Nosukaay / Diane Cescutti (FR)
Interactive Art + ARS ELECTRONICA Golden Nica 2024
Nosukaay
Artist: Diane Cescutti (FR)
The loom could be envisioned as a programmable machine that encodes knowledge into fabric, serving as a means of preserving and transmitting culture; while the computer processes data, the loom preserves stories and traditions. ‘Nosukaay’ means computer in Wolof, a language spoken by people in much of West Africa; the installation Nosukaay merges textile hapticity with the digital space to produce a hybrid that expands the notion of interactivity. It is based on an modified Manjacque loom, in which the loom’s frames are replaced by two screens that introduce a video game in which the users interact with the “wisdom of the system” through a deity. Its tactile interface is made of Manjak loincloth, woven by the artist Edimar Rosa in Dakar. If the player makes a choice that does not respect the machine deity and hence the importance of the knowledge transmitted, the user gets ejected from the game and sent back to the beginning. Nosukaay as a textile-computer hybrid allows us to rethink the concept of the “computer” through a rich tapestry of shared understanding that interweaves craft with computational practices.
ref.:
https://archive.aec.at/prix/290626/
https://www.africandigitalart.com/nosukaay-weaving-the-future-with-tradition-and-technology/
https://dianecescutti.com/works/nosukaay/
