Articulating Novelty in Science and Art: The Comparative Technography of a Robotic Hand and a Media Art Installation

250 Pages·2017·11.29 MB·English

by  Dr. Julian Stubbe (auth.)

Julian Stubbe
Articulating Novelty
in Science and Art
The Comparative Technography
of a Robotic Hand and a Media Art
Installation
Articulating Novelty in Science and Art
Julian Stubbe
Articulating Novelty
in Science and Art
The Comparative Technography
of a Robotic Hand and a Media Art
Installation
Julian Stubbe
Berlin, Germany
Unter dem Titel „Articulating Novelty in Science and Art. A Technography of Two
Objects“ zugelassene Dissertation an der Technischen Universität Berlin, 2016
OnlinePlus material on this book can be found on
http://www.springer.com/978-3-658-18979-2
ISBN 978-3-658-18978-5 ISBN 978-3-658-18979-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-18979-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017946923
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Acknowledgments

I would like to begin my acknowledgements by thanking Raphael Deimel and
Ralf Baecker, the two protagonists of the following story, who let me into their
laboratory and studio so as to learn about their work and the significance of
technological objects for epistemic and aesthetic practice. I wish them all the
best for their careers and hope both read this account with interest as well as joy.
I am particularly indebted to my supervisor Werner Rammert for the inspir-
ing discussions and the support he gave me throughout the project. His rejection
of dogmatic theory as well as his critical deconstruction of technology in society
without escaping into intellectual skepticism deeply inspired this study. I am
indebted also to my second supervisor Estrid Sørensen, who provided valuable
comments that undoubtedly improved my work.
I am thankful to the graduate school “Innovation Society Today: The Re-
flexive Creation of Novelty” at which this study was conducted. The four years
of this study have been a wonderful and inspiring time especially due to our
cordial atmosphere, the intense discussions at colloquia, workshops, and over
lunch. I am particularly grateful to Dzifa Ametowobla, Jan-Peter Ferdinand,
Miira Hill, Robert Jungmann, Uli Meyer, Jan-Hendrik Passoth, Fabian Schroth,
Alexander Wentland, and Emily York, who read parts of my study and the relat-
ed papers and provided rich comments and ideas.
Finally, this study would have never seen the light of day without Sabine
and her continuous encouragement and emotional support, for which I thank her
deeply.
Contents

PART I: Introduction, Study Design, and Theory

1  Novelty and Technological Objects ......................................................... 15 
1.1  Introducing the RBO Hand and Mirage .......................................... 20 
1.1.1  The RBO Hand and the Development of Robotic Hands ................ 21 
1.1.2  Mirage and the Advent of Technologies in Art ............................... 25 
1.2  Study Design I: Shaking off Taken-for-Granted Labels .................. 30 
1.3  Theoretical Perspectives: Invention, Differential Pattern, or
Biographical Passage ....................................................................... 31 
1.3.1  Novelty as Invention ........................................................................ 32 
1.3.2  Novelty as Differential Pattern ........................................................ 37 
1.3.3  Novelty as Biographical Passage ..................................................... 42 
1.4  Toward Novelty as Articulation ...................................................... 48 
1.4.1  Articulation ...................................................................................... 50 
1.4.2  Figures ............................................................................................. 54 
1.4.3  Technicity ........................................................................................ 58 
1.4.4  Enactment ........................................................................................ 62 
1.5  Study Design II: Abstraction, Critique, and Comparison
as Method ........................................................................................ 64 
1.6  Overview of the Study ..................................................................... 67

PART II: Analysis: Three Articulations of Novelty

2  Identity: How Loose Elements are Connected ....................................... 73 
2.1  Enacting the Past through Stories and Their Tangible Traces ......... 75 
2.1.1  Stories of Deviation ......................................................................... 75
8 Contents
2.1.2  Material Traces ................................................................................ 78 
2.2  Enacting Potentials through Figures, Prototypes, and Bodies ......... 83 
2.2.1  Ideas and Their Figures ................................................................... 83 
2.2.2  Embodying Material Potentials ....................................................... 88 
2.2.3  The Bodily Rendering of Future Objects ......................................... 90 
2.3  Articulating an Object Identity ........................................................ 95 
2.3.1  Four Articulations of Ideas .............................................................. 95 
2.3.2  Object Identities ............................................................................... 97 
2.3.3  Novelty as Object Identity ............................................................. 104

