Post-Humanist Desire
The term 鈥淧ost-human鈥� comes from Post-human Manifesto by Steve Nichols, published in 1988. Although the definition of 鈥淧ost-human鈥� remains undecided within academic and artistic circles, the term has become very common in describing the divergent and complex life expectations and identities of 21st century people. Post-humanist Desire is both the last and the major exhibition of this year at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei, which is curated by Dr. Ming Turner, who has done extensive research on this topic in the UK. A group of twenty-five artists have been invited to participate and show their works in the exhibition, to help interpret the continuously developing and noteworthy theme of the 鈥淧ost-human,鈥� under three headings: the 鈥渃loned human,鈥� the 鈥渢ransgendered human,鈥� and the 鈥渢ransformed human.鈥�
The content and structure of this exhibition first responds to the feminist philosopher Donna Haraway鈥檚 reflections on digital technology and the artificial intelligence of the early 1990s. She extended the meaning of the 鈥渃yborg,鈥� a neologism and concept first seen in the 1960s, to include a combination of both organic and artificial life in which humans seek new ways to break the boundaries between nature and culture. In fact, people today do not adhere to any single value, but live in varied, heterogeneous, and inconsistent systems. The three aspects of this exhibition present the amalgamation and operation of these systems, and even touch upon the aspects of life formation that were originally heard in creation myths.
The group of 25 artists include: Patricia Piccinini (Australia), Victoria Vesna & Siddharth Ramakrishnan (USA), Shih-Fen Liu (Taiwan), Pey-Chwen Lin (Taiwan), Janaina Tsch盲pe (USA), Kevin Ryan (UK), Anna Dumitriu (UK), Bj枚rk (Iceland), Zan-Lun Huang (Taiwan), Len Makabe (Japan), Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr (Australia), Anna Munster & Michele Barker (Australia), Martin Rieser & Andrew Hugill (UK), Daniel Lee (Taiwan), Ritty Tacsum (Malta), Phil Sayers (UK), Ane Lan (Norway), U-Ram Choe (Korea), Yu-Chuan Tseng (Taiwan), Saya Woolfalk (USA), Yang Na (China), Jane Prophet (UK), Hui-Chan Kuo (Taiwan), Elizabeth King, Richard Kizu-Blair & Peter Dodd (USA), and Jia-Hua Zhan (Taiwan). These artists鈥� works contribute to the variety and rich content of this exhibition, questioning our views of anthropocentrism and guiding us to discuss the following issues pertaining to our future: 1. Post-humanist body concepts and gender consciousness; 2. Post-humanist desires and practices; 3. Post-humanist procreation of life and transcendence of death.
Recommended for you
The term 鈥淧ost-human鈥� comes from Post-human Manifesto by Steve Nichols, published in 1988. Although the definition of 鈥淧ost-human鈥� remains undecided within academic and artistic circles, the term has become very common in describing the divergent and complex life expectations and identities of 21st century people. Post-humanist Desire is both the last and the major exhibition of this year at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei, which is curated by Dr. Ming Turner, who has done extensive research on this topic in the UK. A group of twenty-five artists have been invited to participate and show their works in the exhibition, to help interpret the continuously developing and noteworthy theme of the 鈥淧ost-human,鈥� under three headings: the 鈥渃loned human,鈥� the 鈥渢ransgendered human,鈥� and the 鈥渢ransformed human.鈥�
The content and structure of this exhibition first responds to the feminist philosopher Donna Haraway鈥檚 reflections on digital technology and the artificial intelligence of the early 1990s. She extended the meaning of the 鈥渃yborg,鈥� a neologism and concept first seen in the 1960s, to include a combination of both organic and artificial life in which humans seek new ways to break the boundaries between nature and culture. In fact, people today do not adhere to any single value, but live in varied, heterogeneous, and inconsistent systems. The three aspects of this exhibition present the amalgamation and operation of these systems, and even touch upon the aspects of life formation that were originally heard in creation myths.
The group of 25 artists include: Patricia Piccinini (Australia), Victoria Vesna & Siddharth Ramakrishnan (USA), Shih-Fen Liu (Taiwan), Pey-Chwen Lin (Taiwan), Janaina Tsch盲pe (USA), Kevin Ryan (UK), Anna Dumitriu (UK), Bj枚rk (Iceland), Zan-Lun Huang (Taiwan), Len Makabe (Japan), Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr (Australia), Anna Munster & Michele Barker (Australia), Martin Rieser & Andrew Hugill (UK), Daniel Lee (Taiwan), Ritty Tacsum (Malta), Phil Sayers (UK), Ane Lan (Norway), U-Ram Choe (Korea), Yu-Chuan Tseng (Taiwan), Saya Woolfalk (USA), Yang Na (China), Jane Prophet (UK), Hui-Chan Kuo (Taiwan), Elizabeth King, Richard Kizu-Blair & Peter Dodd (USA), and Jia-Hua Zhan (Taiwan). These artists鈥� works contribute to the variety and rich content of this exhibition, questioning our views of anthropocentrism and guiding us to discuss the following issues pertaining to our future: 1. Post-humanist body concepts and gender consciousness; 2. Post-humanist desires and practices; 3. Post-humanist procreation of life and transcendence of death.
Contact details
