← A. Inventions, No. 50
Joëlle Bellerose (b. 1986)
EqoFlex PHX Arc Ascender
2016
PHX Sport, est. 1972, Grenoble, France; made in China. Aluminum, stainless steel, carbon composite, nickel, nylon, Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (dehp). 1⅞ × 1¾ × ⅜". Collection of the author.
My athletic aspirations are pretty much limited to the elliptical machine, but a walk through the hardware aisle of a sporting goods store inspires all kinds of outdoorsy fantasies. How can you not reach for the top-mount crossbar splitboard clips, and just roll them around in your fingers while you debate earnestly whether you’re more of a soft or a stiff flex binding kind of guy? Whether you want the twist-lock or screwpost carabiners with the belay package, and what kind of anchor system, and if those multi-directional release cleats are going to work with the black carbon clipless models that you’re eyeing on the wall, right between the twelve-speed derailleurs and the stop descender with the camming mechanism? And how much is too much to spend on a touring assisted braking device stomp pad, anyway? Tis the season for a downhill off-road adventure, free soloing it up the Mont Blanc Massif in low gear, while a hot glögg awaits you to boost those electrolytes.
Published January 30, 2023. Copyright © 2023 Jonathan Hoefler.
About
The objects in the Apocryphal Inventions series are technical chimeras, intentional misdirections coaxed from the generative AI platform Midjourney. Instead of iterating on the system’s early drafts to create ever more accurate renderings of real-world objects, creator Jonathan Hoefler subverted the system to refine and intensify its most intriguing misunderstandings, pushing the software to create beguiling, aestheticized nonsense. Some images have been retouched to make them more plausible; others have been left intact, appearing exactly as generated by the software. The accompanying descriptions, written by the author, offer fictitious backstories rooted in historical fact, which suggest how each of these inventions might have come to be.
These images represent some of AI’s most intriguing answers to confounding questions, an inversion of the more pressing debate in which it is humanity that must confront the difficult and existential questions posed by artificial intelligence.
Previously:
No. 49. The ‘Mystical Vaults of Qiang-Shen’
Next:
No. 51. Chip Bag Closures
