What does the machine want? Two cases of accidental translation in speculative cosmotechnics
Antonio Lasalvia, Filipa Frois Almeida, Hugo Reis, Filipe Afonso · Electronic workshops in computing · 2024
This article presents two transdisciplinary works realized between art, education and industry in order to rethink the technical realm beyond ordinary human-oriented assumptions about instrumental use. The argument builds on Bruno Latour’s concept of translation in order to propose a contingencybased approach for using analog and electronic machines. The question behind this idea is simple: how can we productively deal with technological translations in order to cultivate a new imaginary based on collaboration instead of exploitation? A possible answer is rehearsed as we analyze two case studies led by the Portuguese studio FAHR 021.3. These works were carried in two distant geographies and established different theoretical relations to practice: one came from a conceptual challenge posed in an industrial context in Portugal and another was the result of a didactical inquiry in partnership with the University of Saint Joseph’s Robotic Lab, in Macau. In both cases, the surprising results came from deliberately following the faculties of machines beyond their calculated behaviors. Both experiences invest in a cosmotechnics purposefully open-ended and oriented toward the enhancement of unpredictability in digital and analog mediums. What does the machine want? If we entertain this question seriously and methodically, we may arrive at unforeseen answers.