Last night was the opening event of Roböxotica Festival in Vienna, Austria. Roböxotica is a celebration of the underappreciated art of cocktail robotics. Held annually for the last 12 years, the festival includes an exhibition of robots, gadgets, gizmos, installations and heavy machinery built with to get people drunk. There are also talks and performances, presentations and symposiums as well as a published wrap-up and a closing event in which awards are presented in categories such as “Best use of fire.”
Co-organized by monochrom and shifz, it’s traditionally been held at Vienna’s prestigious Musieumsquartier but due to increased attendance was moved to Mo.ë, a larger venue / warehouse space that is rumored to have at one time been a factory that produced medals of honor for the Nazis. At last night’s opening there were over 1000 attendees packed in, making it the largest Roböxotica ever.
I didn’t get as many opening night photos as I’d hoped since weather and delayed flights conspired to make me the sole operator of CRASH Space’s entry, “The Exciterator” which is a frightful intermingling of three ancient, outdated and basically fraudulent technologies (a 1940’s weightloss ass shaker, a 1960’s Relaxicizer home shock treatment unit, and a 1970’s door to door salesman’s oil filter kit) which have taken on new life making the crappiest Gin & Tonic’s known to man. But I did get a few shots, which follow. Roböxotica runs through Sunday, December 5th. If you happen to find yourself near Vienna, it’s well worth a visit.
Here’s The Exciterator in all its functioning glory:
(
More images below, one of which is NSFW.)
The Wodka Closet (vodka toilet), which is a toilet that serves Vodka you drink with a plunger:
A 12 inch pianist:
A fully automated Mojito machine:
Cock. An installation that dispenses alcohol via it’s.. well… yeah:
Someone who insisted on wearing The Exciterator on her head. I suspect she might have been drunk.