Buscava amor, encontrei computador. (I was looking for love, I found a computer)
Welcome to the maze of love and relationships. What is the path of love?
It has been traced before us, and we base our own possibilities on those who have taken them before. We have this false sensation of freedom, while in reality our paths depend on random choices made by others, before we even starting tracing our paths.
This is what this project is about. 100 words were shared between the authors through Whatsapp, words that represent their relationships. By creating a 10x10 grid with 100 words randomly positioned and using a random grid search with backtracking, approximately 100! * 4 * 2^100 different mazes can be created. This number obviously means two mazes will never be the same, even though created based on a single relationship that came before ours.
The mazes are drawn with ascii art, as to focus on the maze and remember us of the simplicity of the concept behind a maze. Ascii art also provides walls that can be penetrated. Because there are no rules on how to traverse the maze, some will jump walls. Some will not desire to search their love. Some define their love is themselves, some traverse as we “expect” the maze of love to be traversed.
Presented as a performance session at conferences, a common question and misconception is “the path I choose is actually based in your relationship, not mine”. It is true that the kernel of this work is based in the individual relationship between the artists and its unique daily experiences at that moment in time. However, millions trillions possible mazes are created, each one different from the other, showing how a individual perspective is capable of presenting universal possibilities, which are then materialized through the participant’s choices, arriving back again at their individual experience. Individual to universal to individual.
Besides, life lays a maze of love in front of us, and we are responsible for making our choices and rules, according to the maze presented in front of us. We are not masters of all variables. The artists, as creators, retain control while allowing for free will.
