The installation revolves around coffee as a narrative and metaphorical device to explore the impact of automation and our agency in (ref)using it. Center piece is a visually exploded, yet functioning, fully automated coffee machine from the first commercially successful consumer machine design from 1985 – the aptly named Superautomatica by Saeco.
The coffee machine's transformation alludes to explosion drawings, like the ones that are still available for the Superautomatica given its origin in a time when such information was still commonly available.
Through its own transparency it highlights the importance of access and readability to give agency in a world of increasingly complex systems.
The video starts off as a stereotypical YouTube coffee machine tutorial or review. After a first introduction to the machine the actions and narrative diverge: Visually we see how the machine is disassembled, explained and ultimately repaired. In contrast, the spoken narrative and overlayed material trace the history of coffee, coffee machines and the coffee breaks to the viewers current situation: Why and to whose benefit are you taking a coffee break?
