Title: Rita
Type: Drawing And Erasing Device
Date: 2005

Rita is a recording and playback device for drawings, capable of reproducing line drawings and erasing them again. It is a fixed installation on a wall that functions on a predefined area. Through the drawing and erasing capabilities it can display constantly changing content within that area.

Rita allows the instrumentalization of the drawing and the play with its narrative qualities. It is a machine that constantly reproduces drawing processes but never really produces anything, as its results are not there to stay. The main focus is on the moment of the creation and the simulation of the dynamics and the ductus of the drawing rather than the finished form.

Rita automates the process of drawing and simulates the artist’s ductus, it turns the personal drawing into something reproduceable. This tension between the personal drawing and the automated reproduction and simulation of it holds ambiguous qualities. The drawing becomes something more abstract, a sequence of movements and forms.

Through this automation, Rita allows the play with the narrative qualities drawing always had. By deciding in which sequence elements are added and by taking away existing ones, stories can be told.

Rita is currently available for installation. Ideally, it would be part of the architecture of a building, mounted for example in the entrance area and drawing from the inside against half transparent glass, so that the process could be seen from outside the building. For enquiries, please send a message.

Rita was first shown in Mai - June 2005 in the show «Rita + Hektor» in Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm. It was produced together with the great engineers / tinkerers Bruno Thurnherr and Marcel Ackerknecht from Defekt GmbH. The linear bearings and brushless DC motors where kindly provided by Festo Sweden. Rita was supported by Sitemapping.ch and the Swiss Federal Office of Culture.