Belgian Artist Makes Massive Mural with Connected Robot, Proximus Network

The artist Absumo has created a massive mural in Antwerp with the help of a connected graphic robot

A new type of artistic performance has taken place for the first time in Belgium. Belgian artist Geert Nys, better known as Absumo, has been able to realise his dream of painting a mural in Antwerp from his wheelchair thanks to a graphics robot connected to the Proximus mobile network.

Absumo usually paints on cardboard boxes that have an irregular surface, as that reminds him of the roughness of a wall on which his expressive characters come to life. Confined to a wheelchair for 37 years, Geert wanted to one day create a work of monumental dimensions. This is now the case and on display in Sint-Paulusstraat in Antwerp until 2 November. This type of experiment should become more common in the years to come as Proximus’ increasingly powerful mobile technologies are deployed.

Technology at the service of man and art

Geert Nys is a Belgian artist with a rich and varied background: a painter, visual artist and graphic designer, he is now known by the pseudonym ABSUMO (for ABSolute Unique MOments). Over the years, his work has enabled him to exhibit from Knokke to Japan. Since he can't express himself on buildings and walls, he paints on cardboard and depicts dynamic and lively characters.

Absumo, Belgian artist, said, "In recent years, my exhibitions have been held more and more outdoors. I started to dream of one day literally painting on a wall. Cardboard has a certain texture that fascinates me - irregular, rough, surprising – in fact it reminds me of the texture of a wall. Thanks to Proximus and its mobile technologies, I had this exceptional opportunity to carry out my project and to work in a big way, delegating part of my work to a robot. This project is inspiring as it's a combination of art, made possible by a human mind, and the technology of a robot. It's simply extraordinary."

An absolutely unique moment made possible by Proximus' mobile technology

To reproduce Absumo's work on a surface of 6 by 7 metres, Proximus used a “graphics” robot. This mural robot works a bit like a wireless printer and is connected to a mobile network. And yet in order to receive and reproduce each pixel of the artist's work precisely, this robot needs a powerful and sufficiently stable connection.

Carried and stabilised by two drones that keep it close to the wall, and equipped with spray paint cans, the robot moves up and down the wall in vertical lines and prints pixels with each pass, until it faithfully reproduces the artist's work on the wall.

Gaetan Dewingaerden, Mobile network expert at Proximus, commented, "We are very happy to have been able to support Absumo in the realisation of his dream artistic project. This opens a new door on what technology can offer! Technology at the service of people is one of its most beautiful applications. Thanks to increasingly stable and high-performance networks, it will now be possible to have even more digital experiences that are full of emotion and colour."