The performance Glitching Optimization in a Few Steps: a performance-lecture about robotic failures, is a video and performance-based artwork that dives into the realm of robotic labor. Featuring a diverse array of robots attempting and failing to complete assigned tasks, the performance brings into question how the concept of robotic optimization contributes to maintain neoliberal perceptions of performance, while reinforcing a limited understanding of both humanness and machineness. 
 

The project adopts the format of a lecture-performance, where Julie blends theoretical reflections on robotics standards with intimate stories about different types of failures encountered in Julie's own queer academic trajectory. During my performative experimentation with the robots, Julie designed different dramaturgical tasks for them to fail softly: the Roborock S8 (a robotic vacuum) tried to clean a mess in a useless and challenging maze. The Igus Rebel Cobot (a robotic arm without claws or grasping device) attempted to draw with a 3D pen and compete in a rock, paper, scissors game with myself. The Thymios (three tiny wheeled robotic devices used for educational purpose) did everything they could to stay on a table without any sense of orientation. And Spot (a robotic dog), gave its 100% to stabilize itself while navigating slippery surfaces. Structured by a textual narration performed by myself, the performance unfolds in three distinct chapters: “Dealing with your own mess,” “Trying to Grasp the World as It Is,” and “Looking for balance: becoming slippery”. It materializes itself as a series of filmed and live performances with those robotic agents.