Written by Emily Martinez
The art exhibit Can't Help Myself is located in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. It is a popular exhibit that has been all over social media platforms lately, and it was created in 2016 by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu.
The art piece is an industrial robot caged in transparent acrylic walls. The blood-like liquid on the floor spreads around, making the robot's sensor go off. The robot frantically moves, smearing the fluid near the center of itself. As the robot moves frantically, the walls become stained with blood-like liquid. The robot proceeds to clean up the liquid around itself, although it only makes it worse, which goes along with the title of this art piece because it can't stop itself from attempting to clean up its mess.
The two artists, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, are known for their controversial materials such as body parts, corpses, and live animals. Their art pieces are pretty rare, and many people can view them from so many different perspectives. Their pieces are primarily categorized as shock art, which usually consists of disturbing imagery, smells, and sounds. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu both have corporeal aesthetics in which their pieces are related to human bodies and souls.
The art exhibit can be very complex and challenging to understand. The robot shows an endless amount of labor. You can turn away from the installation, but there's more to turning away than you'd think because, after all, what does it mean to be able to turn away from blood, guts, and violence? The blood-like liquid can be a representation of the aftermath of a massacre. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu have not explained the true definition of this art piece, leaving it to the audience's interpretation.
So depending on which way you'd like to view this art exhibit as the aftermath of a massacre. Some may have to turn around from the violence and injuries in our history, but I'd say not to act as if those terrible things did not exist or are not happening. Although if you didn't view it from that perspective, it's okay because it depends on what person is looking at the installation and their personal interpretation.
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