Zeno Gries - background image

I am not your interface

installation / 2018

I am not you interface

Several animatronic hands are distributed in the exhibition room. They lie on the floor with the palm facing upwards, while the index finger is repeatedly bent slightly to indicate the inviting gesture 'come here'. If you touch a palm of your hand, all fingers bend and the hand grabs yours. If you let go of the palm, the hand stays in touch for a short time until it slowly opens again.

In some moments the movements seem almost natural, as does the reaction to touch, in other moments this illusion is completely shattered. Every wrinkle, pore and vein is visible on the silicone and only the colour distinguishes it from a real hand. But if you change the perspective slightly, you can immediately recognize the mechanics and electronics that move the hand.

The hands seem animated and inanimate, human and eerie at the same time. They are doubles of the artist's hands, but they are also tools that enable a direct, haptic, even intimate and equal contact with the work: One not only feels the work, the work feels back.