humans, controlled by machines

the installation ‘maschine-mensch’ by christopher rhomberg and tobias zucali is located on the central plaza near linz’ art school. It has won a honorary mention on the ‘next idea’ category of last years prix ars.

the installation focuses the relationship between humans and technology: the machine (an assembly line and a computer) transports coloured cubes and forces the human to remove cubes of a certain colour by stimulating its muscles with electric shocks. This makes the human slave of the machine which controls its private movements.

This simple concept of removing a cube from the moving line is quite complex to realize since the human body is not as easy to dominate as mechanical machines. this contrast fits exactly into the concept of this years ars electronica: ‘simplicity – the art of complexity.

Additionally i did an interview with tobias zucali that includes some takes of the ‘machine’.

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