Martha Armitage
I am currently exploring themes of post-humanism in my artwork; a concept commonly used in science fiction, philosophy and contemporary art that literally means after human or beyond human. This lead me to transhumanism, which is a movement that aims to transform, adapt and improve humans using technology. Some transhumanist thinkers believe that humans will soon create technologies which will allow humans to become immortal or even transform themselves into alternative beings. These futuristic ideas about humanism suggest an imperfectability in the current human, implying we aren’t perfect yet we should be and as a solution humans are trying to create a perfect human or post-human.
In and amongst this research, I sat with my 13-year-old brother and watched him play Grand Theft Auto (GTA). The realisation that my little brother would rather sit in the sitting room, in his pyjamas, with earphones and a microphone around his head, completely alone staring at a screen, than physically interacting with his friends stuns me. Is he living a post-human childhood? If he is, is this a bad thing? Is this bad for the social skills that he may need in the future? Or will everything be virtual by then?
I also analysed his online persona, which is the antithesis of him in real life. On GTA his character is a tall American male in his early 20s, living in Los Angeles, California whose life consists of violence, crime and luxury. My brother Ben, on the other hand, is a 13-year-old boy living in Sheffield, currently going through puberty, roughly 5ft tall, he wears glasses and his favourite food is cereal. By becoming consumed in his virtual character, he is not living in reality, which makes me question whether this is the start of him becoming post or transhuman.
This week in the Tate, I will be exploring these concepts by experimenting with alternative materials in order to create a physical representation of my thoughts.
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