Tianju (TJ) Chen

Full-automatic Immaterial Labouring Series (FAILS)

A series of physical mechanism that camouflages the human behaviours. It aims to generate identical yet fake behavioural surplus to feed the centralised AI system.

Useless data wastes the computing power of AI and fool the prediction of personality, emotion, consumption choice, etc., thus effecting the credibility of the personalised advertisement system and the ‘behavioural futures market’ in which users’ future is merchandised (especially, as technology develops further, the ‘future of user’ is becoming more specific and detailed).

This series aims to actively devalue the users' personal behavioural surplus to balance the reciprocity between users and instrumentarian powers.

F.A.I.L.S.

"Full Automatic"

The project involves automation or the use of automated processes to a high degree. It implies that the project aims to minimise or eliminate manual intervention in the described activities.

"Immaterial Labour"

It is a concept that originated in Marxist theory and refers to labor that involves the production and manipulation of information, knowledge, or immaterial goods rather than physical goods. It often encompasses activities related to intellectual or creative work, such as digital content creation, design, programming, or knowledge-based services.

"Series"

The project consists of multiple products in series.

Full-automatic Immaterial Labouring Series One (FAILS-1)

FAILS-1 is an iterated version of De Analytica which targets the short video platforms, generating physical randomness to replace human decisions from the combination of vibration motor and accelerometer. 

It is a full automation of the labour of entertainment.

How does it work

It is a mediator between user and the digital devices. It is a physical replica of a user, generating devalued behaviours (Rather than devalued data) before the platforms translate behaviours into predictions.

It replaces ‘Which video are you going to watch, for how long and do you like it or not?’ with the results of the Physical Randomness Generator and the execution of it.

De Analytica

A physical mechanism that camouflages the human behaviours. It aims to generate identical yet fake behavioural surplus to feed the centralised AI system. Useless data wastes the computing power of AI and fool the prediction of personality, emotion, consumption choice, etc., thus effects the credibility of the personalised advertisement system which is the core of the Internet today, to actively devalue the behavioural surplus to balance the reciprocity.

The critical position - work and leisure

Through entertainment, labour was hidden behind play. Through Play, we are labouring ourselves.

The experience of using digital products has become more immersive and addictive bonding the users to generate more behavioural surplus (which is the interactive esingers’ work.)

The actual customers of the centralised AI platform like Facebook, are other enterprises rather than users of the platform. The increasing behavioural surplus was used to benefit their ‘real customers’, which turns the users into unpaid immaterial labour who are exploited.

Thus, the reciprocity was destroyed. Users are quantified data mines meanwhile offering labour to dig the mines themselves.

Interfaces

The temporary digital interface engraved into the permanent material like marble.

The critical position

It disturbs the perception - the familiarity of the pair of screen and information. It detached the digital interface from the screen - the glass.

The materiality of screen has been alterd. The information designed with immateriality obtained depth and weight in this case.

The information is the data storage. Data storage is interface itself. It is also with the standpoint of reflecting on the immaterial trend of technology. It costs no time to generate the digital page which you will never access again after closed it. Yet, the valueless page existed in seconds was documented into stone and it leaves Anthropological traces.

It is also a reflection on medium. It detached the functionality behind the interface - jumping to next one or linking to others. Thus the 'design' of the interface exposed.

Handles

A mirrored paradoxical functional pair of handles.

The object attached to the handle has been replaced with another handle fulfilling each other’s function.

Further Text

The object which is the target of the handle has been removed. Now the handle became the object of the other handle.

A handle is an interface of human body and the object. Through handles, human hand operates the tool. The handle is designed to help to make efforts as a part of a whole product. Now the new product became paradoxical. The function of the handle is to handle the other handle. Both handles fulfills each others predesigned functions - they are both subjects and objects. The meaning of interacting with them has converted into non-productivity - functional useless.

The screw hole is designed to fasten the handle and the object. Now through the same hole, handles are being fastened properly together.

The handle has the tendency of connecting to other objects which is the one of the purposes of a medium. Yet in this scenario, the tendencies has been mirrored pointing to each other side.

In Collaboration with:

Alexandra Arias, Raya Azar, Wiktoria Krukowska

PASED (Put The Ass Somewhere Else Device)

PASED (Put The Ass Somewhere Else Device) is a device. It allows users put a specific part of their body somewhere else.

It is a tool. Its function being fulfiled through turning its attachment into an object for supporting the subject - human. Thus the tool is for human enhancing or for objectifying others.

Context

‘Somewhere else’ indicates the functionality of this ‘device’ is displaced into some unexpected contexts - It is not a chair and not for the behaviour of ‘siting’ as ‘siting on the chair’.

Both the object and the meaning of the behaviour of engaging with it has been altered.

-

Further text

PASED begins with the irony of our inescapable anthropocentric present.

"The world is beneath your ass." This irony is both revolting and cynical. Design as human agency implements the the irony.

PASED is part of an exploration within the context of "The Disciplined Nature." The research investigates the complexities of human-nonhuman relationships in an alternative way.

Non-humans are converted into available resources for humans. We "materialise" others. I defined the "Human Gaze" through my research in 2019-2020 to describe this phenomenon. As an analogy to the "Male Gaze" which discusses male-female relationships, the ‘Human Gaze’ objectifies non-humans, whether consciously or unconsciously. For example, when we see a horse, we think of it for riding; when we think about a cow, the image of a steak comes to mind; an apple is considered delicious; a flower is seen as beautiful, and so on.

Vase

It is a series of vase that contains and displays parts from animals.

Context

A vase is a device extending and displaying the dying process of a piece of body from a plant.

Yet this Vase is a device designed to extend and display the dying process of a piece of body from an animal.

It is part of a research project named ‘The Disciplined Nature’ which briefly suggests the unavoidable anthropocentric human perception of the non-humans; design as the medium that augments human capability and disciplines the non-humans: ‘staying with troubles’ (derived theory from Donna Haraway’s) for the future survival of humanity.