When machines complete our actions, they start to shape our thinking. Recommendations become decisions, predictions become intentions. What we gain in convenience, we give up in agency.
A modified typewriter makes this tension tangible. Every hesitation is treated as inefficiency. The machine intervenes, completes the sentence, and takes away our control
The project explores the gap between comfort and control. While the promise of increased automation lies in greater convenience, the price we pay is a gradual loss of active control. As convenience grows, we steadily hand over our own agency to algorithms, blurring the line between simple assistance and digital paternalism.
To make this tension tangible, the project is built around a custom-modified electronic typewriter running an invasive autocomplete system.
The moment the writer pauses, the keys move on their own as the algorithm takes over to complete the sentence. Without a delete key, every unwanted word is permanently pressed onto the paper, leaving behind physical proof of the loss of agency.
Credits
Project Realized together with Janina Maulhardt (https://www.instagram.com/jan.iina) Thanks to guidance by Oliver Kartak, Jian Haake and Christian Schlager
