ABOUT

The Unposed (EoAT) is the first monograph by Danish artist Michala Paludan, it consists of 101 photos of robot “hands”. From 2021-24 Paludan visited many different sites of robotics located in Germany, Denmark, Japan, Korea, and the United States. From digital paws to laser sensors, piano-playing electro-fingers to a not-so-dexterous clamp, this book shows the human hand versioned as high-tech utensil: holders, pinchers, grabbers, supporters, strokers and cutters whose likenesses to the real thing vary according to particularity of their functions.

In the robotics industry, the acronym EoAT refers to End of Arm Tools; that is, a tool required for performing a specific handlike task such as holding, cutting or lifting, and the hardest thing to design on a robot. As the subject of a portrait, the machine – rather than what it produces – is the focus and, in mirroring the hands of human workers, Paludan emphasizes their absence.