12.6.2009

In my attempt to dig deeper and figure out what’s working and what’s not so far, I took my “Personal Life of an Electronic Object” experimental series and turned it into a book.

The first section is a memoir of my thesis journey so far, written from the idea of seeing myself as an imperfect piece of electronic. It was printed on 12”x9” pulp paper.
The second section is the part that was printed on tabloid extra newsprint. It contains three short stories written about the “Personal Life of an Electronic Object” machines from the perspective of the machines. Each story is accompanied with corresponding photographs illustrating their form and environment.
The last section contains a quote from Kevin Kelly’s “7th Kingdom of Life”, which is put to tie in the former two chapters.

I’ve kept any wrinkles and discoloration, both which I am able to call “imperfections” because it for one, lets every book be unique, and two, fits into the theme, “perfectly”.

This project gave me a great chance to reflect on my whole term and objectively and subjectively analyze what I’ve earned from it. This may not have been the most productive exercise that would directly push myself to the next level but it was definitely a nice opportunity to meditate and clean up my thoughts.

On a different note, writing the short stories really did give me a more productive outcome. I thought more about the idea of “play” and “labor”. It seems like the idea of “labor” is what we perceive in electronic objects today—as utilitarian tools. TOOLS. On the other hand, the very idea that a machine to “play” during its “down-time”—which I am defining as the time it is not in use” presents a different thought. A machine will never have consciousness the way a human being would. I am borrowing humanly “play” to suggest that a machine is having fun, for it is only the human who can consciously state that a machine is having fun. At the end, it is us who will look at a machine and say if it is “having fun” or “working hard”. Other humanly traits I borrowed were ideas of having a pet, being placed in a competitive situation,  having an unexplainable obsession or hobby, and relying on others—showing social traits.

Learning from this project, I have decided to write blog entries on what a machine may think, perceive and feel, though they may not be short stories.