Introduction: Technology and its integration with the human body
As the line between human and machine is slowly getting harder to define as the reliance on technology becomes more pervasive, artists have started to look towards envisioning and experimenting with how new technology will integrate with the human body. The posthuman and non-human genre of art investigates this through the examination of virtual characters, cyborgs and bio designed technology.
For this week, we will explore how Natasha Vita More showcases the ideology of transhumanism through her work on the Primo Posthuman project.
Natasha Vita More is an artist born on the 23rd of February 1950 hailing from New York. During her childhood years, Natasha developed a tumour that created a deformity in her jaw. While thankfully she recovered from her illness, the effects of witnessing and experiencing human deformities had a profound impact on how Natasha viewed the human body (WNYC, 2011). As a result of this traumatic experience, Natasha started speculating on ways to improve the human body through technological means such as the ability to replace body parts and organs along with sensory and body enhancements.
Primo Posthuman – Showcasing the possibilities of a prosthetic body
Natasha identifies herself as a transhumanist – part of a collection of scientists, designers and artists who hold the belief of innovating upon the human body through technological means with the goal of being able to live forever. In the year 1997, Natasha sought to showcase the possibilities of human technological enhancement through her Primo posthuman project – a media design and visualisation featuring a prototype human body modelled after herself. (More, 2018).
This visualisation showcased a list of technological features such as replaceable genes and a reprogrammed meta brain which assists the body in making decisions along with error correction.
Throughout the years, Natasha iterated upon the primo posthuman project to coincide with the rapid development of prosthetics and biotechnology with her second iteration being called Primo 3M+ published in 2002 through the link www.natasha.cc/primo.htm (Nichols, 2019). The website showcases a computer-generated model of the author’s body with an interactive list of technological enhanced features pointing to different parts of the human body.
The user could then click on each tag which would bring them to a page in which the feature would be explained in more detail (More, 2002).
Features include an increased frequency range and parabolic hearing for the ear, replaceable organs and solar protected skin with an optional silicon carbide sheath which enables the human to become translucent along with changing their skin colour at will.
Her most current iteration of the primo posthuman project is called body by design, a mock promotional video published on the 2045 initiative youtube channel in 2013:
Over the years, Natasha’s work on the primo posthuman project was showcased at the Brooks Memorial Museum, London Contemporary Museum, Women in Video, Telluride Film Festival, and the United States Film Festival According to Arizona State University (Leonardo, 2021).
While these may be separate works, each piece centres around the main theme of transhumanism and highlights the possible ways in which new areas of technology could be implemented to further improve the human body. This is why I personally believe that these three pieces should be investigated in unison.
Natasha’s stance belief in transhumanism also conveys an intriguing moral dilemma – by changing our bodies through bioengineering to gain immortality, how would this affect our humanity along with more general side effects such as overpopulation and the change of cultural dynamics as claimed by William Hurlbut, a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics (WNYC, 2011).
Relation to mixed reality
I chose her primo posthuman project as it takes a step further into the mixed reality paradigm. As discussed by Cleland in his article regarding Mixed reality interaction and how audiences interact with virtual characters. In the article, Cleland states that when interfaced with a virtual or artificial character, humans are now quick to assimilate and emotionally respond to virtual characters when it is given the ability to interact and engage with the audience in real-time (Cleland, 2010). By implanting our consciousness into a prosthetic body, will we be quick to assimilate this “fake” body as our own as similar as to how we are able to easily engage with virtual characters? Moving forward, what type of factors must be met in order to create a more natural transition into a prosthetic body? Similar to how Cleland’s work investigates what advantages these robots can be given to creating a believable social partner through utilising appropriate mirroring body language, gaze behaviour and a medium of communication (Cleland, 2010), Work must be done investigating the primo posthuman’s ease of adoption.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe that Natasha’s work on the primo posthuman project puts forth a very compelling proposition for humanity. By utilising body prosthetics as a means for life extension, how might the skewed perception of mortality affect our human nature?
References
Cleland, K. (2010, May 26). Mixed reality interaction: audience responses to robots and virtual characters. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved October 24, 2021, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14626261003654608?scroll=top&needAccess=true
More, N. V. (2002, February 25). Radical body design “Primo Posthuman” « Kurzweil. Kurzweil. Retrieved October 24, 2021, from https://www.kurzweilai.net/radical-body-design-primo-posthuman
The Posthuman Future | Studio 360. (2012). WNYC. Retrieved October 24, 2021, from https://www.wnyc.org/story/233794-posthuman-future/
Socrates, S. (2013, September 4). Primo Posthuman Archives. Singularity Weblog. Retrieved October 24, 2021, from https://www.singularityweblog.com/tag/primo-posthuman/
Digital Arts 