Johannes Kiel's Viral Infection is an interactive robotics installation that explores the reproductive behavior of digital fragments and their embodiment. It reflects concerns about how algorithms shape knowledge transmission and influence consumer behavior, prompting questions of control and autonomy. The work employs biological techniques and automated algorithms, creating machines that self-reproduce using bioplastics from their own production. It invites visitor interaction that influences the machines' behavior while expanding an online archive driven by the artist's media consumption, fostering a self-reinforcing cycle of evolution and reproduction in both the digital and organic realms.
At a time when algorithms not only influence our consumer behaviour but also democratic processes, the work raises the question of control, autonomy and the risks of technological availability.
The installation is a result of viral data...based on biological processes, craft traditions and online tutorials, I developed machines that evolve and reproduce through me as a host.
The virus machine constantly observes the production process and transfers tasks to the host. Visitors can use their own body heat to influence the robot's measurement results.
Through an online archive, the work attempts to infect further hosts and empower them for reproduction and machine production.
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