Po.In-Inc. (Pointless Inventions Incorporated) produces everyday objects that have, silently but effectively, dominated everyday life. There isn’t a household that doesn’t use the universal doodling machine, the cystophone or the exo-denture.

Based on the unconditional trust its clients place on the manufactured product, Po.In-Inc. does not hesitate to negate the functionality of the product for the sake of machinic independence. A wrong connection, a poorly articulated netting, strand the objects in functional disuse. We aim to build generators of negative entropy, machines that are dysfunctional by design, so that, when they inevitably break down, as all things wither and die, they will, by contrast, reach a state of perfect usability. The user, due to the massive and prolonged presence of machines in daily life, cannot challenge or oppose the use of machines. Their existence is necessary, since without them, the user would have to face alone the reality of his own perishability.

It is impossible to renounce the power of habit, the small hedonistic rituals of mechanical movements repeated again and again. The human, as the inventor of machines and ideas is a ceaseless creator of ruins. A machine that is currently running is a yet-to-be unclaimed contract, an entity that is hovering over its own desolation and monotonously, perpetually refutes its actual fate. In the meantime, our contraptions continue to perform, to infinity and beyond. The machine is at the end, yet another bureaucrat.

Universal Doodling Machine: The user attempts to draw on a rolling paper using a jointed mechanical arm, while an electric motor rotates it at random intervals, rendering the process impossible. In the end, the user submits and tries to dance with the mechanical arm, instead of strongarming it. The score of their dance is printed by the stylus.

Exo-denture: A contraption designed for mushing food and then mechanically digesting it. The entire peptic track is represented, until the (desecrated) food is placed on a plate through the robotic anus. It can also be used to chew on fingernails. The machine is powered either by hand or by an electrical motor.

Cystophone: A musical device, as well as a machine for inflating balloons. A robotic needle acts as an anti-arrogance serum, teaching us the sound of a balloon popping.

author

Eftihis Efthimiou

Place of work: Athens/ Volos

A biologist and a designer, with a diploma from the University of Ioannina and an M.Arch GAD from the Volos School of Architecture, UTh with distinction. He is researching the application of systems thinking on design and morphogenesis, through the use of autopoetic design systems. He works as a Teaching Assistant at Volos School of Architecture, University of Thessaly and as a Computational Instructor at DecodeFabLab. He is part of the “Agrimiká – Why We Look At Animals?” working group, with Maria Papadimitriou, for the 56th Venice Biennial, as well as a founding member of the “Souzy Tros” art collaborative. Apart from that he is fascinated by any design endeavor, be it an architectural project, a live media performance or a graphic novel. He has co-created theater productions, performances and art installations, while his artistic and academic work has been presented on a global level, in exhibitions, conferences and publications (e.g.: Collecting Architecture Territories, GSAPP/Deste || Apomechanes: Non-linear Computational Design Strategies). He would like the world to be more like his sketchbook.

Elisavet Antapassi

Place of work: Athens

Elisavet Antapassi is an interdisciplinary artist and a researcher. Having a broad background in theatre, philosophy, media and architecture, Elisavet works through various fields of interest aiming to produce authentic, thorough pieces of work, with a unique aesthetic and a social interest.

Elisavet holds an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, on a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation. Previously, she studied at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Research Institute of Media and Performance Studies, University of Utrecht.

She has worked internationally as a director and a designer and her work had been presented in festivals and exhibitions in Greece and abroad, including the National Museum of Modern Art (Athens) and the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art (Thessaloniki). She represented Greece at the XII Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean and the Prague Quadrennial of 2011. Member of the organising team for the project “Agrimiká – Why Look At Animals?” by Maria Papadimitriou, at the 56th Venice Biennial. She loves cats, traveling and watching movies.

Christina Antzoulatou

Place of work: Chania

Christina Antzoulatou is a third year student of Architecture in the Technical University of Crete. She has participated in the exhibition “Imagine the City: Kozani” and in the algorithmic design workshop “diepifania”. She is in search for alternative considerations of space and form that will lead her in the creation of her personal design syntax. A talented, young architect in-the-making, great things lie ahead of her!

website

po-in-inc.tumblr.com

country

Greece

year

2014

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