Preserving Humanness
As our bodies entangle with technology, how do we preserve our humanness?
Humans have always been deeply entangled with technology. Big tech companies have created monopolies over information, the medical community has developed technological enhancements to help improve patient’s quality of life, and humanity has become obsessed with removing barriers between bodies and technology.
We have developed such close ties with technologies that the issue now is not whether these technologies threaten or improve the “human”, but rather how human bodies materialize with and in them. What is at stake is how people understand their bodies in relation to technologies, and consequently how that impacts their understanding of what it means to be human. The speed of technological innovation needs to be met with considerations for how we redefine and evolve what it means to be human. How do we ensure that we are building the future that we want, not the future that those in power want for the rest of the world?
How do we localize and safeguard our humanness? The nature of my thesis work is exploratory and conversational. Some aspects are action-oriented micro-interventions and proposals; while other aspects are exhibitory, with the goal of bringing awareness and conversation to complex and abstract topics.
The basis of my study centers around the examination of transhumanist visions for our future, and the concern that human exceptionalism will take over subconsciously. In my research, I explore the dangers of perfecting humanity through extractive means, eliminating flaws in our human bodies and lives, and countering disability with augments that could lead to modern day eugenics.
As a response to these heavy topics, I developed design experiments to achieve two goals: bring awareness and conversation around these topics, and empower agency by proposing a new way of looking at our habits. Through these design experiments, I use posthuman politics that transcend the boundaries between binary thinking and identities to counter-propose new ways of reaching our wish fulfillment.
As a designer and movement artist, my work sits at the intersection of technology and bodies. Technology is at the center of my design career, it’s how I create and execute design and is also the focus of my research.
The body is at the center of my artistry. I work with, and think about the body constantly – questioning why we feel the way we feel – muscle, bone, skin, sensation, emotions, motivations, passions, and triggers.
These two areas of focus have guided my research and led me to explore what happens when our bodies and technology meet. And beyond that, to contemplate how we localize and safeguard our humanness in a time of rapid technological innovation.
