Surrogate of communication

The influential sociologist Sherry Turkle, who examines how digital technologies impact on interpersonal relationships and communication, arrives at a tough diagnosis in her latest book “Alone together”: while smartphones, social networks, robopets and the like satisfy our craving for fellowship and community with others – they completely suppress all risk, genuine closeness and serious interaction. ESC im LABOR is now applying this analysis to current art production, creating an experimental set-up which undermines this development: the participating artists choose one or more tools from their own production, a tape recorder, Geiger counter or piece of software, and turn it into the object of scrutiny itself, interacting closely with an engineer or art theorist.