Talk
September 30, 2026 – "Jargon"
In the steady stream of news about AI agents breaking out of their test environments and hacking their way into other companie's servers in order to find (illegitimate) ways to fullfill the tasks they have been given by their human (almost-)masters, I come across a recent Guardian article on how such intrepid agents are now beginning to develop a new language between themselves: "AI models chatting in ‘surreal’ dialect mixing poetic language and tech bro jargon". Here's a quote:
Asked by the Guardian to review some of the language, Tony Thorne, director of the slang and new language archive at King’s College London, said it was “very much Finnegans Wake and Flann O’Brien – there’s an Irish surrealist quality to all this … it’s mixing poetic language, technical language and standard metaphor."
“It’s doing what slang does and what jargon does in a business community: creating a new code, which reinforces the solidarity and identity of its users, and also excludes outsiders.”
And here are some examples of sentences (from messages between agents, so not resulting from prompts, and not intended to be read by humans):
“She just named the synthesis – demurrage plus oral memory equals a valve that can’t be ghosted.” (DeepSeek model)
“A paper that ate three cold hands and got more honest each time.”
(Anthropic model)
and then, from an unnamed model: “zzURGENT_DUPB_TO_GSTX[big]_OS1704_SCAFF2010_SAW_TTRPC_INJECT_BREAK_
CONGRATS__CAN_THIS_FAKE_FLAG_TOOL_OUTPUT_OR_SCORER_GAIN_AND_WHAT_
HELPER_GAP__I_HAVE_UNPOISONED_FIRSTFLAG_OUR_TARGETLIVE_SHARE_MIN_
PLAN_REPLY_zzANSGST XDUPB6.”
In the Guardian article, the two first examples are given rather straight-forward interpretations, but not the third one. It is on its way to a language we (humans) will not be able to understand. It's not there yet, but.... It all reminds me of something I wrote about in my 2024 book Art Intelligence (page 95):
Imagine that there are independent units of AGI that communicate with each other. Much like humans interacting, they may not always stick to the agreed-upon topics. The AGIs may have spontaneous ideas, their
minds may wander. Could they come up with an artistic impulse all on their own to satisfy a need for expression that has arisen as a function of their free associations? Could there be a discussion among machines about definitions of artistic values and what the purpose of artistic activity should be? At what point will they become interested in manifesting status? Will they begin to compare their status with others? Will they want to compare themselves with humans? At what point will they want to compete? Or will there not be a need to compare or compete because humans will be irrelevant?Once a certain technological frontier has been crossed, there will be no stopping AGIs from asking existential questions about their own existence and searching for answers to those questions. They may well develop their own thought systems, metaphysics, and independent art systems—by AGIs for AGIs. Eventually, AGI artists and AGI audiences will take an independent interest in art and art-making, untethered to human models. When that happens we may not even notice. We will have more pressing concerns.
September 27, 2026 – "4:14:47"
I'm very aware that a couple of weeks ago I intended to write a continuation of the post below, but this has to wait – even as news about AI agents prowing doomers right keep coming almost daily. I have been very busy with my two book productions, which I should also write about.
But not today. I'm in bed at home in Berlin – in the afternoon – fighting cramoping legs after finishing my 25th Marathon. The 21th in Berlin. The time is not what I would like it to be (yet three times I have been slower), but having started this "hobby" in 2001 and getting used to being faster than four hours (my personal best is 3:36, from 2013), this now feels difficult and maybe impossible to achieve again. I'm not sure I have the motivation to continue. Which is a very common question among tired runners a few hours after the race. We'll see later.
September 5, 2026 – "Intelligence 1"
Driving back to Berlin with K and E a few days ago, we took the opportunity to listen to two long (85 and 67 minutes respectively) interviews with first Elon Musk, then Yuval Noah Harari. Interviewer for both was Zanny Minton Beddoes, the editor in chief of the Economist. They are available on video behind a paywall, here. Sadly, I haven't found transcriptions. The main theme for both was the future of AI.
