Su[b]real Technologies: Navigating the Dichotomy Of Response to an Illusory Doomsday
This project addresses the dichotomy of human response to the perceived threat of reckless technological proliferation. It explores this using imaginary narratives as a tool for sociotechnical engagement. Both action, in the form of activism, and distraction, in the form of dissociative nihilism, are embraced by this su[b]real architectural proposal, which establishes a symbiosis between the two, reimagining nihilism as the very fuel of the revolution.
Our setting, The GUTE, was secretly constructed to safeguard technology from nuclear destruction, not protect any lifeforms, mind you, but instead protect cables and connections to ensure those far enough away could still call each other to talk about said destruction. However, in this story, the GUTE has undergone a rather topsy-turvy transformation. Radical hacktivists and “hysterical” cyber-feminists have taken over, or taken ‘under’, not to save the world from radioactive-induced radio silence but to shield it from the neoliberalist whims of tech capitalists. After all, every story has to have a villain. Now, don’t be fooled into thinking that the average citizen of Post-Mancunia has the foggiest notion of this cloak-and-dagger activism. Oh no, they’re too preoccupied dancing away their dread on the dancefloor. Meanwhile, our intrepid activists are siphoning off the wasted energy of these dissociative nihilists to power their arsenal of computers—perhaps the first time in history that despair has been converted into kilowatts.
