"Self-portrait: hybrid creature that receives but cannot transmit."
Functional measurement device built from institutional e-waste examining epistemological positioning through threshold location. Vintage multimeter head meets mystery gauge body neither George nor I can identify—broken instrument reading km/h for unknown original purpose. Stainless steel wings carry RAM memory chips painted white (literal memory of flying). Steel staff with working LED lamp. 1970s Zenith AM radio receives 774kHz ABC Melbourne clearly. No transmitter. The heart listens. Cannot speak back.
THE MYSTERY GAUGE
Started building after watching Mike Beaudry construct non-functional healing robots, thinking I'd make "better" version—adding function where his had presence. Week three, calibrating radio reception whilst attaching wings with memory chips, recognition crystallised: I was building opposite of Mike's work.
His father jumped off bridge; I crossed one through migration. His robots heal through non-function; mine measures dysfunction through function. The lack of function IS the doing. My radio receives but cannot transmit—performing absence. His robots do nothing but connect—performing presence. We're measuring same gap from opposite directions.
The synchronicity feels almost too neat—found object perfectly embodying cognitive hybridity—but biographical truth is messier than metaphorical convenience. George salvaged mystery gauge from industrial waste, neither of us researched its original function, and that actual ignorance (not strategic ambiguity) makes it work as self-portrait element. Genuine not-knowing, not performed ambiguity.
Mystery gauge represents measurement thinking without understanding what's being measured. Multimeter head (conscious Western measurement) paired with gauge body (unrecognised instrument) demonstrates standing between measurement systems—partial fluency in Western quantification whilst Guaraní relational knowing continues unconsciously.
"Arriving Australia with aviation knowledge, wingsuit engineering, material intuition lived in my head—but English blocked transmission. Could listen, couldn't answer. Not fully Paraguay. Not fully Australia. Functional anyway."
BOTH EPISTEMOLOGIES PERSIST
What survives migration? What transforms? Both measurement systems persist, neither dominates.
Guaraní epistemology operates through relationships—stories carrying technical information, knowledge transmitted verbally, understanding through interaction. My grandfather Arsenio taught navigation using Guaraní mythology: Luisón appears when lost, follow Southern Cross, reading weather through animal behaviour stories.
Migration added Western measurement systems—quantification, A-to-B logic, mathematical validation—through formal education. Not replacement but addition.
McLuhan's "media as environments" describing what Arsenio already taught practically. Academic frameworks naming what childhood learning embedded. Diaspora creates epistemological uncertainty that continues rather than resolves.
Radio heart functional—1970s Zenith spanning 530-1700kHz, receives voices travelling electromagnetic waves. Like arriving Australia: English chatter on AM radio, knowledge blocked from transmission.
THIS is me. Hybrid creature with wings remembering wingsuit design through literal memory chips, carrying staff that brings light. Threshold positioning enables observations unavailable from either system alone whilst generating disorientation, partial comprehension, ongoing translation difficulties.
1970s Zenith AM radio heart receives 774kHz ABC Melbourne clearly. No transmitter. The heart listens, cannot speak back. Radio positioned away from 18V battery for clear reception. Static and multilingual fragments intentional—interference becomes part of measurement.
Torso detail: copper toroidal inductor, green circuit boards, computer cooling fan, visible wire looms. Incompatible systems from different eras—industrial electronics, consumer PC components, custom laser-cut frameworks—assembled through patient material negotiation. Technology speaking multiple dialects simultaneously.
Standing between measurement systems—partial fluency in Western quantification whilst Guaraní relational knowing continues unconsciously. Not colonisation but addition. Both epistemologies operate simultaneously without resolution. Functional anyway.
CPU heatsinks as ribcage, PCBs from multiple generations as skeleton. Laser-cut wooden feathers, steel staff with functional LED lamp. Incompatible systems assembled through custom framework showing how different technologies coexist without forced integration.
Materials: 1970s Zenith AM radio, vintage multimeter, mystery gauge (km/h, purpose unknown), stainless steel cabinet hinges, RAM chips, laser-cut wooden feathers, CPU heatsinks, PCBs, steel staff, LED lamp, institutional e-waste
Dimensions: 72cm height × 65cm length × 20cm width
Hybrid Assembly: Custom laser-cut wooden enclosures housing incompatible components from different eras. Head contains vintage multimeter, torso houses functional Zenith AM radio (530-1700kHz, receives ABC Melbourne 774kHz clearly), lower body integrates mystery gauge reading km/h. Aluminium framework connects systems that wouldn't naturally interface.
Structural Components: CPU heatsinks (×4) as ribcage, PCBs from multiple generations as skeleton, visible wire looms. Stainless steel cabinet hinges as wings with RAM chips painted white, laser-cut wooden feathers. Steel staff with functional LED lamp.
Dual Power System: 18V Ryobi battery (body/beacon), separate 9V battery (radio independent) prevents RF interference whilst maintaining integrated form. Radio positioned away from 18V battery, careful grounding. Result: clear reception. Static and multilingual fragments intentional—interference becomes part of measurement. Visitors tune dial, interaction required.
Mystery Gauge (Synchronicity): George salvaged from industrial waste, neither of us researched its original function. Vintage instrument reading km/h for unknown purpose. That actual ignorance (not strategic ambiguity) makes it work as self-portrait element. Genuine not-knowing, not performed ambiguity. Partial fluency materialised.
Critical Constraint-Solving: Significant metal creating electromagnetic interference. Solution demonstrated material thinking—incompatible systems assembled through custom framework, visible connections showing how different technologies coexist without forced integration.
Status: Fully operational. Radio seeks signals across spectrum. Lamp provides actual illumination. Mystery gauge remains uncomprehended. Infrastructure ready. The measurement continues.
Context in Series
Ninth piece (#9 of 12), first in Resolution Through Continuation phase. Following Luisón's nadir recognition of epistemological powerlessness, shifts from powerlessness to threshold positioning as survival strategy.
Radio receives but cannot transmit—documenting arrival with knowledge blocked from transmission. Mystery gauge represents measurement thinking without understanding what's measured. Not colonisation but addition: Guaraní relational knowing plus Western quantification both operating, neither dominating.
Continuation through cognitive hybridity rather than resolution through integration. Sets up Abyss Illuminator (#10) which examines daily orientation choices where capacity persists.