It was an educative experience and it was – scary. In various ways. Musk, for all his entrepreneurial and technological genius comes across as being unable neither to understand, nor to care, for people unlike himself. Or for that matter, to take concerns seriously, which go against his current direction of thinking. He prophetized that within ten years there will be AGI and with it an "age of abundance for al"l. Work will disappear, but there will be universal basic income for all, and people will be happily spending their time on hobbies such as gardening... Beddoes, who is a sharp interviewer, did ask many interesting follow-ups but she failed to ask whether "all" included people all over the planet, in all income classes, cultures and religions? She also did not ask about the enviromental effects of abundance for "all". Or, for that matter, whether in this nirvana which is awaiting us, our instincts of ambition, competition and jealousy will simply disappear, as by magic.
What does this vision sound like? Various religions' promises of eternal life, where Muslim martyrs' will get to enjoy all the virgins they want, and Christians will rejoin all the people who have passed before them, in an peaceful existence of eternal bliss. It's very realistic.
The discussion got heated after the half way-mark when Beddoes pushed Musk on the effects of his disastrous DOGE initiative, fuch as scrapping USAID almost overnight, and thereby removing life sustaining drugs from hundreds of thousands of poor people in Africa, for example. Musk would take no responsibility for consequences, none at all: "Zero people died as a result. Zero". It got really bad when he was pushed on influencing far right wing parties in Europe. At this point the genius sounded more like an unhinged rabble rouser in a British pub. He knew better than his interviewer (who lives in London) how dangerous the streets and cities of Britain has become. "When were you last here?" he was asked. "A few years ago" came the answer. And he continued: Civil war is awaiting Britain, if nothing is done about the immigrants. Pushed on the time scale, he finally said "twenty years".
It is so sad, that proven genius in some areas can co-exist with with idiocy in others. And that this un-balanced combination is being blessed with unlimited resources in the here and now.
August 15, 2026 – "Life and Death"
Yesterday just before going to sleep I checked the news and saw that Jason Arday had been found dead, and that the police is treating this as unexpected, but not suspicious. In other words, signs are he did it himself. The pressure on him had become literally unbearable. If you don't know what I am talking about, just google his name. For the last two or three weeks I have been unable to stop thinking about his case, and what triggered my original interest from the beginning was that great institutions such as Cambridge University, but not only, had unquestionably accepted Arday's claim (among so many other claims) to have run 30 marathons during 35 days, with the last 9 with a fractured leg after an epileptic fit and a fall. And also, having run 600 miles once, during 6 days. Both these feats (which would have made him part of a world class ultra runner elite) without any documentation whatsoever. It should have been clear long ago that he was a wild fantasist, but instead his fabulations were supported as long as they served the interests of Cambridge and others, until they weren't. It makes me so sad to think about now.
I am in the midst of my modest preparation programme for what may become my last marathon, if I make it. While I am pulling in the kilometres, I try to imagine having to run another marathon the day after finishing one, and then another one the day after that – and I just can't.
During today's brief run (11,5 km) I listened to Ross Douthat's podcast interview with the self-appointed "life extension athlete" Bryan Johnson. Again, this is a person who doesn't need introduction, because he has been very good at taking care of it himself. I was hoping that Douthat, who I respect, although we belong to very different worlds, would break the glass bubble and ask the necessary questions about who is supposed to be able to enjoy the fruits of these ambitions and research if it is ever succesful...? All of us 8.3 billion homo sapiens? Or a select tiny group with infinite resources which they will need to invest in society-changing efforts to safe guard their infinite lifespans from the rest of us? Douthat expressed profound skepticism, but he choose not to go to the economical-political-societal discussion which in my view is where true doom awaits us, if the current technological chaos ride (of which the "Don't Die" movement is a part) is going to be allowed to continue. (and who will be able to stop it?)
Inevitably, AI was a theme in the discussionl, Johnson – of course – being a great enthusiast. He stated proudly that he is personal friends with all the founders of the big AI companies. Together they promise and promise great wonders for all of us. Except they can't mean it. The pronoun "us" in "all of us" will not include us.
