We,Brute Force

Historical horse experiments, movement scores and questions of artificial intelligence meet across thirteen double-page spreads. The graphic novel follows how intelligence is attributed, how bodies are trained and how expectations shape the interpretation of another being.

Pao is a constructed language developed with a possible equine reader in mind. The choreography was developed independently of Pao, drawing on Charlotte Triebus’s poem Dark Horse. A Pao-based movement score was added during rehearsals. Falling, additional fingers and saliva are examined as concrete conditions of movement. A third reader — a person, a horse or another intelligence — brings another position from which the dance can be perceived and interpreted.

Augmented-reality elements connect the drawings with production photographs, historical images, animations and the poem Dark Horse. The publication gives access to the sources, decisions and open questions of the artistic process.