Stroke

Stroke is a conscious collaboration of man and machine. The process of creation is the essential part of Stroke and by constantly recreating itself, the observer can get a feeling about the differences and similarities of the characters of human and computer. Idea and Implementation, Theory and Praxis are shared equally among both partners.

The process can be described by the idea of actively mixing aspects of creation by letting the computer and the human(me) take over equal parts of the work. Let me go into detail: While drawing lines they are created in two steps; the decision where they are located and the way they are actually drawn. Those two steps, I call them theory and praxis or idea and implementation, are equally tackled by me or the computer-self.

Stroke at Lehrter17

Projection mapping

The reason why I thought about this, is, of course, recent tendencies of replacing human decision making with algorithmic systems where-ever possible in order to make some aspect of life quicker or ‘better’. I’m of the opinion that replacing your decision making with an algorithm is not desirable because it has got no soul, nothing interesting to identify with. Algorithms and machines don’t add value to whatever they create, they are just tools- this is something that people tend to forget. It’s still the person’s responsibility what he/she does with a tool. Since those tools are some of my tools of choice, I created this conscious collaboration of computer and myself, creating something non-generative and moving this concept a little more in the centre of attention, as I have the feeling it’s growing to some non-reflective standard. What I’m trying to show is the special character of spontaneous human thought and movement. Stroke is an example to compare, analyse and show the differences of the characteristics in decision making of man and machine. I’m trying to display the feeling of the two partners and let the viewer relate to this.