In an era defined by AI prompts, tweets, posts, and the compression of information, short artistic verbal instructions, also called performance scores, provide a particularly fitting mirror to examine the intricacies of our short-text defined daily lives.

`3* !` is a publication consisting of 99 conceptual performance scores, written over the course of roughly one year. The book as such is composed of two parts. The digital part, in which I spread the 99 scores over 99 different comment sections across various websites (always signed with Hornemann, C. (2024), Score XX/99, 3* !), as well as a printed book part (archive of a digitally dispersed performance scorebook), which contains QR codes to all the comments.

Example of a score published in a comment section on LinkedIn.

In this double-format, I challenged myself to examine the possibilities of an artist’s book in the post-digitization era. Like single cards or pamphlets scattered throughout a city, the scores were spread like digital debris all over the internet for everyone to read, but in book form still keep the familiar, easy-to-read aspect of a classic book.

The title `3* !` is written in HTML and stands for `3* !` or more simply !!!, accentuating the merging of digital and analog and referring to the number of 99 (3*33) scores as well as the edition of 99 books. This merging is also visible in the combination of printed circuit boards (PCBs) as book covers and the use of the Coptic binding, a bookbinding method dating back to the 2nd century AD.

In their concise form and language, the scores maneuver between humor, poetry, and strict instructions and were inspired by the works of various artists of the Fluxus movement, especially Yoko Ono. In their content, the scores are aimed at inspiring reflections on our daily lives, possible futures, as well as the relationships between humans and non-human agents.

Edition of 99, 10×10 cm, front and back cover made out of PCB, printed on recycled paper, handmade, available for purchase

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Some of the scores are works of art that are better realized in the mind rather than being performed. Others are actually performable, like the two following scores that were shown as part of the master project exhibition:

LIVING SCORE (DEM DRECK 2)

Put sheets of paper out in different streets, apartments, fridges, or any other preferable spaces. Let traces of rain/dirt/stains/mold form on the paper sheets until you think they are beautiful, then collect them. Let the traces be interpreted by humans (for example by dance or on instruments) and by machines (for example by an img-to-img AI or img-to-text AI).

variation 1: instead of paper, use petri dishes with a growth medium.

variation 2: let the debris form during the time of the exhibition and perform the changing score at different times.

score 3/99

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PAINT WITH YOUR SADNESS (TRÄNEN SÄEN)

(1) Put dry watercolors on a paper.
(2) Cry on it (you may want to watch the news for help).

score 80/99