Creator: Edwyn Kumar
Exhibition: Posthuman Romantics
Published: Feb 2021
Format: Illustration
Content Warning: None
Summary
An artificial life-form reads from a book whilst floating from cables in an arbor.
Oil on canvas board.
Process & Project Photos
In Conversation with the Curator:
[Edwin] The piece that I’ve created is, yeah, it’s a post human who is in some sort of Arbor, I hope you enjoy the piece. It’s really about, you know, where does the imagination go?
When we think of an intelligent, posthuman, we think about someone who has a conscious approach that they can take and imagine, they can visualize, they can do all that sort of stuff.
[Jon] Your artist is reading a book. Was the book written by a human or posthuman author and, in either case, how does it affect the artist’s self image?
[Edwin] The lady in the picture is, is reading a book. I do imagine that she’s reading a human book. So the idea is, is that she’s absorbing another world, the imagination of a human as a posthuman.
And what does that process look like? You know? Is the feed coming out of the back of her head – is that uploading or downloading that information? And the idea that she’s in a little bit of nature, is also an important thing there. I know, it’s kind of this kind of hazy creed. But that’s kind of where I was coming up with the piece. And, and so it leaves a little bit of imagination. So the question that’s being asked about, you know, how is it affecting our… I think that’s the question that the viewer of the piece – ideally, if they end up pondering that, then that’s a good thing.
[Transcript by Otter.ai, edited by Kay Slater, 2021]