Before Viktor there was Hektor, a relatively simple spray-can output device driven by two motors. Both are amalgams of digital and mechanical technologies – collages of tools invented for other uses. Far from being closed mechanical devices – black boxes between creative impulse and output – the concern of Hektor and now Viktor is the nuanced interaction between the user and the technologies of communication.

In response to the position of such technologies, Lehni together with Alex Rich started an ongoing e-mail correspondence about various devices, systems and technologies with which their work had a resonance. Lehni and Rich constructed an archive A Recent History of Writing & Drawing and which inspired their installation at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2008).

Upending assumptions that any one kind of communication is more authentic, more direct or more valid that any other, A Recent History of Writing & Drawing finds meaning, texture and poetry in the most unlikely places. Things to Say (Viktor) is the first in a series of collected drawings produced in collaboration with invited guests to perform with Viktor every Thursday evening at the ICA throughout the duration of the exhibition, curated by Emily King.