Monstruous Machines
© Jenny Brockmann
Project information
submitted by
Henning Schmidgen
Co-Authors
Jenny Brockmann, Salma Pethö-Zayed, Mathias Schönher, Henning Schmidgen
Mentors
Jenny Brockmann, Salma Pethö-Zayed, Mathias Schönher, Henning Schmidgen
Faculty:
Media
Degree programme:
Media Studies (Master of Arts (M.A.)),
Media Art and Design (Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.)),
Media Studies (Bachelor of Arts (B.A.))
Type of project presentation
Presentation
Semester
Summer semester 2023
- Schwanseestraße 143 - S143
Project description
"Animism/Maschinism" is characterized by the combination of methods and approaches from recent science and technology studies, philosophical analysis and criticism, as well as artistic research.
Our starting point is the notion that our world appears more than ever as an animistic world. One reason for this lies in the developments in the field of "smart objects" and "intelligent environments." AI voice assistants like Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa create the impression that we are dealing with devices that possess an individual personality, or soul. We communicate with them as if they were assistants with a personality of their own. At the same time, the developments in ubiquitous computing lead to environments have their own power and agency, thus experiencing a kind of re-vitalization. Their equipment with technological components creates sensitive spaces that, for example, self-regulate their atmospheric properties, such as their lighting and temperature. The project investigates how these developments change the way we deal with media technologies.
The research project is based at the Chair of Media Theory and History of Science (Schmidgen) and is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).