Every since the Industrial Revolution, the “social machine” of capitalist society has mass produced all sorts of objects with increasing efficiency to meet the demands of individual humans acting as “desire machines.” We see feedback loops of increasing consumption and production leading to increasing demand and desire leading again to increasing consumption and production, and so on. This “infinite loop” of creation and obsolescence raises questions about individual creativity – the “social machine” pushes individuals towards conformity. Creativity unorthodox minds shape social character – “instability in loops.” This thesis investigates the feedback loop of “object and desire.” I begin by looking at the production of objects across history, and the meaning of objects to different eras. These objects illuminate the human character; and I place this work in the context of Gill Deleuze’s celebrated theory of the “desire machines.”

I describe two of my interactive art installations: “Offline” and “Memory Models In City,” in the context of loop instability. By looking both at the body and the history of objects, I show how these loops influence contemporary society – a discussion illustrated in my art installations – which I discuss both theoretically and present my actual experiences, particularly the complexity of “crossing media” to technology artists.