YOU WILL NOT REPLACE US

age away now
nature up above like
many light which
through great nights had
thrown or still
like eyes before with joy
an idle head there flows
among heaven here then more
through such joy where
at those men for
of night will shine
over as no soul by
your memory

age away by GPT-2, edited by Duško Ruljević

This installation responds to recent innovations in automation and artificial intelligence, which change the way we think about labor and human value. As machines increasingly take over tasks once performed by humans, society faces the destabilization of work, especially in economies driven by neoliberal priorities like efficiency, standardization, and globalization. Those displaced by automation face not only economic hardship but also the loss of the social cohesion provided by the workplace.

The title of the piece references the chant heard during the 2017 protests in Charlottesville, USA, drawing attention to the dangerous societal repercussions when social questions raised by automation remain unaddressed. Through this work, I explored the concept of human redundancy in a world where creativity—once considered exclusively human—is now subject to mechanization. At its core, the installation juxtaposes hand-crafted elements against the precision of robotic arms, prompting viewers to question the role of human labor, creativity, and identity in a future increasingly dominated by machines.

Author: Duško Ruljević
Programming: Kai Karius
Special thanks to: Léa Briand, Arendt Gast, Jelena Jeremić, Peter Oldak, Ivana Ruljević