Technologies of Hope: 100 Responses to the Pandemic

“Data is the Vaccine”, says Volan, a company utilizing technologies – from drones, to smart buildings to bracelets – in order to assist humanity to recover. 'Technologies of Hope: 100 Responses to the Pandemic' is an artistic and research project that takes viewers on a journey through the world of one hundred such companies. Paying attention to their visual and verbal language, it sheds light on the costs of proposed ‘back to normal’ scenarios and a ‘no touch future.’

The project examines how the specific technologies being promoted observe, screen, enforce, and attempt to modify humans and the spaces they move within, mediating the relationship between body, architecture, and geography. Taking into consideration how techno-solutionism based on machine learning becomes the new modus operandi, this interactive piece explores how freedoms are threatened in the name of safety. “Technologies of Hope: 100 Responses to the Pandemic” ultimately asks: What can we learn about the current collective neurosis from the technologies that we accept into our lives? When have we gone too far, and how far are we willing to go? Is it possible that in our efforts to contain the virus, we succeeded instead in containing the host?

Title: Technologies of Hope: 100 Responses to the Pandemic

Artists: Stephanie Hankey & Marek Tuszynski

Medium: Online experience

Production by Tactical Tech

Illustration: Ann Kiernan

Produced during the “Geographies of AI” residency by Onassis Stegi, organized in the context of the European ARTificial Intelligence Lab. Co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.