The Thinking Machine
The
thinking machine is the last component of the Awareness Muscle
Training Center routine in Museum Villa Stuck. This machine is a
training exercise for the brain and is the conclusion to the
series of questions and exercises that visitors undergo while
engaging in the awareness muscle training format. The purpose of
this machine is for visitors to consider their life and what
they have done with it, to take a step back and view their life
from a levelled perspective, measuring up what they have done
and what they haven’t, their regrets and achievements and
hopefully give them a new perspective on what is still in their
power to change.
The
machine itself possesses an almost Freudian aesthetic, it is a
weights machine with the weights detached, and visitors have the
option to use it in any way they choose, most laying down to use
it in a style that mimics patients on a therapist bench. This is
ironic given the topics discussed on the thinking machine, which
include the visitor’s life satisfaction and how they feel about
themselves and how they view their place in the world. One
instructor noted that more men chose to sit while women were
more likely to lay down. Older people were on average more
satisfied with their lives while very young people were less
sure of their place in things and were more likely to say they
would change things, however many people of all ages said they
weren’t satisfied and felt they could’ve done more and should
still try to change things.
The machine aims to activate thinking as a function, as its own
individual effort; an activity, much like a physical training
exercise, that works to strengthen and define brain power. This
is why the machine can be seen as the immortalization of the
awareness muscle training center, it is working at the core of
the formats aims, enlisting visitors own thorough thought
investigation to go into overdrive, for them to examine the
blueprints of their lives and their thought paths and navigate
their way to a better understanding of themselves. It is the
building of the awareness muscle and is conceived of many of
Geoffroy’s underlying artistic ideals. The non-physical aspect
of this machine has two functions: to concentrate the concept of
a mental workout requiring a similar effort to a physical one
and to allow for a non-fanatic option that anyone regardless of
bodily mobility could engage in.
As
the last machine it serves as a rounding up of all the explored
ground within the interview/workout awareness muscle training
format. As a culmination of all the themes approached via the
different machines’ subjects, the thinking machine looks at the
total self that exists around these concepts. It is almost an
offering of power back to the visitor; how do you engage with
your life? What would you and others benefit from a change in?
How does your life reflect back on you when mirrored with those
of others? The machine provides a contemplation that meets some
visitors as a discomfort, while reaching others as a sigh of
relief. While the effectiveness of the thinking machine is
interlinked with the visitor’s response to the training circuit
as a whole, the direct nature of the thinking machines
questioning can be seen to act at a parallel with the focus of
the exhibition as a whole, and the awakening effect, an actively
aware state, that develops as a post-workout result is the
desired frame of mind to carry on to the ensuing parts of the
exhibition.
