center, both children and adults can feel, sense and touch architecture.We present a programme of temporary exhibitions, in which you can encounter some of the best architects in the world and the latest architectural trends. We also house a permanent exhibition about Jørn Utzon, the creator of the Sydney Opera House and one of the greatest and most influential architects of the 21st century. Jørn Utzon grew up in Aalborg and the Utzon Center was his final building, which he completed shortly before his death in 2008. As an international centre we collaborate with some of the world’s major cultural institutions: from Denmark’s Louisiana to Italy’s MAXXI and the Sydney Opera House.We also organise workshops, lectures, events, educational activities, guided tours and city walks – and an abundance of other activities.