3  Form: How Materials Become Effective ............................................... 107 
3.1  Formats and Their Technical Features ........................................... 111 
3.1.1  Technical Features of Robotic Hands ............................................ 112 
3.1.2  Technical Features of Cybernetic Machines .................................. 115 
3.1.3  Formats and Their Core Functionalities ........................................ 118 
3.2  Hybrid Constellations, Inquiries, and Distributed Agency ............ 119 
3.2.1  Robotics Infrastructure and “Everyday Life” in the Laboratory .... 120 
3.2.2  Anticipated Conditions and Inquiries with Open Hardware
in the Studio ................................................................................... 124 
3.2.3  Distributed Agency ........................................................................ 128 
3.3  Assembling Technical Forms ........................................................ 130 
3.3.1  Embodiment as Epistemic and Artistic Stance .............................. 131 
3.3.2  Materials and Manufacturing Method ........................................... 134 
3.3.3  Kinematic Architectures ................................................................ 139 
3.3.4  Actuation ....................................................................................... 141 
3.3.5  Sensors and Input Signals .............................................................. 144 
3.3.6  Converters ...................................................................................... 146 
3.3.7  Outputs .......................................................................................... 148 
3.4  Articulating Novelty through Technical Forms ............................. 154 
3.5  Excursus: Two Techno-Aesthetics ................................................ 158
Contents 9
4  Difference: How Categories are Valorized ........................................... 161 
4.1  Discursive Practices ....................................................................... 166 
4.1.1  Conferences, Festivals, and Galleries ............................................ 166 
4.1.2  Journals, Books, and Catalogues ................................................... 168 
4.1.3  Graphs, Models, and Technical Drawings ..................................... 168 
4.1.4  Images, Videos, and Visual Codes ................................................ 169 
4.2  Translating Events into Other Entities ........................................... 173 
4.2.1  The RBO Hand: Translating Events into Charts and Pictures ....... 173 
4.2.2  Mirage: Translating events into Drawings, Pictures, and Video ... 178 
4.2.3  Stabilizing, Concealing, and Travelling of Relations .................... 183 
4.3  Referencing by the Authors ........................................................... 184 
4.3.1  Referencing the RBO Hand ........................................................... 185 
4.3.2  Referencing Mirage ....................................................................... 192 
4.3.3  Conceptual, Figurative, and Associative References ..................... 197 
4.4  Referencing by the Archive ........................................................... 198 
4.4.1  The RBO Hand in Citations, Awards, and Online Newspapers .... 199 
4.4.2  Mirage in its Exhibition, Online Articles, and Prizes .................... 206
4.4.3  Passage Points, Selected Elements, and Dynamic Practices .......... 213
4.5  Articulating Difference as Novelty ................................................ 214

PART III: Discussion and Conclusions

5  The Aesthetic Reflexivity of Material Practice ..................................... 221 
5.1  Which Reflexivity? ........................................................................ 222 
5.2  The Indexicality of Referencing .................................................... 224 
5.3  Aesthetic Reflexivity and Materiality ............................................ 226 
5.4  From Symbols to Allegories of Technology .................................. 228

6  Articulating Novelty ............................................................................... 233 
6.1  Individuating and Relating Objects through Identity, Form,
and Difference ............................................................................... 234
10 Contents
6.1.1  Novelty as Individuation and Relation .......................................... 234 
6.1.2  Identity ........................................................................................... 235 
6.1.3  Form .............................................................................................. 237 
6.1.4  Difference ...................................................................................... 239 
6.2  Articulations: (Differently) Connected Figures, Technicity,
and Enactments .............................................................................. 242 
6.3  Outlook .......................................................................................... 246

References ........................................................................................................ 249

The appendix to this book is freely available to download at the author’s product
site at springer.com.
List of Figures

Figure 1: The RBO Hand. .......................................................................... 22
Figure 2:   The Salisbury Hand ..................................................................... 23 
Figure 3:   Mirage. ........................................................................................ 26 
Figure 4:   Gordon Pask’s The Colloquy of Mobiles .................................... 28 
Figure 5:   Hand-like shape in the laboratory’s workshop. ........................... 80 
Figure 6:   Structure for testing the translation of the electric signal into
a mechanical pull. ....................................................................... 81 
Figure 7:   Starfish Grabber. ......................................................................... 89 
Figure 8:   Enacting the silicone's softness and potential for grasping.. ....... 91 
Figure 9:   Enacting the “landscape situation.”............................................. 93 
Figure 10:   The SDM Hand.. ....................................................................... 113 
Figure 11:   Ross Ashby’s Homeostat .......................................................... 117 
Figure 12:   Inquiry patterns in the RBO Laboratory. .................................. 123 
Figure 13:   Baecker using his body as actuator and epistemic tool. ............ 126
Figure 14: Test structure made from wooden plates, hooks, and strings. ... 127
Figure 15: Test structure made from Arduino board, bows of acrylic
glass, and wires. ........................................................................ 127
Figure 16:   The RBO Hand’s technical form. ............................................. 131 
Figure 17:   Mirage’s technical form in Baecker’s studio, close to its
first exhibition. .......................................................................... 132 
Figure 18:   The composition of the PneuFlex Actuator............................... 136 
Figure 19:   Early experimental setup of cross-line laser and mirror. ........... 139 
Figure 20:   Skeleton made of acrylic glass. ................................................. 144 
Figure 21:   Computer screen showing frequently changing signals and
their algorithmic variation. ........................................................ 147 
Figure 22:   The RBO Hand performing a surface-constrained grasp. ......... 150 
Figure 23: Mirage’s moving image. ........................................................... 152 
Figure 24:   Shadow Hand holding a light bulb. ........................................... 171 
Figure 25:   Two kinds of failure in an experiment with the RBO Hand. .... 175 
Figure 26:   Graph translated from grasping experiment. ............................. 178 
Figure 27:   Technical drawing of Mirage’s design approximately
six months prior to the exhibition. ............................................ 180