Inspiring Reflections at INCA’s Talk with Lorenza Pignatti and Lua Vollaard
On 8 October 2025, the talk “Economies of measurement: from productivity, to movement, to desire” took place at Sala Tassinari, Palazzo d’Accursio in Bologna. The event was part of the programme of activities accompanying the INCA exhibition Data Materialities, open from 20 September to 12 October in Sala d’Ercole of the same palace.
The talk brought together Lorenza Pignatti (NABA Milan) and Lua Vollaard (Superkilogirls) in a dialogue that explored the historical marginalization of women’s work in the early days of computing.
Throughout the conversation, both speakers presented their work and the most recent advances in their ongoing research, which recontextualizes a materialist and feminist reading of techno-accelerationism. They drew on artistic and theoretical references to address issues such as the environmental impact of digital infrastructure — for example, the high water consumption affecting communities in places with shortages, such as Santiago de Chile — and the significant presence of women in the Dutch company Philips, examining how their participation has evolved as the company has grown from a critical feminist perspective.
In parallel with the works exhibited in Data Materialities, the discussion emphasized the potential of artistic practices to propose speculative frameworks from which to reposition the digital on a human scale. The talk thus contributed to shedding light on Data Materiality as a key reference for the contemporary study of technology.
