The standard has imposed itself as a reference, it is defined by a set of norms whose respect is synonymous with security. Despite the comfort and safety provided by the standard, some people, for play, mistrust, chose to reappropriate gestures.

A movement, consisting in a conscious action, can encounter an obstacle and leave a trace, a persistent mark on the obstacle. Guy Debord, in The Society of the Spectacle, states at the beginning of the book that "The whole life of societies in which modern production conditions prevail is a huge accumulation of spectacles", the spectacle is provided by industries that broadcast images (cinema, television, and now the internet). This position of spectator is comfortable because it avoids the risks of injury that one takes in acting, while enjoying a glimpse of what life is all about. One must then accept as one's own desires conveyed by images to the detriment of one's own desires. As these images are widely spread in society we are witnessing the deployment of a uniform vision of life, meeting the standard. The goods by executing on order predefined gestures exempt the individual to make themselves the necessary gestures for their existence, maintaining it in a passive relationship to the world. Living that way they don't leave a trace of their existence. 

 

Contrary to the spectator's attitude, being in motion does not require an object. Unless you have certain medical conditions, making gestures is within everyone's reach. Materials contain their own rules of implementation and the simple conscious manipulation allows us to discover them. Engaging with an element of our environment also gives us a broader understanding of the world around us. 

Nevertheless, if the body is sufficient to put the world to the test, there are non-servile objects which, by acting as an interface with the world, enrich the experience of the world. The instrument, or device, involves constant discussion during its use. It is a vector of gestures and motivates action. It is part of a practice of which it is the support, a tool can be analog or digital and allows the craftsman to impose his will on a material and has as a limit of action only the one of the imagination of the craftsman. A musical instrument allows an infinite discussion with the world in that it allows me to make the air vibrate at frequencies that I could not produce otherwise and that have repercussions on my environment to come back to me. This object allows one to experience a musical gesture in time and place, in context. Instruments as well as devices in allowing the variation of their effects require a capacity of appreciation, of interpretation of sensitive things.

 

Considering that a large part of our gestures continue beyond our body, those Gilbert Simondon defines as technical gestures. Such a gesture consists of all the efforts, tools and networks mobilized to carry out a human will, such as launching a rocket or a transmitting through a phone, or creating a meme. We are mostly unaware of the processes that allow us to transport the signals we send. After having replaced human beings in our modern industry, the mechanisms we actuate have become less and less intelligible. Faced with the increasing complexity of industrial products and the opacification of the processes we act upon, if we want to understand the implications of our gestures and gain control on the traces we leave, we must learn to question these objects and processes, dissect them. If we do not wish to express our ourselves through existing objects and images, we can craft our own.

 

However to produce one' s own technical objects from natural elements would take too much time for this practice to be within the reach of the individual. It is this absurdity that Thomas Twaites showed in his project to produce a toaster from raw materials he himself sourced. He then placed himself in an environment made up solely of natural resources. A more reasonable practice would be to consider human production as part of the environment and to source the elements needed as close as possible to human activity. Parts and images already shaped by humans require less effort to be réused by humans than a raw ore. Frenetic industrial production of objects and images leaves us with a large number of assemblies which can be taken apart and modified or completed and reassembled at will.

It is a question of modding these objects, images and processes to make them our own. Playing with these artificial elements requires the learning of a language created by men to be able to understand them and engage them for our purpose.

 

The individual practice of modding, repairing, recomposition allows a gain of autonomy by touching and understanding the processes at work in our Umwelt. This approach allows the individual a greater autonomy since they make themselves capable of ensuring the continuity of their technical gestures. They also becomes able to adapt their production to their needs. By becoming an actor, the individual measures the traces left by their gestures on the environment. While the comfort and perceived safety of the Standard paralyses me, it is important for me to test my freedom of movement by learning to read and write myself the objects and images that condition my movements.