Critical Computation

Can computation be critical or will various forms of bias always be found embedded in computational systems? Could surveillances act as a form of resistance? This paper provides a theoretical reflection on these questions, and explores the notion of critical computation. It addresses the discourse of the gaze, and surveillance feminism, using some critical computational projects by way of illustration. This paper argues that critical computation integrates two strands of theory and practice in a seamless way. The theory originates from the tradition of critical theory, and reveals the underlying algorithmic biases behind pervasive technologies such as the scholarly work of Ruha Benjamin, Slavoj Zizek and Yuval Harari. The practice uses the technology itself in a critical approach as way to reflect our privacy or as a strategy to undermine various forms of power structure and to promote forms of resistance such as creative works of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Laruen Lee McCarthy and my own practice. This paper first provides a brief theoretical context to the notion of critical computation. Then by differentiating between technological determinism and intersectional affordance, it aims to provide a lens through which to study surveillance computation. This paper attempts to avoid any form of technological determinism. Rather than rehashing arguments as to whether computation and in particular surveillance is inherently good or bad, it aims to take an “intersectional feminist affordance” approach to show what constitutes the gaze and surveillance, and to consider what strategies of resistance might prove to be effective in art and design practices.