#autoicon

[iansergeant]

autoicon

Autoicon is a dynamic internet work and CD-ROM that simulates both the physical presence and elements of the creative personality of the artist Donald Rodney who died from sickle-cell anaemia. The ...

Professor Mike Phillips was a close friend and colleague of Donald Rodney, meeting at Slade in the mid to late 80s. They would go on to collaborate on projects including Visceral Canker (which I will share later). AUTOICON, was a bold and futuristic concept in digitally preserving and archiving the legacy of Donald Rodney. You can read more about the project here and I am pleased and honoured to be able to revisit this work as part of the re-imaging of this concept over the next couple of months, which includes working Mike and members of Plymouth University. 

[iashent]

Autoicon

How can you evoke pain with an image? You can be sitting next to me and say you feel pain, but how do I know you are actually in pain, whether you are actually feeling pain or not? Or if your pain is anything like my pain

[christodeklerk]

http://ift.tt/MYsIOX

“A year before his 1832 death, Bentham wrote a treatise on “Auto-Icon, or Farther Uses of the Dead to the Living” in which he anticipated halls filled with the embalmed bodies of famous and distinguished people.” – http://ift.tt/MYsIOX

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[sudocity]

A year before his 1832 death, Bentham wrote a treatise on "Auto-Icon, or Farther Uses of the Dead to the Living" in which he anticipated halls filled with the embalmed bodies of famous and distinguished people.

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-08-10/news/mn-2193_1_jeremy-bentham

[thefinalshow-jessica]

Auto Icons - Jeremy Bentham

During the lecture which took place in week five, we discussed and explored the concept of auto icons - Jeremy Bentham's in particular.

"When he died, he instructed his surgeon, Dr. Thomas Southwood Smith to curate what he called his 'auto icon' - his self image - which is his skeleton, dressed in his clothes, sitting on his chair. He intended that his own head should sit on top of the auto icon, but it looked so revolting when it was preserved that a wax head was made instead." - Professor Philip Schofield, UCL 

To me, the auto-icon is a way to monumentalise ourselves - it is an art form with the need to memorialise and this is what I believe part of Jeremy Bentham's intention was. When you visit UCL to view the auto-icon, Bentham is literally 'there' - his skeleton sits before you and that cannot be ignored. I can't help but wonder why Bentham requested this us usual curation to occur after his death. Did he take into consideration what his friends and family thought/felt about the auto-icon? Does he feel at rest? Whatever the reasoning may be, my curiosity has been set in motion about how I would 'exhibit' myself if I were to become an auto-icon: where would I position myself? Would I be alone as an individual or set with others? The more I think about it, the more that I realise how the context and portrayal of myself could alter hugely dewing on aspects such as location, attire and positioning.

Jeremy Bentham's auto-icon. UCL.