Gallery 6
Futile Devices
Maddy Anderson and Jack Martinich

The exhibition Futile Devices acts as a platform to unravel different communication methods, including that between humans and machines. The project presents a drawing machine which uses technologies to create hand drawn notes into fleeting sketches of light. A magic trick, a sleight of hand: the machine will act as a ghostly translator, revealing a journal full of incomplete projects and unattempted ideas.

Communicative methods can be futile, particularly when more than just language acts as a barrier. I find myself constantly whispering sweet nothings to futile devices, 3D printers that refuse to understand me.

“Just tell me what you want from me?” I ask…exhausted, unable to communicate: nothing other than gestures, gyration and G-code between us.

Futile Devices is a partnership between an artist and an engineer, allowing machines to whisper back…