''Metrobot'' is an electronic

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

sculpture designed by

Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a South Korean artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super highway" ...

. At the time of its unveiling in 1988, it was Paik's first outdoor sculpture and his largest. Since 2014, it has stood in front of the

Contemporary Arts Center The Contemporary Arts Center (abbreviated CAC) is a contemporary art museum in Cincinnati, Ohio and one of the first contemporary art institutions in the United States. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in pain ...

(CAC) on Walnut Street in downtown

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Ohio, United States.

Description

The , gold-painted aluminum sculpture resembles a boxy

humanoid robot A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments and working alongside humans, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipeda ...

. Its whimsical facial expression and heart are made of neon tubing behind clear plastic covers. On its outstretched left arm, an

LED display A LED display is a flat panel display that uses an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as pixels for a video display. Their brightness allows them to be used outdoors where they are visible in the sun for store signs and billboards. I ...

features rotating messages, including the time and temperature. On its stomach, another large display features videos in full color. Three smaller LED monitors are located in its right calf. In ''Metrobot'''s original configuration, the video screens displayed videos that Paik created specially for the sculpture. A

payphone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone or pay telephone or public phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic public areas. Prepayment is required by inserting coins or tel ...

is built into the left calf. ''Metrobot'''s functional components, including the clock and payphone, are a commentary on people's preference for experiencing the world through technology and electronic media rather than physically. Paik has authorized ''Metrobot'''s owner, the CAC, to upgrade and replace ''Metrobot'''s technology without the risk of invalidating its

certificate of authenticity A certificate of authenticity (COA) is a seal or small sticker on a proprietary computer program, t-shirt, jersey, or any other memorabilia or art work, especially in the world of computers and sports. It is commonly a seal on paper authenticati ...

History

In 1970, the CAC moved into the second floor of the

Formica Building The Formica Building (also known as the Mercantile Center) is a Mixed-use development, mixed-use building in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. History The building opened in 1970 and was designed by Chicago architect Harry Weese, perhaps best kno ...

(Mercantile Center) on Fifth Street. Despite the highly visible location across from the Government Square bus station, the CAC was embarrassed about being located above a

Walgreens Walgreens is an American pharmacy store chain. It is the second largest in the United States, behind CVS Pharmacy. As of March 2025, the company operated more than 8,700 stores in the U.S. Walgreens has been the subject of a number of lawsuit ...

pharmacy and sought to dramatize the building entrance. In 1988, Albert Vontz Jr., a CAC board member and owner of the Cincinnati-based beer and wine wholesaler Heidelberg Distributing, agreed to commission the entrance piece for $175,000 and donate it to the CAC to commemorate its 50th anniversary and the city's bicentennial. At the suggestion of gallerist Carl Solway, CAC director Jack Boulton selected Paik, who was known for fashioning robot sculptures out of television sets. Designer Thomas Strohmaier of Broadway Sign Company partnered with Paik to fabricate the sculpture. ''Metrobot'' was unveiled on October 27, 1988, at a ceremony with balloons, robot cookies, and the

Lockland High School Lockland High School is a public high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upp ...

marching band. Mayor

Charlie Luken Charles John Luken (born July 18, 1951) is an American politician of the Democratic party who was mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, and served in the Ohio's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Luken, who is divorced ...

gave Paik a key to the city and declared the day "Robot Day". In 1990, Vontz received a Greater Cincinnati Beautiful award for bringing ''Metrobot'' to downtown Cincinnati. In 1996, the

Save Outdoor Sculpture! Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. History Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Heri ...

project noted some signs of deterioration. ''Metrobot'' had become a target for graffiti, the caulking between its feet and the concrete platform needed repair, and two of its video monitors had stopped working. By 2001, the neon face and heart had also gone dark. In 2003, the CAC moved to a new,

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-born British architect, artist, and designer. She is recognised as a key figure in the architecture of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Born ...

–designed building on Walnut Street. When the CAC's lease on the sidewalk expired in June 2009, ''Metrobot'' was disassembled and placed in storage. A

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page advocated for the sculpture's return. In 2013, the CAC decided to reinstall ''Metrobot'' outside its Walnut Street location to celebrate the center's 75th anniversary. Beforehand, it underwent a restoration that replaced the left arm's

flip-disc display The flip-disc display (or flip-dot display) is an electromechanical dot matrix display technology used for large outdoor signs, normally those that will be exposed to direct sunlight. Flip-disc technology has been used for external destination ...

with an LED display, the stomach's backlit screen with a full-color video message board, and the three

cathode-ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms on an oscilloscope, a ...

s in the right calf with LED monitors for improved energy efficiency. The

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

input mechanism was replaced by remote control from within the CAC building. The neon lights and payphone were replaced. Strohmaier, now with Klusty Sign Associates, oversaw the restoration by Tri-State Fabricators. The $140,000 project was funded by Albert Vontz III and the Ralph V. Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation. The restored sculpture was installed on August 29, 2014, and switched on for the first time on September 10, with a dance party and performance by

MK Guth MK Guth (born 1963) is an installation artist from Portland, Oregon, United States, whose work engages ritual and site of social interaction. She has exhibited nationally and internationally at museums, galleries, and festivals including the Whitne ...

. The city declared the day "Metrobot Day" in honor of the debut. Around 2017, a three-dimensional stikman was found affixed to ''Metrobot''.

Operation

Prior to the 2014 upgrade, the electronic message board on ''Metrobot'''s left arm could be programmed to scroll through 99 arbitrary messages up to 400 times per day. In 1990, the CAC began renting out the message board to the public, charging $10 for a non-commercial message up to 15 words in length. At one point, the payphone in the left calf was the most heavily used payphone in the city and a revenue generator for the CAC. It resumed placing calls upon the sculpture's reinstallation in 2014, charging 10 cents per call. However, it was out of service by 2018.

Engineering

The structure can withstand ambient temperatures ranging from and winds of more than . A door on the left side of the torso provides service access to the electronic components.

References

External links

* {{Nam June Paik 1988 sculptures 1988 establishments in Ohio Aluminum sculptures in Ohio Outdoor sculptures in Cincinnati Works by Nam June Paik Video art