Habitual Instinct

Synopsis

Habitual Instinct challenges the predefined expectations participants hold with their relationship to technology and data by exposing anthropomorphic projections onto autonomous systems. The role Habitual Instinct has with its participants is to instigate questions and continual discussion after participants leave the installation and interact with technology in their day-to-day activities. Recurring themes that materialize during interaction with the artwork include: challenging the status quo on how technology acknowledges and responds to interactions; autonomous systems and “alien agency”; digital data collection; connection between the self and digital representation through data and visual communication; and data transparency and user privacy. By creating a speculative scenario that is counter-intuitive to everyday experience with interactive technology, the installation helps participants identify the themes and behaviors that have become habitual, by acknowledging the affect surrounding their experience and potential feelings. Through these interactions the piece aims to promote an open discussion about the future of data, privacy, autonomous systems, control and the power structure between society and corporate or governmental interest.