This work from 2007 is based on the American conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth's work "Four Colors Four Words" from 1966. For Kosuth the task of art is to constantly question its own essence, in extensive analyses, to contribute to the clarification of the question of what art is. Art can then, according to Kosuth therefore not contain any statements about fact, external to art.

It was the discovery of this works, that was the starting point of "Man Conquers Nature".

"Man Conquers Nature" is constructed as a box of plexiglas. On the inside of the front part of the box a protein based nutrition solution has been applied in such a way that the solution spells out the words "MAN CONQUERS NATURE". The nutrion solution is in its original state transparent. In the solution I then planted spores of the mould species Aspergillus that for example grows on bread. The rest of the inside is painted with alcohol to prevent the mould from growing outside of the frame of nutrion. With a regular sparse application of moist, the mould developed mycelium in the nutrition solution. This made the words "MAN CONQUERS NATURE" visible.

Made in 2013. Love is great.

Another machinima based on loop structures within the context of computergames, from 2011. This one is using material from the acclaimed game Mass Effect 2 showing the default male head-character John Shepard in conversation with one of the other team members; Thane Krios.

Awareness of loops that tries to illustrate human interaction within games leads to a similar perspective of human behaviour IRL, especially within conversations and other actions that can be overtaken by habits. Such an awareness can be considered as an antidote towards stagnation.

Machinima 14:23 min, 2008, a collaboration with Rasmus Albertsen, projected on a wall accompanied with the seperate sound of a Buddha Machine. Shown here without Buddha sound.

"Reality Check" is a machinima, a movie recorded inside a virtual world, captured inside Second Life. In this machinima two avatars are trying to discuss reality, from a real world and a digital world perspective, on a virtual island. The avatar Cyxos Hax takes the position of a natural science realist using falsifiability to falsify the possibility that Second Life is reality. On the other hand the avatar Bix Hax argues in favour for Second Life being reality using relativism and a postmodern perspective.

In the end the dialogue in the machinima turns into not being about Second Life being real or not, but about the right to create a subjective relative reality.

Excerpt from dialog:
-Truth is subjective, even in natural science. Science is based on persons and their private experiences, curiosity, inquiry and selectivity transforms the results. When two or more individuals agree upon an interpretation, they create a consensus. A consensus within a group may be perceived as the "truth" when it is in fact is a consensus reality. "Most people" are something I would consider a consensus.

-And a consensus may be related to the world but it is not "truth" in itself.

-This is a most delusional and cynical argument. It's one thing to say that I am wrong when everything is peace and quiet. But tell your views to me when I feel pain and see if a different perception of reality change the pain to pleasure.

-A good point and a point I can't ignore. No, I may not change that, because First Life may be a simulated reality but if there is a consensus of it being real, the simulated problems has real consequences for those involved.

Three conceptuell presentations from 2009 of the potential future use of robot technology based on traditional design presentations. The idea originated from speculations of assimilating autonomous robot technology with religious services, personal development and later on symbiotic states for benefiting a positive environmental development. Regarding the first two it is important to understand that different forms of technology always has been used in those contexts. Obvious examples is the human knowledge about rhythm, botanical substances and performative repetitions that among other things are powerful technologies created in relation to spirituality. Even religion in itself can be considered a technology if you follow the line of thought laid out by Noah Feldman. If all technology contains a possibility to be used in relationship with the sacred, then naturally robot technology also contains that future possibility. All three works are printed as rollup displays (on canvas) 205 x 85 cm.

Based on the three double-edged keywords evolution, faith and unity, that are constantly present in the context of what can be defined as spiritual development, these three conceptual presentations from 2010 uses the symbol of the humanoid robot as a way of investigating the relationship between technology, consciousness and the concept of the sacred. Printed on canvas (200x100 cm). The idea is based on a quote from futurist Ray Kurzweil's book "The age of spiritual machines":

"Just being-experiencing, being conscious-is spiritual, and reflects the essence of spirituality. Machines, derived from human thinking and surpassing humans in their capacity for experience, will claim to be conscious, and thus to be spiritual...Twenty-first-century machines-based on the design of human thinking-will do as their human progenitors have done-going to real and virtual houses of worship, meditating, praying, and transcending-to connect with their spiritual dimension."

- Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines, Penguin books, 1999, p. 153

Inspired by artist such as Ken Rinaldo and Theo Jansen "Self Bot System" was constructed in 2007.

In "Self Bot System" two definitions tries to intermingle: the positivistic definition within immunology of the Self, and the relativistic definition within Buddhism of the same concept.

