Planned Obsolescence

ByKarl Heinz Jeron

concrete sculpture, jigsaw, wire rope, motion detector

Planned obsolescence is the deliberate incorporation of weak points into products in order to shorten their service span. In some cases, extra mechanisms are designed to disable a device after a specified number of operating hours. In the eponymous installation a sculpture stands in the middle of the room under a heavy weight suspended from the ceiling. An apparatus saws at the suspension. It is triggered by opening the entrance door ans starts working for a few seconds. Sometime during the exhibition, the weight falls on the sculpture and destroys it.

Beton Skulptur, Stichsäge, Drahtseil, Bewegungsmelder

Geplante Obsoleszenz nennt man das bewusste Einbauen von Schwachstellen in Produkte, um deren Lebensdauer zu verkürzen. In Extremfällen werden extra Mechanismen konstruiert, die ein Gerät nach einer genau festgelegten Anzahl von Betriebsstunden außer Funktion setzen. In der gleichnamigen Installation steht eine Skulptur in der Mitte des Raumes unter einem schweren von der Decke abgehängten Gewicht. Eine Apparatur sägt an der Aufhängung. Sie Wird durch das Öffnen der Eingangstür für wenige Sekunden ausgelöst. Irgendwann im Laufe der Ausstellung stürzt das Gewicht auf die Skulptur und zerstört sie.

Similar Posts

  • Hypothetical Machines

    ByKarl Heinz Jeron

    Enactments of social media content These hypothetical machines are present but not quite legible. They exist in a state of potentiality. They are informed by the digital even when not in digital format, they are shaped by a sense of data excess and data vulnerability. They are about thought-experiments and speculative enactements. Things Are Not…

  • Horde

    ByKarl Heinz Jeron

    Horde is an installation, a sculptural object and a technical network. Dozens of vehicles are moving autonomously and erratically on a white, shiny platform. Each vehicle maunders, i.e. vocalises fragments of various specialised texts on information, disinformation and information retrieval. The aim of Horde is to illustrate the chaos of the modern media-generated overload of…

  • Space Time

    ByKarl Heinz Jeron

    Space Tme refers to several related phenomena where a clock does not run at the exact right speed compared to another clock. That is, aftersome time the clock “drifts apart” or gradually desynchronizes from the other clock. Everyday clocks such as wristwatches have finite precision. Eventually they require correction to remain accurate. The rate of…

  • Hermes Opera

    ByKarl Heinz Jeron

    A multimedia opera with robots and overheard mobile conversations in four acts. “I’m sitting in the train. Where are you?” Everyone has a mobile phone these days and what was once a conversation in closed rooms is nowadays happening in the public sphere. The mindless phone monologues in busses and trains have irritated the German…