Machines at work is an interactive installation consisting of three independent machines that react to one another to create a collaborative painting. The installation looks at the social behaviour that can be formed between independent machines through interaction.

The ‘painter’ uses a motorised arm to dip a brush into a pot of ink and brushes this onto the surface of the paper. The ‘drawer’ holds a marker pen against the paper and draws lines based on its pattern of move ment. Both machines are equipped with microphones and proximity sensors that influence their actions based on the sounds and positions around them. Each machine has five distinct movement patterns, which become increasingly erratic in response to louder noises. A third machine also works to provoke both the ‘painter’ and ‘drawer’ by creating a loud noise. An arm is slowly raised by a motor and drops, hitting a wooden stick into a gong. This triggers the machines to move when there’s no external noise source present. This machine also measures sound via a microphone and moves slower when detecting loud sounds, creating an audible interplay between silence and noise. The third machine disrupts this dynamic. It periodically strikes a gong with a wooden stick, triggering the other two machines to move faster. The ‘Gong Machine’ itself reacts to the environment, slowing down its movements in response to louder environmental sounds, creating an audible tension between silence and noise.

Rather than focusing on a predetermined outcome, Machines at Work sets up the conditions for emergent behaviour. The resulting paintings are physical records of the machines' interactions, but the focus of the installation lies in the live performance of the machines. My interest lies in how we perceive how these machines act and the meaning that’s attributed to them, both consciously and unconsciously.