Critical Digital Making in Art Education. Группа авторов
and intra-action is similar to the difference between human-machine and the environment regarding intra-action. Barad describes the machine as the apparatus, a material-discursive practice, not merely a machine set-up that embodies human concepts. “The apparatus specifies an agential cut that enacts a resolution (within a phenomena) of the semantic, as well as ontic, indeterminacy” (Barad, 2007, p. 149). Apparatuses are dynamic material reconfigurations of the world and are also a specific phenomenon as parts of the entire phenomena produced (Barad, 2003, 2007).
An example of a traditional view on human-machine interaction is the relation between humans and sound technology. We turn the machine on or off, we tune the sound or adjust other levels on a scale between minimum and maximum. However, sound is a phenomenon that could be further explored beyond these thresholds. Sound waves extend the movement of air pressure and acoustic energy through air, water, or any other material. When these vibrations are detected by our body they cause our body to vibrate, which in turn sends an electrical signal to our brain. Our brain perceives these electrical signals as sounds. As technology, audio systems deal with acoustic energy that has been translated into electrical signals and further modified by electronic circuits which are powered by energy. The concept of material relations is hidden in a system based on interaction, which assumes that there are separate individual agencies, you and the system that precedes the interaction. In intra-action, distinct agencies do not precede action, but rather merge through their intra-action (Barad, 2007). By engaging through intra-action one becomes more vulnerable, but also more able to respond. As our own being comes from the relation, a negotiation of responsibility as part of respond-ability is already active (Barad, 2014; Trinh, 2011). Ethics is therefore an important part of the continuing event. Ethics do not belong to preparations or as a finishing critical reflection, but instead need to be active especially when surprising phenomena and experiences appear. This negotiation of responsibility is where many phenomena arise through material, and environmental engagement.
In the following example, the privilege of a constant and reliable access to electricity becomes apparent. When a solar cell is hit by the sun, it temporarily supplies energy to an audio system. If you power the audio system by using solar cells and place them in the sunniest spot, you will be able to listen to music or sound. When the sun is absent, there is no longer any power to supply your system and therefore, no music or sound. When using the sun as the power supply, one becomes reliant on the local weather. In opposition to the use of batteries, with solar energy, one cannot be sure when the system is ready to use and for how long. The battery delivers absolute values of energy, and the solar cell supplies renewable ←38 | 39→energies evoking relations to the energy supplied by the sun. Both sound, electricity, and the control of electricity are phenomena that arise, depending on specific designs of this vague event. In a future of scarce electricity and utter dependence on solar power, partnering up with the sun means that one would have to adapt to waiting for energy. For example, during Nordic winters we have very limited sun due to our proximity to the Arctic Circle. When the sun’s participation is a critical part of listening, we will lose control of the event. In the summertime, the situation is the opposite; the energy from the sun, in some locations, is available both day and night. Our control of energy is a hidden privilege and most often taken for granted. We are not used to not having constant access to energy. Our relation to energy is usually an on-off relationship—we usually never have to consider anything else other than switching on or off the electricity. Experiences of saving, waiting and not being in control could actually turn out to be a future skill in a less controllable environment of energy.
The concept of intra-action helps to materially and discursively deconstruct the dichotomy of turning something ON and OFF, and turns it into a performative relation open to change and difference. Barad argues that we are part of the world through intra-action. Intra-action is “cutting-together apart (one move)” (Barad, 2014, p. 168). But how does this work? To understand this, we need to begin thinking of borders and differences in a new way, one that does not have difference set against sameness (Trinh, 2011). In intra-action the differences are iteratively and repeatedly on-going, never closed, refusing to sit still. Barad claims, “Intra-actions are constraining but not determining” (2014). This gives hope since that which looks hopelessly determined and dead can come alive, and be an example of change. Technology, pedagogy, and art are all constraining, but no constraint needs to exist forever, or for that matter as determining (Taylor, 2016).
In order to introduce intra-action as part of these particular material-digital sound events, it is useful to continue with the envisioning of a border as difference. A border is the slash between the M as in male and F as in female when filling in a form; it is the distinction we make between foreign and domestic. A dichotomy cuts into two. A dichotomy can also be a student finding out about a pass or fail on an exam, or the flipping of a light switch, ON-OFF, ON-OFF—only two to choose from. It is a performed and relational dichotomy of ON on one side of the border and OFF on the other side of the border.
In understanding the everyday use of a light switch in an event, it is helpful to consider something we usually perceive as faulty—a loose connection. A loose connection creates a flickering of light instead of a stable light. Electrical devices that mimic the flickering of candlelight, like tea-lights running on batteries, have proven that flickering can be appreciated and thought of as valuable in certain circumstances. An experimental intra-action light switch causes more effects of differences to appear, enhances engagement and material relation, and ←39 | 40→questions the discursive value systems embedded in the words candlelight and loose connection.
Within the events described in this chapter, both humans and technology are engaged in different forms of doings and agencies. Matter, including bodies and technology, is “substance in its intra-active becoming—not a thing but a doing, a congealing of agency” (Barad, 2007, p. 151; author italics). For example, an ON OFF switch is really just a un/closing of a circuit, and this circuit could happen somewhere else than between a design packaged switch and human body. On the one hand, the example of a loose connection the circuit is un/closing embedded in technology. On the other hand, a person is trying to fit a battery in its holder and creates a flickering; the closing of circuit is part of movements of the human body. The body and environment, and body and mind, are seen as a whole and foundational to the material sound examples and vague events (Taylor, 2016). This means that the senses or parts of the body (like the hand) are not considered in singularity but always as an inherent part of the body. The body is neither a closed entity with defined agency nor a finalized representation, even if it is utilized as such. “A body as such does not exist—a body is not, it does” (Manning, 2009, p. 212; author italics). A technological listening device and a body together could, therefore, be thought of as an apparatus of listening. In an intra-action experiment, this means that when one uses earphones, the human and technological divide is not necessarily the most important or meaningful division to consider. Other phenomena that occur during events should be noted. In the vague events, we look for other meaningful divisions, differences, and borders other than those between the human and the machine. These border differences and divisions can be embedded in technology, for example, as threshold values. These differences can also be thought of as part of bodies, or the environment as a sources of technology, body movement, or listening.
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