TAMÁS WALICZKY – MARIONETTES

Computer animation, 2007

What I've been exploring in recent years is how simple computer programs can create an illusion of emotions, thanks simply to the fact that the viewer will assume emotions behind every gesture, even when being aware that they have been generated by a computer.
The same question, viz. “how does a machine imitate a man,” was motivating me when preparing the Marionettes. In this regard, the next question to occur is “how does one imitate a machine,” which is the very core of Kempelen's chess automaton. Marionettes is not animation in the original sense of the word, because I don't “ani­mate” these dummies. Marionettes is anti-animation. In its calcula­tions of the motions, the software considers mass, friction, gravi­tation, acceleration and random collisions. The fundamentals are thus strictly mathematical, yet they produce drama. They represent collapse in its physical and, what is not in the least suitable for a machine-animated puppet, psychological sense.

Text: Tamás Waliczky