The definitions used are presented below:

1.Anatta/Anatman
”In Buddhism Anatta means non-self or non-soul. The Buddha repeatedly indicates that the five impermanent constituents of the living beings are ”not-self”: they are constantly interacting with one another and, therefore constantly changing one another. These five aggregates also interact with the universe around them, so, constantly change the universe as well. How then, can there be one permanent ontological and subjective self within us when the entire universe is impermanent?”

2.Immunology
”Immunology is devoted to the problems of defining the characteristics of identity that distinguish individual organisms from those of similar kind, and describing the mechanisms that defend organisms from their predators. ”The Self” provides a ready and convenient metaphor for deciphering immune reactivity. In ”the Self”, host constituents are ignored by the immune system while ”the Other” - pathogens, foreign substances, altered host elements - are processed and destroyed. But this dominant model has recently been challenged, for the self is polymorphous and ill-defined.

The definitions were divided into phrases and feed into the program without any indications of which definition they belonged to. The programs purpose was then to reproduce the phrases, which are combined freely, but according to English grammatical rules.

"Self Bot System" contains of two parts, the robot-construction (Basic Stamp Technology) and a text containing the two definitions. The robot-construction is also provided with an ultrasonic sensor that constantly searches its surroundings within a radius of 1 meter.

If a person stand inside this area the construction starts combining phrases until the person leaves.

Examples on phrases and reproduction:
The first line in the first definition, ”In Buddhism Anatta means non-self or non-soul.”, can be separated into the phrases:

”In Buddhism”, ”Anatta means” and ”non-self or non-soul”. Likewise can for example the second line in the second definitions, ”The Self provides a ready and convenient metaphor for deciphering immune reactivity.”, be separated into the phrases:

”The Self provides”, ”a ready and convenient metaphor” and ”for deciphering immune reactivity”.

A combination of all the phrases can for example start like this:

”Anatta means a ready and convienient metaphor that defend organisms from their predators. In Buddhism the characteristics of identity are ignored by the immune system therefore constantly changing one another:”...

The purpose of this work was to receive a durable definition of the Self that on one hand could be personally used and on the other hand used as a reference in future works. A defined Self is a necessary starting point for a functioning ethical behaviour.

But a definition of a Self can also be a Non-Self and for relating to buddhistic thinking the definition was not documented, instead remaining ever changing. Remind us all on the difficulty in defining something so fleeting as the concept of the Self. "Self Bot System" is nevertheless limited by a scientific probability based on the size of the texts and the phrases ability to combine.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatta
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/immunology/

The artist collective Dataspelsgruppen was a collaboration from 2007 between Olof Broström, Carl-Erik Engqvist, John Huntington, Anders Johansson, Eskil Liepa, Ida Rödén and Per-Arne Sträng. The group started out of a common interest for computer games and virtual realities. The idea was to mutually research the creation of computer games as an art form, and to begin a collective process within the field of computergame production.

The computer game references are a part of our generation's definition of reality. The latest decade's development of computer- and console games has resulted in the increased presence of digital realities in the entire society. The game development is common knowledge to almost everyone. The computer game producers have become one of the largest providers of artistic and aesthetic experiences, besides the more traditional mediums like TV, radio and literature.

Development is moving fast in the field of computer games and we saw that it was extremely important that artists are represented in this development. We would like to see that there were no borders between art and computer games, between high culture and popular culture. Dataspelsgruppen considered an artistic experience the same as a gaming experience. Through computer games and related areas it's possible to reach a new audience, an audience that might not be used to an artistic context. The collaborative work resulted in the game-concept Yod Burrow and the mix-up of Chaste City. It was still on a production level, and was presented on Bildmuseet as work in progress of consisting of game related material. It was sketches of what the game was about, what atmosphere would be in the game and how it would look. We wanted to make an extract from the process and produce an exhibition with it.

As a base we had our own references of both art and computer games. We wanted to create something that was about experience, aesthetics, critic and absurdity. We decided to work both with the start- and endpoint of the game production, for example making posters for the release at the same time as the core-concepts were still under development. We wanted to deconstruct game-construction and present it as visual objects in our exhibition space.

We chose to work with one of the gaming world's most traditional concepts, the platform game, and tried to twist and turn the idea of what a platform game can be.

Excerpt from the initial story of the game:
Yod is from Chaste City, a place without contours, with no corners or edges. Nothing collides in Chaste City. It is clean and white. Everyone is fine, or at least feels that way. Communication is long gone, it's not necessary anymore.... Chaste City is maybe a bit of heaven, maybe a utopia. The world outside is not mentioned, and why should it? If things are good, why contaminate them? But something odd has come to Chaste City. A unit, bit or molecule appeared, or existed in the core of the city....