Note: If you see this text you use a browser which does not support usual Web-standards. Therefore the design of Media Art Net will not display correctly. Contents are nevertheless provided. For greatest possible comfort and full functionality you should use one of the recommended browsers.
Peter Dittmer «Managing Thing [The Wet Nurse The Wet Nurse 2]» | Managing Things [The Wet Nurse The Wet Nurse 2]
Peter Dittmer, «Managing Thing [The Wet Nurse The Wet Nurse 2]», 1992
Managing Things [The Wet Nurse The Wet Nurse 2] | Photograph: Minima Media – Medienbiennale Leipzig | © Peter Dittmer
The user enters into a dialogue with the computer via keyboard and monitor Dialog. The computer has 6 language production vehicles available: die program machine, the identification apparatus, the judgement of the situation, the reaction apparatus, the stock of contradictions and the contradiction formation apparatus. The computer's replies (text, graphics, sounds) are formed via a reply module and programmed instructions, creating the impression of an intelligent, free and easy or shameless interlocutor. If the dialogue reaches the machine's 'excited condition', a glass of milk is poured out into the showcase. The 'Wet Nurse's' conversational competence has been continuously expanded since 1992 – using minuted conversations. The program now has over 120,000 reply modules and over 16,000 identification variables available.


 Peter Dittmer
«Managing Thing [The Wet Nurse The Wet Nurse 2]»

Via the keyboard and screen, the user enters into a dialogue with the computer (as in 1994 at ‘Minima Media – Medienbiennale' in Leipzig, seen here). The computer offers six vehicles for the production of language: a program machine, an identification apparatus, an appraisal of the situation, a response apparatus, a store of contradictions and an apparatus for formulating contradictions. The computer's responses, which take the form of text, graphics or sounds, make users feel that they are conducting a conversation with an opposite number who is at once intelligent, sloppy and insulting. If the dialogue reaches a point at which the machine becomes ‘excited' a glass of milk is spilled in a glass case. Using recorded conversations, the repertoire of the ‘nurse' has been continually expanded since 1992: at present, the program offers approximately 120,000 answer modules and more than 16,000 identification variables.

IA