Robert Bean on Obsolescence and the Culture of Human Invention

http://www.robertbean.ca/
http://www.obsolescence.ca/bean.php


The research and creation associated with Obsolescence and the Culture of Human Invention is informed by the fact that material obsolescence in industrial culture is also the product of research methodologies. From as early as 1932, manufacturers from industrial economies have been actively researching and implementing the failure of design and technology into our lived experience. By scientifically quantifying and perfecting obsolescence in products, the continuous and accelerating consumption of manufactured products has been assured. The consequences of this development are considerable. Obsolescence, whether material or spiritual, becomes one of the most relevant developments of our time. The research associated with poetic and artistic creation may not share the methodologies of research formed by instrumental objectives. Culture, myth and metaphor are familiar to the process of creative and poetic research. How will artistic creation and research based in new technologies provide a renewed insight into the predicaments of obsolete things and experiences and how can this shape and influence the insight, future and wellbeing of our culture?

Obsolescence and the Culture of Human Invention will cover a three-year investigation into language, technology and artistic production in the context of digital media. The research documented and produced interdisciplinary artwork influenced by the culture and language of machines and obsolescence. The physical contact with the object was used as a procedure for remembering an obsolete technology that has influenced and predated his experience. The cultural complexity of the apparatus, its design, function, and mechanical precision were conveyed through this process of disassembly. The labour that fabricated and implemented the writing machine was also revealed. This project is an exploration of organic and inorganic memory through the borders and interface that continue to define the human experience with machines.

We are specifically interested in the creative and critical potential that technology and cultural obsolescence necessitates. Rather than presuming that obsolescence is inherently defined by loss and nostalgia, we will actively engage methods of creation that generate and inspire production concurrent with the processes of obsolescence. How can the excess of technological obsolescence inspire creative activities and circumstances?

There is an apparent contradiction in naming obsolescence as the subject of an extensive research project into creativity. Research methodology is traditionally associated with progress, development, and the brand new. Consequently, researching the imaginative and productive potentiality of outmoded culture and technology advances an inverse relationship that may appear obsolete to the conventional language of research. This is a critical paradox of our time as well as a principle question to investigate during the research / creation project. How are we as artists and producers affected by the experiences of obsolescence at this moment in time? How does this situation influence our perception, intuition, sensorial experience and our creative activities? The project profiled the ingenuity and resourcefulness that the artists brought to the contingencies of material and cultural obsolescence in an era of unprecedented technological advancement.