The supercomputer vinyl publication THE BEHEADING OF THE FRUIT FLY (How will I know if you are truly a sentient being?) is released and out at last!
Many thanks to all the collaborators, funders, and supporters that made this publication possible. With special thanks to Hans Gremmen from Fw:Books, Peter Fengler from DE PLAYER, GVN908, computer scientist Michael Stephan, and of course stunning JUQUEEN.
THE BEHEADING OF THE FRUIT FLY (How will I know if you are truly a sentient being?)
31,5 x 31,5 cm / poster unfolded 90 x 90 cm / booklet 32 pages, duotone in black and silver / vinyl record / silkscreened sleeve
Label: DE PLAYER, Rotterdam, DOB 105
Publisher: Fw:Books, Amsterdam
Distribution: Idea Books, Amsterdam
Edition of 750
ISBN 978-94-90119-97-3
This vinyl publication was realised with the generous support of Verein der Freunde und Förderer des Forschungszentrums Jülich, Stadt Leipzig, and the Mondriaan Fund.
THE BEHEADING OF THE FRUIT FLY (How will I know if you are truly a sentient being?) is a vinyl publication that deals with seductive, nevertheless problematic computer-brain-analogies while acknowledging potential other-than-human intelligence and intelligent behaviour. It unfolds a poetic narrative of a machine that is talking back. This machine questions humans’ thinking and perception of the world while expressing, at the same time, its longing for connection and for merging with its surrounding. The vinyl of THE BEHEADING OF THE FRUIT FLY contains electromagnetic sound emission of JUQUEEN, initially the fifth most powerful supercomputer in the world, located at the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany. Every operating computer radiates electromagnetic emission in relation to the computational tasks it is processing. Not every computer, however, turns out to be such a fantastic sound machine.