“What does it do?”

Dubai-born artist Shazia Salam’s latest work-in-progress uses a machine, palm fronds, and Ayurvedic back oil, to meditate on labor, materials and media narratives.

Machines are productive. They make things. They do things. They are built to make human lives “easier,” we are told. Some human lives.

At a casual glance, UAE-based artist Shazia Salam’s latest work-in-progress — a steel frame made of a…