bios [torah]

The Torah scribe
2014

In the robot installation “bios [torah]”, an industrial robot writes down the Torah by hand on a roll of paper using a calligraphic pen. The machine executes the lines with precision, gradually creating the text like a Jewish sofer. Beginning with the Book of Bereshit, the Genesis of the Books of Moses, “bios [torah]” produces the entire work in a one-month writing process without interruption: 304,805 letters in 245 columns on around 80 meters of paper.

The creation of a Torah by the Jewish scribe is associated with a handwritten copying process that is carried out as precisely as possible. By writing the Torah, the robot is therefore not imitating humans themselves, but their human imitation technique. Just as a Torah script contains individual characteristics of the respective sofer, the internal characteristics and tolerances of the robot also create a script with its own character. Its typeface is precise and lively at the same time and stands out clearly from a printed font. The robot's work occupies an intermediate position between handwriting and machine printing.

“bios [torah]” focuses on the interaction between faith and technological progress. The arrangement relates two systems that are fundamental to human society, the Jewish religion and scientific rationalism. In this context, the medium of writing has always played a special role, both as sacred scripture and for the formal recording of knowledge.

The title “bios” refers to an elementary component of computer technology, the Basic Input Output System (BIOS). It is the bios chip that coordinates the initial communication between hardware and software and thus contains the indispensable, basic software that enables every computer to start up and process information. It therefore contains the first program, the first causal script on which every further program is based. The bios code thus has a fundamental significance for the machine comparable to the sacred script for humans.

Collaboration Hebrew font: Sahar Aharoni