Have you ever been drawn by the three Pauls?

Claudine from the point of view of three AIs. The Siemens Arts Program brought this installation by Patrick Tresset to Munich for the the Siemens Summer Festival.

The small camera lenses of the "three Robots named Paul" (3RNP) gaze alternatively at my face and the paper on which they begin to draw during the 30 to 40-minute session. I feel like someone is watching me, but during the course of the session I feel more and more like I am being observed by living beings. A certain sound they make with every movement tells me when they are looking at me again. I look at them and take turns looking each of the three Pauls in the eye.

There they sit at their little wooden tables and work on my portrait like differently talented students. While we can recognize the face one of the Pauls is drawing from the first strokes and can completely understand the resulting relatively classical portrait, another Paul leaves us uncertain with regard to its image structure and the final result to be foreseen until almost the very end. He sits in the middle, makes fast and crazy lines and works the portrait out of light and shadow until it is complete. The gallery owner Peter Braun-Himmerich calls him "Crazy Paul".

He's always the one who takes the longest. I like him. For me, his pictures have an artistic quality that the other two classical drawing students somehow lack. In this case, however, it is probably just a question of programming not of talent.

The portrait session is concluded with the respective signature of the individual robots. The final result, which is sometimes more, sometimes less flattering for the person portrayed, however, makes the model easily recognizable in any case. If you want to see more about Patrick Tresset and his interactive room installation, you can find many great videos and information on his webseite.

Naturally, I don't want to leave you in the dark about the studies the three Pauls made of me.
You can decide for yourself if you recognize me in these images and which Paul is your favorite..

HUMAN STUDY No.1 (3RNP)
by Patrick Tresset
Dixit Algorizmi Gallery, Berlin

Can't get enough of Claudine? THIS is her blog.