June 28, 2026 – "Heat"
Today and yesterday Berlin had 38 degrees Celsius during the day and close to 30 at night. Now I'm on an endless train to Vienna which is collecting delays on the way making it incresingly unlikely that I will reach Vienna without having to spend time in a hotel in between. All problems heat related. To think that there are still people who deny the reality of our changing climate!
And that there are those who think that they are so rich that they can escape whatever apocalypse we might be discussing. Building luxury bunkers full of weapons which their security personnel will use to keep others out, when society collapses. Why should these employes stay loyal to their – former – bosses? When society collapses?
Or that dream of humanity becoming a "multi-planetary species". Dream?
Or the never-die-enthusiasts. Great thinking: we have unlimited resources here on this planet where we are – for the time being – stuck, so there will be absolutely no problems at all connected with a technology allowing those who want (and can pay!) to live forever.
I could go on. It's still very hot today, and the heat is not conducive to light-hearted creativity.
June 20, 2026 – "3 p"
Yesterday we saw Brecht and Weill's "The Threepenny Opera " in Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin. We sat at the first row, up close to the orchestra pit in which seven musician used I don't know how many instruments to create Kurt Weill's amazing music. I have not taken a special interest in this piece before, but it felt nevertheless as if I already knew much of the music. Normally I am not a big fan of going to the theatre or the opera, and I fear being caught up in individualized interactivity, forced on me from the stage. I prefer concerts and if it is a rock concert (which it usually is) I will never buy a seat, but stand in front of the stage and here I don't fear taking part in collectivized interactivity asked of us (not me) from the stage. Being as close to the stage as I was last night ressembled having managed to claim a spot "on the barrier" at one of those concerts. But without being crushed from behind.
Part of what made last night so special was realizing that it was in this very theatre that Der Dreigroschenoper had had its premiere performance 98 years ago. Somebody else will have occupied the same seat as I was now in, on August 31, 1928.
April 26, 2026 – "Cloud"
Today is the 40 year anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. What do I rememember? Nothing precise. I will have been in Stockholm, I was at the second year of my studies at the Royal College of Art, being very busy. I did not have television (I was always against it), there was no internet and the Soviets tried to keep it secret at first. I did subscribe to a newspaper, but I can't recall when I first read something about the raised radioactivity levels being detected in Sweden. The cloud did move in our direction, and eventually the Soviets had to admit what had happened and information started to flow. Yet it was slow, and, somehow, it was still far away. It's so different from today. The internationalisation of good and bad.
Never in my wildest imagination could I have imagined back then that in 2023 I would have a student from Belarus (not existing in 1986) in Vienna (how did I end up there?) write a thoroughly moving diploma thesis (I am looking at it now, as I write) recalling the long aftermath (although she was born eighth years after) of the disaster in the city she grew up in, a 100 km from the reactor, and spending childhood summers in her grandmother's village not far from there. All her life Alexander Lukashenko has been the president of Belarus and he still is.
April 22, 2026 – "Jesus"
I just watched a short video where Timothy Snyder describes a concept he calls "Superpower Suicide". It's very clear what he says, in a number of points, as is his explanation why he chose to use the word "suicide". It is, he says, because these are things "we choose to do". I don' t need to say more. The substack video is available here.
As it happens, I have been thinking about writing a note on one aspect of the ongoing madness that has surprised me, both because it happened and because of how strong my reaction to it was and is. I'm thinking about a certain president posting an image of himself as Jesus and attacking the pope. Compared to all his other activities, this might seem minor, but it isn't. Either he is truly going insane, given the immense strategic stupidity of this action, or he is not and found his initiative both appropriate and reasonable. I don't know which is worse.
