between aesthetics and ethics (Jones & Arning, 2006).
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VAGUE EVENTS
The vague event simultaneous engages with space and time. It is open ended and open to change. The event includes both creation and exploration, and makes no division between the development of the subjects and the objects of the event (Barad, 2007; Lenz Taguchi, 2016; Springgay, 2016; Trinh T., 2011). The vague event aims at “simultaneously intervention and invention, responsibility and ethics” (Lenz Taguchi, 2016, p. 53). An event is understood as a disruption that brings other truths into the open, thereby changing traditional frameworks of knowledge (Atkinson, 2017, p. 5). While engaging in a vague event, we specifically look for that which creates meaning by focusing on phenomena rather than objects, while aiming to be fully aware of the transformational intervention that we are part of. “In/determinacy is the surprise, the interruption, by the stranger (within) re-turning unannounced” (Barad, 2014, p. 178). The production of the event is not clear at the outset, and the event needs to be open to whatever appears.
Vague events overlap material technology experiments and education through outdoor workshops and art performance. Our material technology experiments are examples of how material relations are addressed through the experimentation with plurality, sound technology, body, and location. The combination of the laws of physics and the structure of technology enables a fluid relation between human-machine-context, which is often regarded as immaterial entities in interaction (Berglin, 2008).
A vague event includes performance as a twice-behaved behavior and as something which is re-created (Roach, 1995; Schechner, 1985). We note and partly plan our own bodily performance in relation to the environment. The materials involved in a vague event engage in processes of creation and re-creations. This performative practice can lead to new patterns of thoughts and the creation of other experiences, forms, and representations as a “performing exploration” (Eriksson, 2009). A performative re-creation of events cannot be fully anticipated, nor can any performance be performed exactly the same way twice (Phelan, 1993). This means that a vague event can use, and re-use the same materials and set ups and still produce new results when re-created.
AGENTIAL REALISM AND INTRA-ACTION
An important concept of agential realism is intra-action, which differs from interaction (Barad, 2007). In interaction, the differences of the parties involved are set. But in intra-action the collaboration and interplay between phenomena are vaguely divided from each other, and have mutual transformational impact and agency (Lykke, 2009). In the process, intra-action has become the concept we use ←37 | 38→in conducting in-depth research on how it may be of use for the overlapping of technology, education, and art. In agential realism, “it is through specific intra-actions that phenomena comes to matter—in both senses of the word” (Barad, 2007, p. 140). The different view of the human and the machine in interaction and intra-action is similar to the difference between human-machine and the environment regarding intra-action. Barad describes the machine as the apparatus, a material-discursive practice, not merely a machine set-up that embodies human concepts. “The apparatus specifies an agential cut that enacts a resolution (within a phenomena) of the semantic, as well as ontic, indeterminacy” (Barad, 2007, p. 149). Apparatuses are dynamic material reconfigurations of the world and are also a specific phenomenon as parts of the entire phenomena produced (Barad, 2003, 2007).
An example of a traditional view on human-machine interaction is the relation between humans and sound technology. We turn the machine on or off, we tune the sound or adjust other levels on a scale between minimum and maximum. However, sound is a phenomenon that could be further explored beyond these thresholds. Sound waves extend the movement of air pressure and acoustic energy through air, water, or any other material. When these vibrations are detected by our body they cause our body to vibrate, which in turn sends an electrical signal to our brain. Our brain perceives these electrical signals as sounds. As technology, audio systems deal with acoustic energy that has been translated into electrical signals and further modified by electronic circuits which are powered by energy. The concept of material relations is hidden in a system based on interaction, which assumes that there are separate individual agencies, you and the system that precedes the interaction. In intra-action, distinct agencies do not precede action, but rather merge through their intra-action (Barad, 2007). By engaging through intra-action one becomes more vulnerable, but also more able to respond. As our own being comes from the relation, a negotiation of responsibility as part of respond-ability is already active (Barad, 2014; Trinh, 2011). Ethics is therefore an important part of the continuing event. Ethics do not belong to preparations or as a finishing critical reflection, but instead need to be active especially when surprising phenomena and experiences appear. This negotiation of responsibility is where many phenomena arise through material, and environmental engagement.
In the following example, the privilege of a constant and reliable access to electricity becomes apparent. When a solar cell is hit by the sun, it temporarily supplies energy to an audio system. If you power the audio system by using solar cells and place them in the sunniest spot, you will be able to listen to music or sound. When the sun is absent, there is no longer any power to supply your system and therefore, no music or sound. When using the sun as the power supply, one becomes reliant on the local weather. In opposition to the use of batteries, with solar energy, one cannot be sure when the system is ready to use and for how long. The battery delivers absolute values of energy, and the solar cell supplies renewable ←38 | 39→energies evoking relations to the energy supplied by the sun. Both sound, electricity, and the control of electricity are phenomena that arise, depending on specific designs of this vague event. In a future of scarce electricity and utter dependence on solar power, partnering up with the sun means that one would have to adapt to waiting for energy. For example, during Nordic winters we have very limited sun due to our proximity to the Arctic Circle. When the sun’s participation is a critical part of listening, we will lose control of the event. In the summertime, the situation is the opposite; the energy from the sun, in some locations, is available both day and night. Our control of energy is a hidden privilege and most often taken for granted. We are not used to not having constant access to energy. Our relation to energy is usually an on-off relationship—we usually never have to consider anything else other than switching on or off the electricity. Experiences of saving, waiting and not being in control could actually turn out to be a future skill in a less controllable
