Maxim Tur, "WATCH ME FUCK IT UP", Komplot, Brussels, 2024

What is LOWTECH?

Fakewhale emerges as a critical response to this transitional moment, where technology not only takes on an increasingly central role but asserts itself with a pervasive, almost intrusive presence, particularly within the realm of art. This technological infiltration is riddled with ambiguities: on the one hand, it embodies progress and innovation; on the other, it carries an aura of self-referential decadence, paradoxically becoming fascinating in its latent obsolescence.

Through our curatorial journey, a clear direction has gradually taken shape: an interest in a specific category of works. This reflection led us to define the concept of LOWTECH. This practice reframes technology not as a symbol of linear progress but as a space for questioning and redefining sculptural language. This interest ultimately crystallized into a tangible artistic tendency.

Assemblages, screens, plastic casings, metal structures, and technical or technological components mediate between the past and the present. This marks a particular use of technology in the artistic act, redefining its symbolic potential. Stripped of its narrative of progress, technology within this body of work becomes essential.

The sculptural compositions we group under the LOWTECH tendency do not seek to restore lost utility or function as relics of a bygone era. Instead, they emphasize a sense of transience in their “function,” suspended between the operative and the dysfunctional, between a sudden inversion of their intended use and the space they open up for new meaning, where the limits and wonders of technology become a space for critical reflection and creative reinvention. Even the aesthetic impact, in itself, can play a central role in this dynamic of effectiveness.

This approach aligns with a conceptual lineage rooted in the legacy of Duchamp, Beuys, and Haacke, where the ready-made ceases to be a passive object. Instead, it becomes an active site of redefinition and critical exploration of the present. LOWTECH is, in essence, a step further in this direction, revealing new relationships between materials and forms while carving out unexpected spaces of transformation within the traditional practices of installation and sculpture.

The Aesthetic Brutalism and the Power of Imperfection

The use of seemingly crude presentation techniques, installations placed directly on the floor, suspended in space, or assembled without refinement, is not merely a result of limitation but a deliberate aesthetic choice. This raw, brutalist approach amplifies materiality, creating a visual and spatial impact that is intentional and expressive.

The works’ primitivism should not be mistaken for a spontaneous or naive gesture but an exploration of the latent potential of materiality, where imperfection and simplicity are not constraints but fundamental elements of a conscious aesthetic language.

As a phenomenon, LOWTECH does not concern itself with permanence or completion, nor does it emphasize fragility as a central theme. Instead, it manifests through structures formed by juxtaposing two or more objects, allowing them to exist in a state of direct association. These combinations do not adhere to a fixed narrative or symbolic framework; they remain self-contained, free from rigid interpretation or heavy conceptual overlays. If meaning arises, it is a byproduct of placement and interaction.

In this context, technology can mean everything and nothing simultaneously; this is LOWTECH.

It blurs the line between beauty and purpose, feeding on decontextualization for its own sake, capable of overturning semantic and conceptual roles.

The act itself becomes the justification.

Beyond Utility: Technology as a Living Concept

LOWTECH doesn’t reject technology but reimagines it beyond mere functionality, exploring its more human, imperfect dimensions. Moving away from blind faith in linear progress challenges the notion that innovation always means improvement. It exposes how decontextualization and aesthetics can take on a self-referential form that paradoxically embodies both invincibility and extreme fragility in a striking collision of opposites.

LOWTECH pushes a broader reflection on materiality and progress at the intersection of various contemporary artistic practices. Following Gilbert Simondon, it does not simply deconstruct technological evolution but rather reimagines it through adaptation, interaction, and unpredictability processes. Rather than being a flaw, transience emerges as an evolving aesthetic logic, where even obsolescence holds the potential for new narratives, resonating with Friedrich Kittler’s notion of technological stratification.

If the High-Tech aesthetic prioritizes precision and control, LOWTECH embraces fragility as an expressive tool. But there’s more to it; even the functionality or efficiency of a technical process becomes a monument to itself, where decontextualization plays a central role. Within this paradoxical realm, fragility, power, aesthetics, efficiency, and dumbness collide, forming a symbolism that feels contemporary yet carries no imperative to convey meaning.

Technology ceases to be a fetish of efficiency and instead behaves like a living organism; it slows, falters, and humanizes itself. This approach generates an ever-evolving field of artistic investigation, where every use, error, or technical misconfiguration becomes a gateway to unexpected storytelling and material transformation.