According to cybernetic theory a feedback mechanism that controls a given system in order to create stability. But the theory has, from the very beginning, been accompanied by artistic “misuses” or inversions of the mechanism that have connected it to otherwise unruly vibrations taking the system in directions where it was not supposed to go, for instance Jimi Hendrix’s explorations of the feedback between electric guitar and amplifier. Paidia Laboratory: feedback #6 connects with this specific history of feedback art by examing the Playstation console as closed feedback system. Through a subtle hardware modification the Paidia Institute collective short circuits this precious cultural object and turns it into a useless machine of perpertual motion. The work is part of an ongoing series of artistic experiments by Paidia Institute studying the feedback behaviour of games and their software and hardware characteristics beyond questions of usability.

Image: Paidia Institute e.V.