Art of War 2026
David Link
Shows:
Festival der Fotografie, Poesie & KI, Neustadt/W., 10. – 13. September 2026
Impressions from the show
Project Description
In “The Art of War”, a machine attempts to formulate true thoughts about all aspects of war.
It is based on a wide variety of texts on this subject, the different "Arts of War", i.e. works of war strategy, historical documents that describe the course of wars, fictional works such as science fictions about interstellar conflicts, war propaganda such as speeches by leading politicians during the war, the documentation of war crimes in war crimes tribunals, as well as private experience reports. In the latter text genres, it becomes clear that war is neither an art nor a game, but a horrible massacre that has traumatic effects on the psyche of everyone involved.
In all of these texts, the computer considers which topics and things the authors have linked with one another. These networks of associations allow the system to formulate new and surprising thoughts on war that lie in the basic texts, but are not contained in them as such.
As in the works read, the war appears in the statements of the machine sometimes as a primarily strategic undertaking, sometimes as a process historically unfolding and sometimes as the tragic carnage that it actually is.
The text flow of thoughts about the war does not break off and the computer does not repeat itself.
Festival website
Exhibition website
