A choral podcasts trilogy: Infrastructure, Glitch, Maintenance
There is a kind of conceptual triangle formed by three terms: infrastructure, glitch, and maintenance. The thread linking them suggests that a glitch is not merely a representation of an error or failure, but a symptom of underlying infrastructural stress. The disruption caused by a glitch brings previously hidden layers into the open, making the invisible visible. When something that once functioned smoothly is interrupted, infrastructure is exposed, and this revelation in turn necessitates a maintenance operation to restore or reimagine the way it works. In this way, infrastructural maintenance offers an avenue for political action that is more practical than discursive, pointing to a domain of work capable of producing more tangible outcomes than ideological statements.
The following podcast trilogy presents a series of roundtables we conducted on these topics in mid-2022. It marks the beginning of a practical investigation aimed at reshaping institutional behavior towards infrastructures, laying the foundation for an ongoing body of reflections on infrastructural maintenance that continues to evolve to this day. The recordings of these extensive sessions were later shared with three guest artists, who created scripts highlighting the most significant moments and developed a unique sound design for each discussion.
In the first roundtable, Daphne Dragona, Efraín Foglia, Anna Manubens, Blanca Pujals, Jara Rocha, and Jorge Vitoria Rubio came together to discuss infrastructures. The conversation explored their history, governance, and the possible limits of their conceptual extensions.
The second roundtable featured Christopher Fanning, Antonio Gagliano, Carolina Jiménez, Valentín Roma, Arnau Sala, Lorenzo Sandoval, Andrea Soto Calderón, Helen Torres, and Marta Echaves (rapporteur). This discussion focused on the glitch as a surplus or expectation. We examine its differences from a bug, the various temporalities it engages and the potentialities it entails when it comes to rewriting institutional codes.
The final conversation brought together Blanca Callén, Valentina Desideri, Antonio Gagliano, Andy Gracie, Carolina Jiménez, Anna Manubens, Ce Quimera, Lorenzo Sandoval, and Lara García Díaz (rapporteur) to explore maintenance practices. We delved into the nuances of creation versus preservation, the vital connection between what we maintain and what sustains us, and the potential for palliative care—in other words: the art of letting go.
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Editing and sound design
Infrastructure: Roc Jiménez de Cisneros
Glitch: André Chêdas
Maintenance: Jaume Ferrete
Rapporteurs
Infrastructure: Paula García-Masedo
Glitch: Marta Echaves
Maintenance: Lara García Díaz
Image
Aldo Urbano
With the support of:
