Based on a story told to Ventura as a child. It centres on a Jewish watchmaker living in the Venice ghetto in 1943, one of the darkest periods of Nazi occupation. He decides to build an a robot to keep him company while he awaits the arrival of the police to deport the last Jews. Ventura, internationally known for his complex creative process, created the narrative script then built elaborate models and miniatures into film sets. The final artworks are the photographs of these tableaux. The Automaton is a photographic narrative from beginning to end.
