Human-Machine Topographic Drawing-Machine

Media: Winch-Motor Mechanized Choreographic Performance, Continual Drawing, overlay of Construction Site images.

Date: Winter 2020


              Human-Machine Topographic Drawing-Machine thinks of modern topography as a form of drawing that documents human and machine co-exigency. It imagines human relationship to technology as an emergent mark-making machine. Through a collaborated choreography between two industrial motors and my body, a pile of gravel is shifted around the space leaving patterns and traces. As my body and the motors equally contribute to the shifting of the gravel, it is undistinguishable as to who is directing the drawing. Both the machine navigating me around the room, and the independent gestures of my arms and legs contribute to every stroke. This questions if landscape is shaped by human design or developed based the capacity of machines. 


Is modern topography the result of Human Intention or a Manifestation of Machinic Power?