Print-ER

Print-ER

In Print-ER, the performer’s body is placed within a framework of mechanical production, becoming labor that must respond to industrial logic and standardized processes. In industrial settings, machine operation follows precise, repeatable tasks and protocols. In contrast, humans, as “laboring machines,” inevitably show fatigue, delays, and errors when they perform the same task over a long period. By requiring the performer to repeat simple, monotonous movements, the work presents a body exhausted in its attempt to align with the rhythm of machine production.

The work’s form combines digital fabrication processes with live performance. At the beginning of the creation process, the artist constructs a cylindrical 3D model and slices it to generate a G-code file for printing. During the performance, the performer strictly follows the steps defined in the generated print file, repeatedly walking through the physical space until all actions in the entire sliced file have been completed; this process may last several hours.

The performer’s walking path is continuously recorded and, after algorithmic processing, becomes the movement trajectory for a 3D printer to operate. In this way, a production structure composed of “perfect instructions → human error → labor transformation” is formed. Throughout this process, the body continuously produces mechanically, while the machine responds with its “precise mechanical body” to this flawed and alienated result of labor.