An Exercise in Techno-Futility
Artists Heather Brand and Byron Rich’s G.A.R.R.y. is a work illustrating what Rich calls “techno-futility”. G.A.R.R.y. or GPS Assisted Relocation Rover, is a small robot designed to eradicate Ambrosia psilostachya, also known as Ragweed. This task is of course impossible for the rover to complete.
G.A.R.R.y. will perform its futile expedition at the opening of Artificial Retirement. Guided by an ultrasonic sensor (its standard GPS guidance system cannot be used due to the gallery’s size), the robot will roam through the gallery inevitably interacting with viewers and other objects. This interaction is at the project’s core. Brand writes “In passing through non-native environments on the way back to ancestral lands, something of the organism is left behind, creating a residue of its passage, and, in however small a capacity, affecting the locale en route.” Whimsical yet critical, G.A.R.R.y. brings up questions about utility, colonization, and technological success.
Brand and Rich are based in Pennsylvannia and teach at Allegheny College. They answered a few questions about G.A.R.R.y. and their practice.
Why did you and Heather submit this piece to the Artificial Retirement open call?
Rich: We submitted G.A.R.R.y. because we feel that there is something compelling about the cultural preoccupation with techno-solutionism, and that our take on it fit the call. G.A.R.R.y. is such a sad little device that one can’t help but feel empathetic toward it. The project muddles human relationships to technology somehow by building a relationship built upon empathy while concurrently criticizing techno-solutionism.
Does most of your work deal with biological systems?
Rich: Both Heather and I deal with biological systems in most of our work. For me, it is often on the biotech side or pharmaceutical end of things. I also am fascinated by bioinformatics. In one way or another, all my projects come back to some kind of biological foundation.
Brand: My work is primarily photo based, I dabble in video and installation based work as well, but always return to the photographic. Primarily I am interested in our (human) relationship to biological or “natural” systems. How we interpret their meanings and recreate them in various forms. The idea that simulating nature gives us an understanding of it, or containing that which is considered wild gives us a sense of control is of particular interest to me. The inevitable failures in these attempts is what is most interesting to me.
Why did you and Heather choose Ragweed as the species to eradicate?
Rich: We chose Ragweed as it has so many interesting political and cultural elements. Most notable is the inherent irony in European eradication efforts, which are largely unsuccessful. By that I mean Europe is trying to eradicate a species from North America that is colonizing their continent. There is something interesting about that.
Can you describe the opening reception performance?
Rich: The performance will largely be G.A.R.R.y. autonomously wandering around the gallery looking to bring the ragweed back to it’s “natural” home. G.A.R.R.y. has a sad existence and is kind of pathetic to watch as it’s efforts are futile. There is something compelling and quite sad about seeing the little robot aimlessly wander around until it’s battery fails or GPS communication is interrupted. It is only made sadder by the plant being carried on the robot chassis. One can’t help but anthropomorphize the apparatus. G.A.R.R.y. will be unsuccessful, but that is the point.
Artificial Retirement opens August 19th at Flux Factory with an opening reception at 6pm. Performances by Byron Rich and Heather Brand, Niki Passath, and Fan Letters start at 7pm. AR is a Flux Factory major exhibition.
