I.C.U. (Intensive Care Unit) is a robotic installation staging bedridden, sick, and suffering machines that react to the presence of viewers in a disjointed medical allegory where the mechanical creatures and their life support system start to move with pain and struggle, stretch, curl up, dislocate and resume form. This piece was conceived around the more general themes of an “ontology of the machine” and the “aesthetics of artificial behaviors” in a perspective based on the visual aspect of the machines and the programming of their reactions. Through the metaphor of an intensive care unit, this installation suggests alienation (an estrangement of reality) by an artistic appropriation of robotics and automation technologies. The strength of the simulacrum is emphasized by the inevitable instinct of anthropomorphism and projection of our internal sensations, a reflex triggered by any responsive phenomenon that challenges our senses.

​This project is produced with the help of the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec (CALQ).

— Source: Elektra's website