Art lovers warned to behave as they get a robot's eye view of new Saatchi Gallery show

Virtual visitors to the Saatchi Gallery will be able to see its new show by guiding a robot fitted with a camera around the building.
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Robert Dex @RobDexES24 October 2020

Art lovers using remote control robots to see a new show have been warned against turning the gallery into a racetrack.

More than 20 machines have been set to work trundling around the new show by artist Philip Colbert at the Saatchi Gallery in Sloane Square.

They have been fitted with cameras that can beam back what they see to virtual visitors controlling them via laptops or smartphones.

The artist, known for his colourful and surreal work often featuring cartoon lobsters, admitted some users might have to be "disconnected" if their robots were driven into other machines or the artworks.

He told the Daily Telegraph: “There is a bit of a risk, which I think is important for art, and for the experience to feel inspiring.

“Ultimately, if people behave badly, they will be disconnected, a bit like getting escorted out in a normal event."

He said that living with the Coronavirus pandemic would make using technology in this way a far more common experience.

The show, called Philip Colbert’s Lobsteropolis, is open from October 28 to December 1.

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