Rejected By My Own Robot: Studying the Potential for Artists to Subvert Technological Expectations Using Critical Design

Abstract

This paper provides a framework for how artists can use critical design to subvert deeply ingrained expectations around technology. I begin by defining the technological understanding of being as introduced by Martin Heidegger and break down expectations of technology into efficiency, control, and pleasure. I then ask if the burgeoning HCI practice of critical design could be an effective tool for artists in subverting these expectations. My methodology to study this question is to install a provocative object, in my case a disobedient kissing robot, in a public space and analyze participants’ reactions to it using both video and survey analysis. Results show over 70% of users experienced some degree of surprise, friction, or disappointment with the device due to broken expectations about how they assume technology should work. Our study concludes with a discussion of what value there is in challenging the status quo, how artists can take this work further, and what element humor has in provocative critical design.