In Jan Hottmann’s video work, an animated male figure interacts with a humanoid robot. With “Man and Machine”, the artist questions traditional ideals of masculinity. Many still uphold the image of the rational man—emotionally restrained, strong, persistent, and unwavering. An ideal perfectly suited to a neoliberal worldview. But is the humanoid figure, familiar from films like Terminator, the ultimate embodiment of this ideal? The better man? The perfect homo economicus? Or is Hottmann instead exposing how outdated these ideals have become?

Moving beyond gender clichés, the work points to empathy, care, and a sense of community as the true foundations of human coexistence. These qualities also make us vulnerable—and deeply human. Perhaps this very capacity for sensitivity marks the essential difference between humans and machines.

With “Man and Machine”, Hottmann tells a story that challenges rigid gender roles and invites us to reflect on what a more resilient, inclusive, and forward-thinking understanding of masculinity might look like.

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Jan Hottmann, born in 1986, studied Fine Arts at the ABK Stuttgart and graduated in 2024 as a master student in the Weissenhof program. For Hottmann, photography is more than a descriptive tool—it is a medium that constructs its own reality from the world it captures. His works have been featured in numerous exhibitions, including the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg and Villa Merkel in Esslingen. Several of his pieces are part of the collection at the MK&G Hamburg.