Disobedient Objects – Week #1

The first session of Disobedient Objects revolved around an introduction to the topic and a short workshop project involving the construction of an object. We examined what it means for an object to be disobedient and explored the two strands of disobedience:

• To go against its own nature and behave differently than what is typically expected of that object – for example, a machine that does nothing but turn itself off
• To take a stance against a higher authority as an act of rebellion, disobeying and protesting

We examined a few examples of real-life disobedient objects within a lecture:

• TV-B-Gone (Mitch Altman)- a nearly-universal television remote designed to turn off televisions in places such as pubs or restaurants, where the noise isn’t necessarily appreciated by all. This object is disobedient as it disrupts the norm within the aforementioned environments.
• Menstruation Machine (Sputniko) – a metal device that dispenses fake blood and sends electrodes to the lower abdomen to simulate a menstrual cycle for those who don’t experience them. This object is disobedient as it defies the nature of the human body, delivering an experience that would be physically impossible for some.
• The Modular Body (Floris Kaayk) – a body split into multiple smaller parts that can be connected to each other in a modular sense. This object is disobedient as a body cannot really be attached and detached at will, it exists as a whole form and cannot have modules connected or disconnected.
• Trinity Cube (Trevor Paglen) – A cube made of radioactive material from the first ever nuclear bomb to be detonated, locked away in a highly irradiated zone that will be safe for the public to view between three to thirty thousand years. This object is disobedient because of its nature as an art piece, being created for human consumption yet locked away for no one to see – certainly not in this life time, at least.

In the following workshop, we created a simple catapult out of cheap materials found within the university’s FabLab. The catapult we created exists as a disobedient object through it’s nature of being a handheld projectile device (though certainly not powerful enough to cause real harm!)