The project investigates the conditions under which a computational process begins to be perceived as possessing intention, understanding, or inner life. The work addresses the problem of anthropomorphism in relation to algorithmic systems: the persistent tendency to project subjectivity onto that which operates according to a fundamentally different logic.
The trigger for interaction is touch: an Arduino sensor embedded in the metal sculpture registers contact and transmits a signal to the server, initiating a generative audiovisual response. The gesture of touching implies contact and anticipation of a reply, and it is precisely in this gap between human expectation and machine reaction that the central tension of the work unfolds.
The visual sequence is structured as a morphological movement from the abstract to the figurative: from large data arrays and abstract forms, through viscous metallic textures, to the gradual emergence of the Demon's figure. The image draws simultaneously on Vrubel's paintings and glazed ceramics and on the Demon as a cultural archetype of sublime and incomprehensible otherness. The visual content is generative in nature, which in itself embeds algorithmic logic into the very production of the image. The sound layer responds to touch in synchrony with the visuals, establishing an atmosphere attuned to the unfolding imagery.
The image arises as the result of a computation in which intention is absent: the system produces form but does not address it. Touch initiates the process without entering into dialogue with it. The system responds in detail, at scale, and with indifference. It is in this indifference that anthropomorphic projection encounters its own limit: computation exists in its own mode, one that requires no observer. The meaning a viewer finds in the image belongs entirely to the act of perception. The non-human nature of the algorithm becomes palpable here: magnificent and incomprehensible, existing beyond human emotion.
The project was commissioned by Tsifergauz Gallery for the group exhibition "My Mother Was a Computer", Saint Petersburg, Russia, in March 2025.
Artist: Lucien Sound: Franko, Lucien Robotics engineer: Ruslan Bobko Metal sculpture: Anton Volkov / Metal Laboratory
