16 Nov 22
I recently visited this installation/performance/instrument presented at IKLECTIK. Made up of four input/output stations, the piece is organised as a loop representing a body obedient under continous labour in the digital realm. However, under strain the data being passed through the system degrades and breaks down. The non sentient machine quickly consumes and forgets interaction given to it yet demands more and more input. The ear, eye, stomach and mouth independent yet reliant on each other spit out data in sound, voice, visual and text forms in an unpredictable, almost broken manner. Needing constant exchange for the cycle to continue, communicating with the fragile system becomes an electronic ritual of sorts as the installation is worked on by the audience and staff. This perhaps represents the futility of the cycle of our modern day lives or the systems in which we live. Laborious consumption and decay. Or could be seen as our imperfect bodies trying to make sense of a world of misinterpretation and chance. The electronic/digital/mechanical translation of the senses draws parallels to the processing nature of our brains and bodies yet highlights the dichotomy of simple yet complex human functions. Furthermore, the machine is simultaniously played with and grappled with to keep control. The play on the words In-grid names the system and suggests it is more human after all, in a living and breathing cycle of interaction, perception and communication.
