Victor Brauner *
(Piatra Neamtz, Romania 1903–1966 Paris)
Hominisation du Tatonnement de la Machine a connaître. Confusion antropomorphisé, 1961, signed, dated, titled and dedicated, ink on Japanese paper, 37.4 x 52.7 cm, framed
Provenance:
Alberto Lattuada Collection, Rome (directly from the artist)
European Private Collection
Executed in 1961 and dedicated to Alberto Lattuada (1914–2005), the Italian film director, screenwriter, producer, critic, and intellectual associated with Neorealism and comedy, this work seems, in retrospect, to anticipate aspects of our contemporary reality.
Its title, Hominisation du tâtonnement de la machine à connaître. Confusion anthropomorphisée (roughly translated as Humanization of the Trial-and-Error Process of the Knowing Machine: Anthropomorphized Confusion), evokes the humanization of a machine in its attempt to acquire knowledge. Although computers had already existed for several decades, they were far from being a familiar presence in everyday life in 1961. The title nevertheless suggests a strikingly contemporary tension: the attempt to attribute human qualities to a machine, and the confusion that may arise when the boundaries between human and artificial intelligence begin to blur.
More than sixty years later, we find ourselves debating the role, significance, and implications of artificial intelligence, as well as the ways in which it has transformed – and will continue to transform – our present and future lives. The confusion evoked by Victor Brauner in the title thus resonates well beyond its historical context, becoming an unsettlingly relevant reflection of the world we inhabit today.
Specialist: Flaminia Allvin
(Piatra Neamtz, Romania 1903–1966 Paris)
Hominisation du Tatonnement de la Machine a connaître. Confusion antropomorphisé, 1961, signed, dated, titled and dedicated, ink on Japanese paper, 37.4 x 52.7 cm, framed
Provenance:
Alberto Lattuada Collection, Rome (directly from the artist)
European Private Collection
Executed in 1961 and dedicated to Alberto Lattuada (1914–2005), the Italian film director, screenwriter, producer, critic, and intellectual associated with Neorealism and comedy, this work seems, in retrospect, to anticipate aspects of our contemporary reality.
Its title, Hominisation du tâtonnement de la machine à connaître. Confusion anthropomorphisée (roughly translated as Humanization of the Trial-and-Error Process of the Knowing Machine: Anthropomorphized Confusion), evokes the humanization of a machine in its attempt to acquire knowledge. Although computers had already existed for several decades, they were far from being a familiar presence in everyday life in 1961. The title nevertheless suggests a strikingly contemporary tension: the attempt to attribute human qualities to a machine, and the confusion that may arise when the boundaries between human and artificial intelligence begin to blur.
More than sixty years later, we find ourselves debating the role, significance, and implications of artificial intelligence, as well as the ways in which it has transformed – and will continue to transform – our present and future lives. The confusion evoked by Victor Brauner in the title thus resonates well beyond its historical context, becoming an unsettlingly relevant reflection of the world we inhabit today.
Specialist: Flaminia Allvin
