Amongst rising anxieties about Al and the blurring line that differentiates us from them,
家電是家人 (Machines to Love) pauses, takes a breath and champions the already existing appliances and electronics in our lives. Besides the developing tech practices in post-capitalism, can we Love the person who blows wind in our bedrooms when it's hot out? Or the person who keeps our produce fresh? What about the nice people who wash and dry our clothes? What does that Love feel like? Visitors are asked to explore these concepts in website format, choosing how much they want to discover before closing the tab.
Invisibility has been the dictating factor of what "good design" looks like. If we don't know who gathers the materials, who builds them together, and who gets our things to us, indifference becomes easy. Our friends and family are rendered as nobodies for the sake of an efficiency that solely depends on us, but does not know who we are. But what about our electrical friends and family that run our households? Dismantling the powers of invisibility begins in our homes.
On a different scale, this exhibition wonders who can be Loved and when the loving stops. Where is the line drawn between Loveable humanness and disposable thingness? Why is there a line? I look to the agency of non-human entities, present in indigenous epistemologies and westernised as Object Oriented Ontology, as a core ethic in this project. This work is also informed by bell hooks' All About Love: New Visions that defines Love in clear tangible terms (versus the mystification of Love in media). The first step to Loving is knowing how to Love. Love is wholly made of care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust and it is not considered Love if one of these pillars are missing.
Do you know who your dishwasher is?
Mantis 美 Mei Bio:
I am still little. So I play. Gift giving and hanging out and LOVINGG!!! is a part of my practice. Through my work, I ask you to consider laughing (hehe hahahaha) and smiling ( sometimes crying (wahhh wahhh) together as forms of community building.
Fun facts about me:
- I am super young and cute. And overall irresistible. And young.
- My favourite family guy quote "Love is like a fart. If you have to force it, it's probably crap."
- ^Just kidding. I've never watched family guy
Programming Artist in Residence (PAiR):
Jessica Szeto (she/her) is a writer, designer, and software developer who was born in and is currently based in Mohkinstsis/Calgary. She has a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Calgary, where her specialization was in interaction design and information visualization. She is primarily interested in exploring the ways people interact with technology, science, and history. Her latest work was shown in the Good Job Arcade exhibition at TRUCK Contemporary Art and the We Were Here: Stories of Chinatown exhibit at Lougheed House and Heritage Park.
Invisibility has been the dictating factor of what "good design" looks like. If we don't know who gathers the materials, who builds them together, and who gets our things to us, indifference becomes easy. Our friends and family are rendered as nobodies for the sake of an efficiency that solely depends on us, but does not know who we are. But what about our electrical friends and family that run our households? Dismantling the powers of invisibility begins in our homes.
On a different scale, this exhibition wonders who can be Loved and when the loving stops. Where is the line drawn between Loveable humanness and disposable thingness? Why is there a line? I look to the agency of non-human entities, present in indigenous epistemologies and westernised as Object Oriented Ontology, as a core ethic in this project. This work is also informed by bell hooks' All About Love: New Visions that defines Love in clear tangible terms (versus the mystification of Love in media). The first step to Loving is knowing how to Love. Love is wholly made of care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust and it is not considered Love if one of these pillars are missing.
Do you know who your dishwasher is?
Mantis 美 Mei Bio:
I am still little. So I play. Gift giving and hanging out and LOVINGG!!! is a part of my practice. Through my work, I ask you to consider laughing (hehe hahahaha) and smiling ( sometimes crying (wahhh wahhh) together as forms of community building.
Fun facts about me:
- I am super young and cute. And overall irresistible. And young.
- My favourite family guy quote "Love is like a fart. If you have to force it, it's probably crap."
- ^Just kidding. I've never watched family guy
Programming Artist in Residence (PAiR):
Jessica Szeto (she/her) is a writer, designer, and software developer who was born in and is currently based in Mohkinstsis/Calgary. She has a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Calgary, where her specialization was in interaction design and information visualization. She is primarily interested in exploring the ways people interact with technology, science, and history. Her latest work was shown in the Good Job Arcade exhibition at TRUCK Contemporary Art and the We Were Here: Stories of Chinatown exhibit at Lougheed House and Heritage Park.