Museum of Power

Over this rainy weekend I visited the Powerhouse Museum, which I haven’t done in years! I highly recommend it if you have a spare afternoon.

The Powerhouse Museum has many exhibitions, but the two I will highlight are Cyberworlds: computers and connections, and Artefact H10515. The former provides a historical narrative that follows the development of computer technology from the late 1800s to now. The exhibition also tackles the various aspects of technology. From early computers, to science fiction characters, to music synthesizers, to the world of cyborgs (specifically Stelarc and Alan Turing), various artefacts are on display.

The latter, Artefact H10515 is a huge plastic cube that contains a computer image of some sort of underwater creature. When you touch the cube, the creature inside reacts, however you are also able to ‘feed’ it with your own treasured artefacts. The museum subscribes to the idea that individuals posses items that they value and perhaps the public may also appreciate. You are able to upload images of your items onto a computer that is linked to Artefact H10515 and at a particular time it will appear somewhere on the creature. Here’s a clip to demonstrate how it works.




When visiting the museum it becomes clear, particularly through these exhibitions that the dependence on technology we have developed is significant. As Turkle discusses in her article, ‘Witherpsycoanalysis in computer culture’, technology has a profound impact on how we behave. She writes, “Technologies are never “just tools”. They are evocative objects. They cause us to see ourselves and our world differently” (2004:416). Cyberworlds demonstrates this understanding not only through artefacts, but also through various interactive activities. For example can you still solve mathematical equations without the aid of a calculator, or an excel spreadsheet?

Artefact H10515 is a fabulous example of how technology is not just a tool, but is impacting the way we see ourselves. The Powerhouse Museum clearly believes that there are many mundane items worthy of exhibition as they are important to people. Thus the Artefact H10515 is a vessel in which we can easily have our objects of sentimentality displayed for a brief moment in time. It allows us to see what objects our fellow citizens value in an imaginative way. This technology caters to today’s world, which allows us to gain a different perspective on the world around us.

Reference

Turkle, S. (2004) ‘Wither psychoanalysis in computer culture’ in Kaplan, D. M. (ed) Readings in the philosophy of technology Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 415 - 429