Subjects of Hybridization

For centuries, the understanding of human and nature has been a constructed one through the use of technology. As technology changed, the various kinds of communication and representations which we used to communicate also have changed.

In the XVII century, in the context of rational science, we defined ourselves as rational animals. We were an organic and natural body and what separated us from other animals was logic.

Then, the concept of the clock with the Industrial Revolution came into place and the representation we had of our bodies was modified. We started to lose the organic to become mechanical. Our bodies were seen as machines.

Nowadays, in the realm of digital technology, the representation of the body as a mechanical machine is shifting to a body that is understandable as information, data and code. There is a hybridization of the body as organic and informational. Therefore, our relationship with the entire living universe and our understanding of what is life is changing, enabling different perspectives and creating new metaphors.

The selection of posters for this exhibit touches upon these matters. A communication with other living entities, through bioelectronic signals, is generated in order to alter our physical and mental experiences. Animal characteristics are simulated to improve and challenge our limitations. A new kind of artificial semi life is created that can influence our movements, at the same time that we can influence them.
Our bodies become instruments to power digital communication.

Under the influence of all these experiences, new kinds of discourse are inscribing themselves on our lives. So it becomes necessary to review historical interpretations and representations of the body in order not to produce marginalized bodies.

Curated by Lorena Salomé

Subtle Technologies is a four-day multidisciplinary festival exploring complex and subtle relationships between art and science. The annual international event combines symposia, exhibitions, workshops and performances that juxtapose cutting-edge artistic projects and scientific exploration.

For the 10th annual festival, “in situ: art | body | medicine”, Subtle Technologies has invited practitioners of arts, sciences and medicines, and those who study their context, historians, ethicists and other critical thinkers, to contemplate how these disciplines can work together and reshape perspectives on the body.