The future of technology in connection with human bodies and minds is an intriguing topic, but also scares many of us. Will we be able to enhance our minds or maybe empower ourselves physically and turn into new versions of ourselves, more similar to superheroes?
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) attempts to answer this question with an exhibition entitled "Supernatural: Sculptural Visions of the Body" (on view through 4th June), that explores the possibilities of the posthuman age.
Conceived by Nicole Fritz, Director of the Kunsthalle Tübingen, and co-curated by Maximilian Letze at the Institut für Kulturaustausch, the exhibition features twenty-three international artists/groups from around the world.
Divided in four themes - "Hybrid Others," "Postnature," "Artist 4.0" and "Technonogical-Human-Metamorphoses" - the exhibition investigates the deconstruction and reconstruction of the body, the connections between humankind and the environment, new design possibilities and ethical issues as well.
Among the most mesmerizing, but also disturbing pieces there are several hyperrealist and realist sculptures reproducing the human body with absolute precision. Yet the simulation of human reality is twisted, made using disquieting textures and details.
The journey starts with Isa Genzken's "Schauspieler III, 3", a group of human-like figures arranged in a circle, an installation that tackles the subject of the teenage search for identification and orientation. The sculptor uses it to show us how today the identity of every person is composed of set pieces.
Lynn Hershman Leeson's "Logic Paralyses the Heart" features instead a cyborg, played by the actress Joan Chen, performing a monologue. The cyborg desires to be more human, but she has to face the dangers of fragmentation and reconfiguration of the human body into uncontrollable data streams.
Borrowing ideas from social media, Anna Uddenberg combines sculptures of distorted female bodies with suitcases in "Savage #7 (Zero g)", reminding us about the absurdity of our collective passion for synthetic "ideal images" that strike us visually.
The "Hybrid Others" sections explores how the human body has become alterable through genetic modification, spawning hybrid life forms: "Doghead" by renown Australian artist Sam Jinks shows the body of a man with the head of a fox. The hybrid figure has a hand over his heart, poetically symbolizing an inextricable connection with nature.
The "Postnature" section looks at the destructive changes that we have collectively brought upon our own environment.
Interdisciplinary artists Anna Dumitriu & Alex May present "ArchaeaBot: A Post Singularity and Post Climate Change Life-form", which unveils microbiotic forms of archaea made with the 3D printing technique. In this way the duo explores the types of forms of life possible after the collapse of our present-day living environment.
Many of us are preoccupied about the coexistence of humans and robots: will it be possible? Will machines develop human abilities such as empathy, fantasy and intuition or will they turn into enemies of the human race? Andro Wekua tried to answer this question in the section "Artist 4.0" with "Untitled".
The sculpture represents a dormant cyborg girl suspended in a pink-carpeted room. The girl occasionally twitches her hand to symbolize the last spark of humanity within her that hasn't been submerged yet in a world of digital and cyberware immersion.
The section entitled "Technonogical-Human-Metamorphoses" raises the question of the effects technical and digital transformation have on humans' inner and outer world, psychologically and physically. Patricia Piccinini collaborated with a trauma surgeon at a Melbourne hospital, a crash investigation expert and Australia's transport accident commission to create "Graham", a sculpture of a grotesque humanoid with a large modified skull, an airbag-like torso with sacks rather than ribs, rougher skin, hoof-like legs and no neck.
With this sculpture Piccinini gives us a glimpse of the kind of evolution necessary for the human body to endure a car crash. The exhibition also features other hyperreal sculptures by Piccinini, including "Sapling", representing a man in a blue T-shirt and jeans holding one of Piccinini's hairy creatures that looks like a tree's root system (the inspiration for this piece came from the artist's sister, involved in a protest led by the Wurundjeri people in Melbourne to save an ancient tree growing in the forecourt of a suburban petrol station).
But there are also artists exploring other types of creatures that seem almost alien: Reiner Maria Matysik's colourful plasticine, rubber and PVC sculptures represent imaginary organisms with very abstract structures and mysterious purposes, at times looking like cysts, baloons or bubbles.
These artists create a new aesthetic, based on corporeality, but also on fantasy filtered by the digital revolution and by genetic engineering. In a post-pandemic era, all these considerations seem even more relevant as we understand the value of corporeal and sensuous experience.
Interestingly enough, there are quite a few women among the artists featured in the exhibition: it looks like women are more preoccupied than men about themes such as the impact of technology on our bodies, human reproduction in future and life in a postnature world.
In "Supernatural" there is certainly a sense of anxiety and uncertainty about the human Vs non-human future: will we accept our natural bodies or enhance them in disturbing ways that go beyond the mere plastic surgery or weight-loss drugs? How will our bodies look in 20 years' time? There's no immediate answer to the questions posed by the exhibition, but there's certainly enough food for thought.
Image credits for this post
"Supernatural: Sculptural Visions of the Body" exhibition poster.
Isa Genzken, Schauspieler III, 3, 2015, 9 mannequins, mixed media, 196 x 275 x 268 cm. Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, Cologne, New York and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Lynn Hershman Leeson, Logic Paralyzes the Heart, 2021, video installation, 13'35 min. Courtesy of the artist, Altman Siegel, San Francisco, and Bridget Donahue, New York and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Anna Uddenberg, Savage #7 (Zero g), 2017, aqua resin on fiberglass, suitcase, acrylic nails, synthetic hair, quilted faux leather, puffed jacket, faux fur, mesh, crystals, Ugg imitation shoes, backpacks, kite, jeans imitation, 108 x 105 x 75 cm, ALDALA COLLECTION of Diamond-Newman FINE ARTS LLC. Courtesy of the artists and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Sam Jinks, Doghead, 2008, silicone, human hair, fur, 30 x 140 x 60 cm. Courtesy of the artist, Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney | Singapore and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Anna Dumitriu & Alex May, ArchaeaBot: A Post Singularity and Post Climate Change Life-form, 2018, 3D printed underwater robot with artificially intelligent neural network (PLA, Electronic components, Raspberry Pi), 40 x 40 cm (robot size). Courtesy of the artists and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Andro Wekua, Untitled, 2014, fake hair, silicone, wax, polymer plaster, PU foam, steel, glass, synthetic rope, aluminum cast, fabric, motors, electronics, and mechanics, 212.1 x 101.6 x 68.6 cm, Private Collection. Courtesy of the artist and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Patricia Piccinini, Graham, 2016, silicone, fibreglass, human hair, clothing, concrete, 140 x 120 x 170 cm., Transport Accident Commission, Australia. Courtesy of the artist and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Lucia Leuci, Sculpture 1 (digestion), 2017, resin, fabric, synthetic hair, stuffing, yarn, nacre, plastic, paper, dried flowers, dried peas, feather, 64 x 50 x 16 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Patricia Piccinini, Sapling, 2020, silicone, fibreglass, hair, clothing, 201 x 94 x 46 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Reiner Maria Matysik, Wesen (Sculptures from the series), 1997–2020, plasticine with frames and various materials / rubber / PVC. Courtesy of the artist and Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
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