The Raceful Dead project analyzes contemporary human relationships with technology, focusing on the tension between support and oppression, acceleration and overload. It offers both a physical and symbolic take on ambition within a dromological world order and late capitalism, in which technologies originally designed to help, whether at the level of the body or perception, can become weights, parasites imposing their own logic of action. The humanoid figure is shown in a running position, which symbolically refers to the physical exertion of the body as an individual struggle, but also as a way of moving without mechanical or electrical transportation. An object resembling a backpack is attached to the figure’s back. Its function remains unclear: it can be interpreted as a supportive element or as a parasitic structure, potentially helpful but at the same time invasive or oppressive. Sensors detect motion. The object responds with movement and sound generated by a trained AI model.

In the project, I decided to confront two distinct approaches to constructing form: on one hand, the main object, fully designed and 3D printed from scratch; on the other, the annex, composed of found and modified components made from repurposed materials. This contrast was especially important to me, as it allowed me to engage with two very different design methodologies within the same visual field. The process involved working fluidly between my skills in digital design and principles of shaping physical matter.

The motif of motorization and leftover parts first appeared in my earlier work L’armour, where it was introduced on a visual level. In this project, I deepen those references.

I have been exploring the theme of shells, armor, and protective structures for over a year, focusing on what they protect, how they function, and what the cost of that protection is. I am particularly interested in what gets limited, suppressed, burdened, or damaged in the process.

I chose to work with fragments of motorbikes and scooters, materials directly tied to movement, collision, and intensity. Unlike cars, these vehicles operate closer to the body. For me, they act more as bodily extensions through proximity than as external housings.

The series consists of three sculptural objects. Each was built by selecting, combining, and processing fragments of bodywork and various metal and plastic parts that had lost their original function. By erasing their utility and merging incongruous elements, I arrived at forms that are open, unreadable, suspended between object and waste. I see them as traces, remnants of an endless race, fragments of the hyperobject I discussed in chapter four. Conceptually, they represent a possible future state of the main object I created.

— Piotr Stechura

Developed in collaboration with M.Sc. Eng. Franciszek Sobiech – Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Lodz University of Technology