Yasaman Sheri
Sensing Machines
As computation gains perception, the infrastructures of knowledge and understanding become increasingly legible through sensors, outsourced and infrastructural conditions of contemporary life. From machine vision to environmental sensors, sensing systems determine what becomes visible, actionable, and governed. Airborne Particles, Biological Exposure, Meta Data & Datasets and Planetary Infrastructure, are just a few examples of modern life’s imperceptibility without technical mediation. Within such a condition, sensing apparatuses operate simultaneously as tools of understanding and instruments of power. Through examples from machine sensing, material science, and ecological monitoring, the talk examines sensing across practices and histories as sites of critical inquiry for technological and ecological entanglement. Machines, materials, and environments co-define new knowledge and ecological relationships. The talk speaks to the increased dependency on technical mediation, carrying political, cultural, and ethical questions. Drawing from design, science, and critical ecology, Sheri argues that sensing technologies do not only reveal the world, they actively configure it.
