Keys Of Fury is a brutalist storytelling about technology and keystrokes where text is used unadorned and roughcast, like concrete. I define my practice as KYBDslöjd (drawing by Type In) who uses the Commodore 64 computer, Teletext technologies and Typewriter. Brutalism has an unfortunate reputation of evoking a raw dystopia and KYBDslöjd evokes an “object of nostalgia”. But nostalgic, retro, obsolete or limited are rhetoric qualities earn by constant repetition. We live in a time where hardware and software become obsolete before most of the users have learned how to use them or disappear into pure functionality. The obedience to standards who made us passive observers and consumers.
Keys Of Fury is a brutalist storytelling about technology and keystrokes where text is used unadorned and roughcast, like concrete. I define my practice as KYBDslöjd (drawing by Type In) who uses the Commodore 64 computer, Teletext technologies and Typewriter. Brutalism has an unfortunate reputation of evoking a raw dystopia and KYBDslöjd evokes an “object of nostalgia”. But nostalgic, retro, obsolete or limited are rhetoric qualities earn by constant repetition. We live in a time where hardware and software become obsolete before most of the users have learned how to use them or disappear into pure functionality. The obedience to standards who made us passive observers and consumers.
KYBDslöjd is heavy, flat, brutal, and there is no CTRL-Z. You cannot make corrections, so any unintended strikes force you to start all over again. The screen is the canvas, use as rectilinear grid on which one keystroke at a time build a character by character animation. The remote control triggers the ghost on the television screen hiding in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) lines like REM (rapid eye movement) sleep intervals. A door to unlock the Imagination. The joy of Text-mode.
KYBDslöjd is not “dead media” of the past being reanimated for individual’s self-identity and pursuits. It doesn't provide immediate satisfaction, only challenge you. It is meant to be use and not parasite. It is a dialogue of possibilities rather than an ego-trip monologue with technology.