For the large part of this year i have been interested in Cyborgs. Initially my interest stemmed from a rather geeky admiration for the vast technology at our disposal. The Cyborg is commonly seen as an ugly marriage of metal and biological tissue but when Donna Harraway wrote her Cyborg Manifesto, there became an opportunity for the mythological creature to be used as a vehicle to challenge our ideas of society, gender and race.
Cyborgs in the Modern World Kevin Warwick Professor at University of Reading
Stelarc
Performance Artist This section of my portfolio will look at people in modern culture, also interested in the premise of Cyborgology and the work that they are doing with this in mind.
Sensory Upgrade Kevin Warwick is a professor researching artificial Intelligence, human control functions, robotics and cybernetic organisms at Reading University. He is also considered the first ‘Cyborg’ after having implanted a transponder and microchip into his nervous system..
Humans have five primary senses; sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The purpose of the senses is to provide data for perception and analysis by the brain. Operation, classification and the senses themselves are the subject of numerous fields of study, neuroscience, cognitive psychology and philosophy of perception. The work that Kevin Warwick is undertaking is concerned with the progression and advancement of the human species through upgrading the senses as well as implementing additional senses such as sonar, akin to Bats. He believes that this is the progression of the human species, participatory evolution.
ST E L A RC Stelios Arcadiou - a Cypriot-Australian performance artist focussing on the limitations of the human body.
‘‘Evolution, in the Darwinian sense occurs over millions of years, with random mutations and with natural selection. The exponentional development of computational devices, robotics, genetic engineering and virtual systems means the human body will be augmented and extended with alternate anatomical architectures in hundreds rather than millions of years.’
photos top: www.cec.sonus.ca/econtact/14_2/stelarc_gallery.html left: erinmaizrahi.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/stelarc/ centre left: www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_case_studies.cfm centre right: www.sciencegallery.com/events/2011/06/stelarc far right: www.flickr.com/photos/andymiah/5854854930 bottom: www.sciencegallery.com/events/2011/06/stelarc Quote Ward, O. (2011, 1 31). Stelarc: artist or cyborg? Retrieved 11 27, 2012 from TimeOut: http://www.timeout.com/london/art/article/1974/stelarc-artist-or-cyborgr
Stelarc’s work is a more “exterme” artist idea to Kevin Warwick’s more “conservative” academic view point. Althouh Stelarc considers the human body to be obsolete ‘he has used medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, Virtual Reality systems, the Internet and biotechnology to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body.’ Predominantly his work has ‘visually probed and acoustically amplified his body.’ [www.stelarc.org] To many these forms of expression may appear unsightly and extreme, yet as disturbing as some of this may be
Mechanical Prosthetic Mechanical prosthetics have been utilised by humans since the 16th-century. Early prosthetics were rudimentary in function and clunky in design. At the start of prosthetic use the early problems were related to pain endured by users and preparation of limbs at the amputation stage in readying the limb for receipt of the prosthetic.
left: In 1857 a prosthetic arm patient of William Selvo pioneered human powered actuation right: examples of 16th [bottom] and 18th [top] Century prosthetics right top: Harold Russell, double hand amputee & Oscar winner, bringing the need for better prosthetic design to the fore. Kwon, A. (2012, 1 8). Life & Limb: The Evolution of Prosthetics. Retrieved 11 22, 2012 from Gear Patrol: http://gearpatrol.com/2012/08/01/lifelimb-the-evolution-of-prosthetics/
Concept Future of Today
The fallen Society of Capitalism
Old & New
The demise of Capitalism v A new communist world
People to Cyborgs
Humans re-appropriated as Cyborgs This section of my portfolio looks at concept for the final film
Millharbour The Embassy for Cyborgs is located on Millharbour, Canary Wharf. Adjacent to South Quays DLR station the site is accessible for newcomers to the social cyborg machine.
Humans from the ‘real world’ are required to go straight to the Embassy after transportation. Humans will undergo gender reassignment and transformation before commencing work in the new communist society.
The Nervous System A network of cells responsible for communicating the ambition of movement from the mind to targetted body parts. The organic forms of multipopar, bipolar, unipolar and anaxonic neurons provide guidance for form of the Embassy for Cyborgs.
The nervous system within an animal body enables movement of targeted body parts. The system acts as an information highway conducting critical data through synaptic cells to produce physical movement. Nerve cells are categorized as part of either the Central Nervous System [CNS] or the Peripheral Nervous [PNS] system. Signals transmitted by the brain, part of the CNS, enable body parts [within either/both the CNS or PNS] thus creating movement. Historically the term cyborg defined cybernetic/ organism hybrids as entities operating, aided by, extensions of the physical self, performing tasks that the body would be otherwise incapable of enacting. Hammering a nail into a piece of wood would be impossible without the physical extension, the hammer, for instance. And indeed the same would be true for breathing without the appropriate machine for a human in a vegetative state. Yet, as singularity draws closer, cyborgian extensions act to expand the mind.
Microchip The opening sequence of the film will show the implantation of a new microchip into the nervous system of the social cyborg. The microchip is symbolic of the Embassy for Cyborgs . The scene will end as the camera is transported to the Embassy via a communication wormhole.
implantation The nervous system was created with the duplication of a sphere. As another sphere was produced the position was arranged into a larger sphereical shape. After the necessary number of spheres were produced each was attached to the other to form one editable poly. The poly was then edited to connect each of the spheres together with ‘dendrites’. When the process of connecting the spheres was complete, lighting and particle systems were added to the scene to provide aseemingly more tangible existence. A camera was then positioned and animated [along with the particle systems]. The ensuing film render is then to be treated to post-production in After Effects for texturing.
Materials L i g h t i n g Testing materials and lighting for the opening sequence is a vital part of setting the tone for the film. These are a few of the early test renders produced in 3ds max. Additonal texturing of stills was done in Photoshop with a view to replicating in After Effects
Materialing of the modelled objects, the nervous system, was done using mental ray in 3ds max. Production of a textured base model using bitmaps, bump maps, diffuse colouring and cutout maps coupled with scene lighting provided renders that were manipulated in post production. Infinite time can be spent setting up lighting of a scene in 3ds max. These early renders are not perfect by any means but testing the limitations of the lights, and materials, is crucial to garnering a sense of realism, or otherwise in the final film.