Maybe yes/maybe no: Negotiating with Instagram’s algorithm in a performance assemblage

This article argues that performance practice can render the operational strategies of otherwise opaque commercial algorithms perceptible. It presents ‘Concrete Reel,’ a research-creation project that operates on Instagram, transforming doomscrolling into a radical audiovisual improvisation. Framed by Manuel DeLanda’s assemblage theory and Karen Barad’s agential realism, the performance is conceived as a dynamic ecosystem wherein the algorithm is a non-human actant whose nature emerges through its resistance to provocation. The model articulates the interaction among the performer, the algorithm and the audience as a triadic negotiation that unfolds in three configurations of increasing scale (micro, meso, macro). At the core of this interaction is a particular performance protocol: a system of binary rules that exaggerates the platform’s interactive logic to deconstruct its user-centric narrative. The audience’s intervention is designed to induce a crisis in the protocol. The resulting collapse of the protocol’s binary logic reveals how the user-centric narrative forecloses agency. From the rubble of control, a deeper understanding emerges, reframing interaction with the algorithm not as domination, but as a conscious navigation of systemic complexity.