Jürg Lehni & Uli Franke
2002 ~

Hektor is a portable spray paint output device for computers. It was created in collaboration with engineer Uli Franke for Jürg Lehniʼs diploma project at ECAL (École cantonale dʼart de Lausanne) in 2002.

Hektor’s light and fragile mechanism consists only of two motors, toothed belts and a spray can holder. By the means of geometric triangulation and gravity, a custom software moves the spray can along predefined drawing paths and remotely activates the can’s nozzle.

DSC_0362
Hektor Meets Dexter Sinister, Dexter Sinister & Jürg Lehni, 2007
Swiss Institute, New York
IMG_3547
Hektor Meets William Morris, Will Holder & Jürg Lehni, 2003
Touretteʼs II, Gallery W139, Amsterdam
129-2961_IMG
Hektor Draws a Landscape, Alex Rich & Jürg Lehni, 2003
Lee 3 Tau Ceti Central Armory Show, Villa Arson, Nice
DSC_0576
Making Do 2, Signage designed by Daniel Harding, Tomas Celizna & Jürg Lehni, 2007
Green Gallery, Yale University School of Art, New Haven
DSC_1355
Hektor Titles a Show, Jürg Lehni, 2008
Design And The Elastic Mind, MoMA, New York
DSC04725
Autoportrait, Alex Rich & Jürg Lehni, 2006
By Trico, Fukuoka, Japan
Hektor-Circles
Hektor Circles, Laurenz Brunner & Jürg Lehni, 2007
The Artist Network, New York
DSC01345
Hektor Tags Bergen, Jürg Lehni & Uli Franke, 2004
DETOX, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway
Hektor-Suitcase
The Hektor suitcase
Hektor-Parts
Hektorʼs various components

Due to mechanismʼs fragile nature, Hektor appears to be in constant negotiation with gravity, causing it to sometimes tremble and wobble.

The machine was created to explore the ambiguous and poetic qualities that stem from the contrast between these low-tech aspects and the precision of the vector graphics technology that is at work behind the scenes. Following the urge to make a statement on today’s clean computer aesthetics, Hektor was conceived as a post-industrial tool that is allowed to be imprecise and convey these abstract mathematical geometries in a different, sometimes almost human way — a tool with an inherently particular and distinctive aesthetic.

Through the years, Hektorʼs nature and aesthetic was explored through many projects in different contexts, often in collaboration with other artists and designers. These works gave Hektor its character and became the machine’s body of work.

Hektor Draws a Landscape, Alex Rich & Jürg Lehni, 2003
Lee 3 Tau Ceti Central Armory Show, Villa Arson, Nice
You-Are-Here
Signage designed with Laurent Benner and Jonathan Hares for You Are Here:
The Design of Information
, Design Museum London, 2005

Hektor is controlled by a bespoke software written in Scriptographer, running inside Adobe Illustrator.

A geometric path-finding algorithm calculates the motion paths required by the fragile mechanical installation to move smoothly and not lose the battle against gravity.

The algorithm then translates these paths into rotations of the two stepper motors that position the spray-can, and coordinates the pressing of its nozzle.