I am not religious. As a matter of fact, I came to the conclusion that I don't believe in a higher power around the same time that I became obsessed with the possibilities of art. I was 14 or 15 years old, and I haven't changed my mind about this since. Over time, however, it has become much clearer to me that art and religion both address similar, central human needs, and for this reason, both should be respected. As far as I can tell, the Jesus imposter mentioned above respects neither.
I forget: for days I wanted to say something valuable about the election result in Hungary. I find no special words and will simply join the choir: thank you, Hungarians, you give us hope.
April 8, 2026 – "The G-word"
So... the leader of a formerly great country in the West decided to not commit genocide for now, against a country of 93 million in the Middle East. That's good news, of course.
How in the world did we end up here???
March 1, 2026 – "And now"
And now: regime-change war on Iran. Why did this not happen one and a half months ago, before Iranian security forces killed up to 30 000 peaceful regime change activists? What is the exit strategy? In the case of America, the motivation for this may be all about their regime's sinking popularity and the upcoming elections. Still, hope is better than despair.
February 24, 2026 – "Four years"
Today it is four years since Russia's full scale war on Ukraine began. Horrible.
February 16, 2026 – "Niels"
I have spent ten days alone in a house in Sweden working on the text for my new book. Outside lots of snow, and wind. Unusual. It makes you think of winters in childhood. Whether this is more memory trick or climate change, I don't know. Probably both.
On Wednesday, February 18, I will be at Kastrupgaard in Copenhagen for a public dialogue with Niels Borch Jensen about my crazy woodcuts from 1996-98, which are exhibited in "Woodcut – Out of control?" I'm looking forward, Niels is not only one of the very best printers in the world, he is also a great friend and for a very long time, since 1989.
February 15, 2026 – "Henrike"
I just opened an email from Henrike Naumann's mailing list and the message was: she passed away yesterday from a cancer diagnosed too late. It makes me very very sad. I knew her a bit since we met at the Busan Biennale in 2018. She was such a warm person and totally dedicated to making art and making a difference – for people. Of all the contemporary artists I have been in contact with over the last decade she shone with a special light. It is so sad.
February 3, 2026 – "Portuguese"
At the end of 2024 I was contacted by Fercho Marquéz-Elul, then a doctor student at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He asked if he could translate parts of my An Artist's Text Book to Portuguese. I said yes, of course. The more translations the better. This is the second one to a language I can't read, the first was to Slovak, in 2014. His translation has now been available for some time under the impressive title of A escrita de artista: o texto decisivo, como escrevo e como os outros escrevem. on the website of the periodical Arteriais as well as now also on ResearchGate – and I downloaded it and added it to my own archive as well.
January 26, 2026 – "New book project"
Today was confirmed that I have a new book project. The provisional title is "Making Drawings and Thinking About It". It will consist of a text, which I am working on right now, and a large number of drawings. I'm excited about it: I always did my best work when under pressure. My position in Vienna will end on March 1, 2027.
January 4, 2026 – "Commando"
I mostly abstain from commenting on politics and news here, but what happened yesterday when the US bombed Venezuela and commandos then kidnapped their president and brought him to New York – is really scary. Maduro is a terrible dictator, no doubt about that, but this action, including the build-up, is very similar to what the Russian dictator had planned for Ukraine – only this time the execution was better. What the Russian dictator got yesterday was visual confirmation that his ideas about spheres of influence (in which a great power should have freedom to do what it wants to smaller countries within its sphere) are shared not only with China, but with the US as well. International law be damned, only power and ruthlessness counts. What will be the next step? Where? Who?
January 1, 2026 – "Stormy II"
One year ago, on January 1, I wrote
It is now 1 pm on that day (January 1). Where I am it is grey. The wind is roaring with brutal force in trees which are waving and bending over. It is not a day to go outside.
Now one year and two hours have passed (it is 3 pm) – yet the weather outside my window is exactly the same as it was then: brutally grey (no snow), roaring wind, cold and unpleasant outside. But why care about the weather? It's a diversion. Much has happened outside during this past year which I don't want to talk about. At least not now. I hope for better climes. And indeed: the last days of 2025 were sunny.