Symbiosis: a Hypothetical Curation that I Really Wish Existed Now
For my curation project, I want the viewer to contemplate a more organic view of cyborgs: so many narratives depict the transformation from human to cyborg as abrupt — some traumatic accident, maybe — rather than considering how humans and technology are growing together in more of a symbiotic relationship. It’s said often that our phones and technology are parts of us, but it would be interesting to push that idea further while reminding the viewer that the technological revolution is not some natural disaster that will come crashing down on society. For better or worse, it is humanity that is causing this change.
Experiments in Absorption called to me somehow. The idea of technology absorbing us, while morbid, somehow feels like a reversal of a cliche — the idea invokes almost organic imagery, like vines growing over abandoned houses, or bacterial colonies enveloping stones. Although I realize the intention of the piece is more pessimistic, I don’t believe that this “absorption” has to be something bad; it may be the birth of something new. We are the backbone of this new organism: although it changes us, we created it.
Part of Kyungja’s narrative stems from the scandal surrounding the late real-life painter Chun Kyung-Ja’s work; Korean courts assert that the painting Beautiful Woman is one of her pieces, despite forensic evidence and her own vehement denial. That being said, the Kyungja in the Miller Institute of Contemporary Art was generated by a machine algorithm trained on human faces. This coupled with its title suggests that the viewer consider the question of ownership — did Kang create Kyungja, or did the algorithm? To me, this is another instance of humans and technology blending together to create something new (in this case, literally). I encourage the viewer to consider the algorithm an extension of Kang’s will rather than a wholly separate entity.
I’d love to include some works by Diego Trujillo. In particular, With Robots explores benign but profound changes around the home to willingly accommodate robots. The hypothetical robots of his world do not infiltrate or invade with machine precision; they are clumsy, and a little impractical. They need vision targets, they accomplish their tasks slowly and with needless precision, and sometimes they make strange mistakes that would not occur to humans, but we accept them into our homes anyway. These images speak of a new idea of home in society built around robots and humans alike. Humans have incredible capacity for empathy (we already name our Roombas) — to me, these little accommodations speak of affection, and I encourage visitors to contemplate a gentler, almost organic development of our relationship with technological advancements.
On perhaps an almost too heavy-handed note, contributions by the Alternative Limb Project and their customers may add to the visitors’ experiences. Cyborgs are one of the most commonly explored ways in which humanity merges with technology, but depictions tend towards hyperviolent war machines rather than humans who embrace their connection to technology. Customers of the Alternative Limb Project may depend on or benefit from their custom limb(s), but they also choose it for themselves as a means of self-expression.
