The Critical Engineering Manifesto

The printed manifesto presents eleven statements related to the funding principles and practice of Critical Engineering.

»When a machine runs efficiently, when a matter of fact is settled, one need focus only on its inputs and outputs and not on its internal complexity. Thus, paradoxically, the more science and technology succeed, the more opaque and obscure they become.« [1] The artist group critically reflects on this discrepancy.

The widespread language of engineering is abstract and complex and therefore usually not accessible for an average user of engineered devices. Its vocabulary, however, significantly affects the user's life. The art collective exposes this impact of technical infrastructures and tries to foster »healthy paranoia« about politics and power relations behind them. The opportunity to challenge and to question appears on the basis of understanding. The ownership as well comes with the right to modify and deconstruct. In the situation of obscurity and misunderstanding, Critical Engineering seeks to uncover the vulnerabilities of technical infrastructures and to facilitate user empowerment through technopolitical literacy.

[1] Bruno Latour, »Pandora's Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies«, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1999, p. 304.