Monday, January 24, 2011

Humans against technology?

TAGS: Art, Health, Russia, Europe






A trailblazing Belgian artist, Hans Op de Beeck, has created five sculptures representing people with prosthetic limbs. The question is - what’s the idea behind them?

The sculptures have names – Ingrid, Anke, Yves-Pascale, Iris and Eric – as well as a medical history.

Some of the exhibits have bionic arms or legs, others are wearing complex equipment on their bodies and heads. A "motion capture" apparatus on the face, a robotic suit for a disabled person, or a brain-scanner attached to the skull. The Belgian sculptor raises the question of the ethical side of these state-of-the-art devices.

What is meant to save someone’s life could possibly destroy the true essence of a person, blurring the fine line between the human body and its digital body-double.

Could humans turn into machines in the long run?

Judging by Hans Opde Beeck’s exhibition at the Art Banking Club in Moscow – the fear is still there.

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