This article deals with questions of utilisation and implementation of algorithmic translation techniques within contemporary artistic practice. Loosely departing from two particular artworks, Baden Pailthorpe's Lingua Franca and Julia Nakotte's #file.read(), I aim at an understanding of the role translation technology might or might not play within the realm of contemporary textual/digital arts, as well as getting a grasp on how artworks incorporating machine translation (MT) technology might inform current re-conceptualisations of (literary) translation. Contextualising contemporary artistic practice with the historical foundations and early reception of MT as well as with recent developments of large language models, I hope to contribute to a first speculative general framing of the utilisation of machine translation techniques within artistic practice.