“Hometrainer” (2011)
A Media Intervention in Quantified Self Culture​

This kinetic assemblage operates as a media intervention, interrogating the performative construction of identity within early social media ecosystems and the emerging quantified self movement. The work materializes a critique of what Gilles Deleuze termed “societies of control,” specifically targeting the gamification of biometric data and the compulsory visibility regimes of networked fitness culture.

The piece consists of a custom-fabricated electromechanical apparatus that performs a simple yet subversive operation: it mechanically agitates a smartphone to simulate the accelerometer data of human locomotion. This machinic proxy—a literal “home trainer”—automates the production of fictitious athletic achievements, which are then disseminated through the algorithmic channels of sports-tracking applications to social media platforms.

Positioned within the post-internet art discourse circa 2011, “Hometrainer” anticipates later concerns around “clickfarm” aesthetics and automated social presence. The work resonates with JODI’s software subversions and Heath Bunting’s early net.art provocations, while engaging specifically with the corporeal turn in digital culture. By creating what might be termed a “bot for the body,” the piece exposes the disconnect between lived experience and its datafied representation.

The work’s critical framework draws from Judith Butler’s theories of performativity, revealing how quantified self-practices constitute rather than merely document the athletic subject. Through its automated deception, “Hometrainer” renders visible the cybernetic feedback loops between self-tracking technologies and social validation mechanisms. 

As an early example of what might be termed “critical making” the piece prefigures contemporary artistic practices that employ functional prototypes to probe socio-technical systems. Its DIY aesthetic and tactical approach align with the maker movement’s critical wing, while its focus on data manipulation anticipates current debates around synthetic media and computational propaganda.