Developing ALPS : notes on agency in technology
Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia
2022
Tohtoritutkinto. Kehittäjäkoulutus
Pysyvä osoite
Verkkojulkaisu
Tiivistelmä
"Developing ALPS — Notes on Agency in Technology" collects the written outcomes
of my applied doctorate in music (scientific strand). This thesis is a report and a
reflection on the development of tracking technology for use in interactive sonic arts.
It outlines its background, methods and outcomes, a collection of articles marking
milestones within the project, and a reflection on agency in technologies – digital
ones in particular. Taking my own (music-)technological practice as a starting point,
I scrutinise the notion of agency in human-machine interactions and relations, both
in the post-humanist conception and with respect to the Gaia principle.
Chapter 1 details the project’s technical background and acoustic localisation techniques, and introduces the development method, a combination of interdisciplinary free improvisation, and concepts from participatory design. Chapter 2 summarises the articles published as part of the project. Articles I and II present the project’s background, a literature review, and the rationale for an implementation; articles III and IV detail application scenarios, proofs of concept, and first prototypes. Article V presents detailed requirements for the implementation, which are described in detail in Article VI. Articles VII and VIII discuss underlying issues affecting development and the use of technologies in the arts.
In my artistic practice, questions often arise about agency in artificial intelligence. In
response to these concerns, I hypothesise in chapter 3 that the code-structures which
constitute language, music, and computational machines are related. Consequently,
machines can be conceptualised as extensions of human cognition. From the understanding of cognition as an active (motor) performance, it follows that it is the
prerogative of living organisms. Chapter 4 is motivated by the question of the impact
of technical objects on our surroundings. Bruno Latour’s description of the technical
mode of existence is based on Simondon’s mode of existence of the technical object.
Yet, the two descriptions differ. An aspect of Simondon’s account, the directionality
of everything technical towards materials, becomes lost in Latour’s account. I call
this appropriation the technical’s modus operandi. This reading differs from the way
Latour uses the term in his reading of James Lovelock’s Gaia theory. Whereas Latour
posits that necessary order derives from territory, I emphasise that the negotiation
between all actants are precedent to order. Through this negotiation, our actions
are appropriate whenever we interact consciously-technically with the world.
ISBN
978-952-329-287-1
Aihealue
OKM-julkaisutyyppi
Emojulkaisu
Lehti
Julkaisusarja
Studia musica|92
ISSN
2489-8155
DOI
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