Hybrid #15 - ArTeC
MON HP DESKJET 3755
Hybrid, n ° 15
"Digital ecologies"
dir. Laurence Allard, Marta Severo, Mathilde Vassor et Romain Vindevoghel
Saint-Denis, EUR ArTeC, coll. "Hybrid", 2026.
https://journals.openedition.org/hybrid/6097
The video creation My HP Deskjet 3755 is part of an investigation on printers, a technological device that has become particularly problematic in the wake of climate emergency through the opacity of its functioning and its obsolescence. The way this type of printing technology is indeed envisioned makes it very difficult for users to access the design logic governing both hardware and software. Moreover, the production of these machines is largely based on a non-virtuous economic model that only works if the printer’s owners buy consumables on a regular basis. Hence, it is not unusual that some machines conceal programs in their functioning that artificially limit the amount of available ink for printing to encourage clients to buy new cartridges. To better understand how we may reconfigure the paradoxical relationship we sometimes establish with this technology, we developed a sensorial and emotional approach through touching and listening. In so doing, we sought to deviate the printer from its purpose and used it as a sound-producing instrument, from which we may sing a form of manifesto based on technological emancipation. This song-manifesto was performed by three female vocalists and one percussionist from the band Aàgut. The four verses song retraces the trajectory of our thought through the sensorial exploration of the printers’ materiality. This process allowed us to theoretically envision a world in which the relationship between machines and humans is based on values of conviviality and mutualism.
