Robot Ninja

2013. Video (color, sound), media player, projector, 7 min., seamless loop.
Part ninja, part machine, part sacrificial lamb, the Robot Ninja continually advances towards the viewer in this confrontational video installation. Created in part with 3D assets extracted from popular video games, the work stages a critique of masculine fantasies, revealing how violence, authority, and the concept of the superhuman are entangled in the cultural machinery of capitalism.
Photo of video installation Robot Ninja by Jonathan Monaghan in dim space, Market Gallery in Glasgow.

installation view from Robot Ninja, Market Gallery, Glasgow, 2013.

Photo of video installation Robot Ninja by Jonathan Monaghan, dim space, rainbow on projected image. Still from Robot Ninja by Jonathan Monaghan showing a robotic lamb robotic with a rainbow. Still from Robot Ninja by Jonathan Monaghan showing robotic lamb shooting machine gun against grey backdrop. Still from Robot Ninja by Jonathan Monaghan showing regal architecture and a red velvet crown. Photo of video installation Robot Ninja by Jonathan Monaghan, woman standing in foreground. Close up installation view of hanging prints from Robot Ninja, in white wall gallery space. Photo of installation view of hanging prints from Robot Ninja, in white wall gallery space. Installation view of hanging prints from Robot Ninja, in white wall gallery space.