gestures – songs of algorithm: gesture#4_(align#01010100 01001100)

→ songs of algorithm, timeline pieces / 2026 → mp4, audio, 4K, 11 sec

Georg Eckmayr explores our evolving tactile relationship with machines, turning mobile devices into instruments that form a choir. He lets machines “tap back” through a networked, decentralized audiovisual sculpture. With this work he considers how our intimate interactions with data – perhaps even more than with people – might shape new, tactile societies beyond speech and institutions.

The works of this release “gestures – songs of algorithm” are an exploration of how machines are responding, performing, and communicating in their own ways. At the center of the project is a networked sculpture, stored fully decentralized and accessed through a simple paper wallet. The sculpture unfolds into 13 audiovisual pieces, each activated by scanning a QR code with a mobile phone. When performed together, these individual works merge into a single, mechanistic choir — a distributed instrument played by many devices at once.

The surrounding works grow from the same shared material and ideas. Four timeline pieces reflect on the rhythms and behaviors of social media timelines. Two RAW MATERIAL animations are designed for both smartphone viewing and large-scale displays, allowing the works to shift scale without losing intensity. The edition piece “The Sound of USB” explores screen-buffer glitches and transforms hidden digital processes into sound. Its audio is recorded directly from the USB bus of a laptop, revealing the normally inaudible signals that flow beneath everyday technology.

The visual material for all the works was created through scanography of gesturing fingers. These scans were animated and combined with scripted motion sequences. The sound was either recorded directly from electrical interference, created via synthesizers or with various forms of Fourier analysis.   A large part of our social interactions now happens through handheld devices and their screens. These tools are not just part of our daily routines — they become intimate objects, shaping the way we move, act, and relate. As our gestures and connections increasingly pass through screens, it’s not only our social behavior that changes — society itself is being reshaped. We no longer touch people directly; we touch data.

This raises a provocative question: what kind of society can emerge from this shift? Perhaps a tactile society — one that exists in digital realms, beyond speech, beyond institutions, and beyond traditional forms of human connection.