03-22, 12:00–13:30 (Europe/Amsterdam), Autonomy & Governance
Language: English (mozilla)
Hijacking digital sticky notes (familiar everyday technology — Miro[web]/Stickies[Mac]/Sticky Notes[Windows]) as a springboard for participants to destabilise the hegemonies of Big Tech and escape the gaze of “intuitive” UX design where features suit an assumed data-”validated” workflow. Participants will be guided in examining features and micro-interactions of sticky notes, hijacking these features to imagine new purposes — ultimately crafting interactive art with sticky notes.
It is virtually impossible to have an online existence that lives outside of Big Tech. If a complete rejection of Big Tech seems impossible, how might we reclaim tech autonomy for people, while acknowledging Big Tech yet not working within its paradigms?
Instead of looking towards “emerging technologies” (holding fallacious utopic promise which includes some while excluding Others) or even “alternatives” (centering Big Tech) — perhaps a more helpful approach involves a nuanced negotiation within Big Tech.
Many interventions of public street infrastructure exist that are lighthearted, even playful — why is there a hesitance to approach digital infrastructure the same way? Like street infrastructure, the tools of Big Tech can be hijacked and repurposed. Beyond imagining worldbuilding through code: the everyday user can imagine new worlds through technology using tools they are already familiar with. Doing unfamiliar actions or familiar actions towards unfamiliar ends builds agency and rapport with the machine.
If any of these tools become discontinued, understanding the malleability of tech can be carried over into new tools — or potentially help users create their own tools.
I'm Laurent(they/them), a queer non-binary Chinese Singaporean media artist, with a scientific background in Computing (Information Systems). I'm currently studying an MA in Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins. For the past 3 years, I’ve held 11 design jobs [full-time; part-time and freelance] in the Singaporean tech industry and music industry, and explored my personal practice outside of client commissions (both on my own and with collaborators) — while maintaining a full (sometimes higher) workload of classes, all at the same time.
My practice is heavily informed by my background and identity, as I (un)learn through making, and engage in making as a form of knowledge creation and sharing. My practice is always communal and conversational — mirroring everyday conversation which is rarely straightforward and occurs through constant, caring negotiation.
For an overview of my work, please visit: https://read.cv/laurent