posthuman / microbiology / sympoiesis / biotechnology / sensing
During my Foreign Objekt Residency I aim to use new ways of interdisciplinary thinking of posthumanities by applying these critical and contextual tactics: From transhumanism, which considers the possibility of using technology to enhance human capabilities, both physically and cognitively. This includes discussions about cyborgs, biohacking, and the way technology is being integrated into the human body. To critical posthumanism, which challenges the anthropocentric view that claims humans are at the centre of the universe. It demands a more ecological and intertwined understanding of coexistence. The acknowledgment of the agency and significance of nonhuman beings in the shaping of the world is at the heart of critical posthumanism. I take it through Ferrando’s and Braidotti’s writings maintaining an ecofeminist perspective including Haraway’s sympoietic kinships. Haraway’s tentacular thikning and Beil’s conception of utopian futures will help me to work with research as speculation and to use fiction as practice. I look at both sciences and humanities to explore pathways for mutual advancement.
“There is an urgent job of nowadays to start creating a thicker layer of care across species.”
D. Haraway
Radical Connections – Beyond a Symbiotic Sensation, Patrícia Chamrazová, 2024
How can each new sense nurture the connective tissue that binds the human and the nonhuman in an increasingly intimate dance? In the project Radical Connections – Beyond a Symbiotic Sensation I am speculating on posthuman sensory perceptions to explore the space between utopian and dystopian versions of posthumanism, where radical empathetic connections are possible. Does the speculative sympoiesis of technological innovation and microbiology have the potential to bring the human and the nonhuman closer together?
My ongoing research is driven by contemporary issues of emerging biotechnologies, human and nonhuman cognition, and beyond-human relations. With the help of worldbuilding, what-if scenarios, and 3D animation this project transcends the idea of symbiosis within the concept of better futures in posthuman realities, and deconstructs the notion of species-based supremacy.
Radical Connections – Beyond a Symbiotic Sensation, Patrícia Chamrazová, 2024
I plan to draw a speculative story about human and nonhuman symbiosis. There has not been a sentence I have heard more often then “We are living in desperate times.” In the times we are living, tuning one’s mind and imagination to crisis is easier than to propose brighter alternative futures. So what are the ways of living on a planet that has been damaged? The imagination of society that cares for the state of the world lies in my particular focus. Inspired by critical posthumanism and ecofeminist approaches + a recent research which suggests that a sixth sense which some animals posses is most likely coming from bacteria, I delve into the role of microorganism in shaping a speculative posthuman senses which enable us to (although not completely) understand the nonhuman other. My project aims to focus on the ways in which being “posthuman” feels very “human”. Challenging anthropocentric views, I introduce the concept of radical connections – a condition in which deep understanding and genuine empathy between the human and the nonhuman are possible. However, the classical understanding of the endpoint of interspecies exchange – symbiosis – limits the range of alternative outcomes. To transcend this notion, I take inspiration from Donna Haraway’s concept of sympoiesis - comes from the ancient Greek words: sún (“with, together”) and poíēsis (“creation, production”).
Radical Connections – Beyond a Symbiotic Sensation, Patrícia Chamrazová, 2024
I focus on building a 3D world where technology, humans, animals and plants are deeply intertwined, thanks to the organic water-cable-like veins and mimicking mycelium, a root-like structure. The concept goes beyond transhumanist ideals of an anthropocentric future where humans assume, via machine enhancements, a godlike form of being. Instead, oragnic life takes centre stage in a world where the essence of human biology is dissipated and incorporated into an all-encompassing, transcendental organic entity that defies hierarchical interspecies relations. Humanity’s guide in this evolution is imperceivable to the eye but undeniable in its greatness - symbiotic bacteria, which expand the horizon of human capabilities through new senses, allowing us to (almost) fully understand and empathise with the non-human other.
“Technologies of cloning, stem-cell engineering, cryogenics, Artificial Intelligence and xenotransplantation blur borders of animal, human and machines in what might be thought of as a new organicism (or even “organism”?).
P. Nayar, 2017
Radical Connections – Beyond a Symbiotic Sensation, Patrícia Chamrazová, 2024
The mere act of challenging the notion of the linearity of human progress based on conquering new and ever-expanding technological realms may cause discomfort. This is because waiting for technology to improve our lives takes away the necessity to initiate change based on our individual agency. Thus, my work implements playful aesthetics of soft shapes and warm colors, giving the viewer space to imagine radically different sustainable futures.
Radical Connections – Beyond a Symbiotic Sensation, Patrícia Chamrazová, 2024
To conclude, I decided to push the boundaries of common perceptions about the future by balancing facts with imaginative speculation, and absurdity with inevitability.
Radical Connections – Beyond a Symbiotic Sensation, Patrícia Chamrazová, 2024
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