Seft-1 responses

                                                        Re-Train Chain : 

                                          Nina Dubois, Jami Porter Lara, Liz Shores 

                                           This project proposes a simple adaptive technology  -  Re-Train-Chain (a device that enables drivers to link 

                                           themselves together), which is envisioned as part of a fictional Re-Training Institute – an organization staffed 

                                           by “Agents of Change” overseeing the development of a trans-American network of stations that provide 

                                           various services to assist drivers with the process of creating collective car-avans. It is a proposal for how 

                                           we might retrofit isolationist technology in order to re-introduce more communal ways of traveling. 

                                          The Re-Train Chain is a thoroughly impractical response to our reliance on automobile travel. It is an 

                                          investigation into the impossibility of re-creating the more communal space of rail travel in the context 

                                          of increased privatization. Our proposal posits a Utopian alternative to isolationist transportation technology

                                       – one that is modeled after the open-ended and adaptive qualities of emergent behavior – rather than the 

                                          centrally controlled and profit-driven model of neoliberal, capitalist economies.

SEFT-1 Project Topic:

Technology and Obsolescence Overview

Exercise 1: Become familiar with the SEFT-1 website. Choose between 3-7 images that illustrate some aspect of the concept of Technology and Obsolescence. Share the story of these objects with your group. How might you address the theme using visual and material elements of the SEFT project?

Exercise 2: Supplement the above conversation with 1-3 images or objects that you find on your way to or from class. What images or objects do you see in your immediate environment that either complement or challenge the narratives you discovered in the SEFT project? Do you find evidence that reinforces technology and obsolescence as a global concept? Are there differences in the way this topic is experienced in Mexico and the United States, from one neighborhood to another, from one generation to another?

Exercise 3: Upon arriving in a small town in Mexico, Ivan and Andres were approached by a man who asked, "Is that car from Cuba?" The comment seemed apropos of nothing at the time, but they have since made some rich connections between the appearance of the car and the way in which notions of progress, change , and modernity might have been experienced in Mexico and Cuba. Research the topic using any method you find helpful, including brainstorming individually or in groups, talking to people who might have direct experience or knowledge, researching online or in the library.