Can’t Help Myself: A Profound Exploration of Struggle and Sacrifice

or “La Macchina che Sanguina” (The Machine that Bleeds): A Moving Reflection on Humanity’s Perpetual Battle

The Battleground of Existence: The Struggle and Sacrifice in Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s “Can’t Help Myself”

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s mesmerizing installation, “Can’t Help Myself,” is a masterpiece that evokes profound emotional responses. At its core, the artwork centered around a robot arm programmed to contain its leaking hydraulic fluid, which sustained its very existence. If too much fluid escaped, the arm faced certain demise, compelling it to desperately reclaim every drop in a struggle for survival. The artists ingeniously bestowed the robot arm with the ability to perform joyful dances, captivating spectators during the early stages of the project. However, years later, as viewers witness the arm’s exhausted and despondent state, the burden of overwhelming spillage renders it incapable of dancing. It then devoted its remaining strength to fighting for survival, trapped in an agonizing cycle between sustaining life and bleeding out, both figuratively and quite literally, as the hydraulic fluid deliberately resembles life granting blood…