algorithmic tea

A robotic tea ritual
2023

“algorithmic tea” was a robot performance as a contribution to “SzenenWechsel“, an artistic evening and party on October 27, 2023 at the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. The industrial robot performed a tea ceremony on site. The ingredients were provided by humans and the preparation was carried out autonomously by the robot. The finished tea was passed on to the audience by the artistic director of the ZKM, Alistair Hudson. At the same time, a tea ceremony by Chinese artist Zheng Guogu was broadcast as a real-time video.

Human rituals such as dances, ceremonies or the preparation of food often follow algorithmic principles. Its power, the effect and the appeal of the process lie precisely in the strict adherence to the sequence. The precision and uniformity of the action is similar to repeated industrial processes: The production cycles of industrial culture and the action cycles of human ceremonies are both connections of symbol and movement as well as part of man-machine culture.

Performer: Friedrich Schrödter