STARS from Red Dwarf and Robot Wars will visit Rugby Art Gallery and Museum for a new exhibition celebrating the ingenious robot sculptures of artist Mark Haig.
Mark Haig brings his Gizmobots to Rugby Art Gallery and Museum later this month for a new exhibition.
Gizmobots, which opens on Saturday June 20, features dozens of Mark’s robot creations, fashioned from found objects, recycled materials, and items picked up from car boot sales and scrap yards.
Mark, a qualified electronics engineer, often reappropriates old electronics to turn his ‘bots’ into functional objects, such as radios and desk lamps.
Each Gizmobot comes complete with a tag explaining his or her personality, likes, dislikes, hobbies and catering requirements.
Mark said: “I used to sit in front of my parents’ electric fire as an eight-year-old child and make robots and spaceships out of cogs, wheels and bits of wood that my Dad brought back from his job as a clock repairer.
“Fast forward through the years and I have continued to use these skills to teach about recycling and reappropriating old electronic equipment, so it doesn’t just end up in landfill.”
The exhibition includes The Shed – an interactive creative space where children and families can design and build Gizmobots from recycled materials.
In addition to the Gizmobots, the exhibition also welcomes Sir Killalot and Matilda – the famous ‘house robots’ from television’s Robot Wars – to Rugby.
To celebrate, the exhibition includes a Robot Warriors arena where visitors can take part in ‘one-on-one’ robot battles.
Each Gizmobot has been fashioned from found objects, recycled materials, and items picked up from car boot sales and scrap yards.
And on Friday July 10, Robert Llewellyn – known as Kryten from classic sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf, and as the presenter of Scrapheap Challenge – will visit Rugby Art Gallery and Museum for Becoming a Robot, a special ‘in conversation’ event hosted by BBC Countryfile presenter Tom Heap.
Rugby Art Gallery and Museum holds a Bits and Bots Family Fun Day on Saturday June 20 to celebrate the launch of Gizmobots.
The free event includes a host of robot-inspired activities and entertainment – and visitors can even learn ‘the robot’ street dance courtesy of Ascension Dance Company.
Coun Maggie O’Rourke, Rugby Borough Council’s portfolio holder for partnerships, health and wellbeing, said the family fun day was a perfect way to celebrate Father’s Day, which falls on the following day.
She said: “Gizmobots promises to inspire and entertain visitors to Rugby Art Gallery and Museum throughout the summer, featuring Mark Haig’s wonderfully quirky robot creations, Sir Killalot and Matilda from Robot Wars and a very special guest in Robert Llewellyn, who played the droid Kryten in television comedy Red Dwarf.
“The exhibition offers plenty of opportunities to get hands-on and creative, whether in The Shed, the Robot Warriors arena or at one of Mark Haig’s robot workshops.”
Mark returns to Rugby Art Gallery and Museum on Tuesday August 4 to host a series of workshops where creativity collides with invention.
Free, one-and-a-half hour workshops start at 10am, 11.30pm, 1.30pm and 3.30pm, with children (suitable for seven-year-olds and above, accompanied by an adult) able to build a Gizmobot and take it home.
Coun Neil Sandison, Rugby Borough Council’s Liberal Democrat group spokesperson for partnerships, health and wellbeing, said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming Kryten from the classic sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf, the Robot Wars house robots and Mark Haig’s collection of Gizmobots to Rugby for a summer of inventive, creative fun.”
Tickets for the Becoming a Robot talk, which starts at 6pm on Friday July 10, cost £10 and can be booked online at www.ragm.co.uk/gizmobots
