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matthias gommel
martina haitz
jan zappe
      



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Generative Theses of a Robot
2008

In a stand-alone process a robot is writing manifestos. Each manifesto consists of eight statements, which are generated autonomously by the robot. To be able to do so the machine selects terms out of its internal information pools - subject areas of art, philosophy and technology - and associates them within the framework of sentences. The combination of system and accident yields unique manifestos, each one signed by a serial number.

In contrast to humans robots have no intrinsic will neither for seeking after nor constituting a meaning. They are free in choice and compilation of the words. Therefore the message of each manifesto is individual and carried out within the perception of the reader, who instinctively performs a search for the meaning of the unconventional theses.

The title 'manifest' combines the manual operation of the robot (lat. manus = hand) with a ritual act (lat. festus = festive). The robot and its task stand within a long tradition of manifestos within art and politics. Unlike its predecessors the robot has no defined program and no pre-purposed statement. Instead of a mass-reproduction of one uniform manifesto as a propagandistic declaration the machine mass-produces unique manuscripts with individual messages.

26/03/2008





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