Research
Introduction Cybernetics Organisms Berlin Dada Art Hannah Hรถch Raoul Hausmann Ode to the Working Girl [Kieron Peaty] Communist Singularity [Kieron Peaty] Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline Donna Harraway Chemical Enhancement Prosthetics Technology Technology, the truth [Kieron Peaty] Ray Kurzweil Manuel Da Landa Metropolis The Terminator Robocop Iron Man Amber Case Neil Harbisson Kevin Warwick Stelarc Internet Map
Proposal
London as a Social Organism Site Location Site Reasoning Site Photographic Mapping Site Modelling Concept development Limb Prosthetic Form Rationale Organic Form Flow Thermo-receptors Endo-skeleton Alter Development collage 1 Development collage 2 Development collage 3 Development collage 4 Development collage 5 Development collage 6 Development collage 7
Design & detail
The Void The Void The Void
01 02 03
Preliminary Section Flor Plans 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite
F i l m Wo r k
Chronogram After Effects scenes As shown
Thesis
Final Product Images Preliminary thesis diagram Final thesis diagram
Appendix
Initial Scheme Images Initial Scheme Concept development collages
Circulation & Viewing 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite Internal Images As shown
Contents
Cyborgs
Introduction I started the year with having done a little reading around the topic of the cyborg. I had no real clue how big the topic was but I knew that I have an interest in technology, gadgets for want of a better word, and the place they have in society, the impact upon it and how we as a race are changing to accommodate it. I never really considered myself to be a cyborg, to be honest I’m not sure that i do even now, but the idea is one that, through research developed and began to make me ask questions about my place in the world. These are my findings and from them my proposal for the Cyborg Embassy.
Cybernetics
Norbert Wiener - mathematician Wiener was an American mathematician responsible for pioneering work, studies in the field of cybernetics. His work has provided a framework, a platform for the majority of advancements made in fields associated with the modern cyborg. In terms of the various definitions of the cyborg, Wiener’s work is more closely alligned with the implicit, mechanistic formula. Although not responsible for a definition of the cyborg, Wiener considered, deeply, the social implications of his scientific practices, his workings on cybernetics and society elucidate the specfic effects on minds, bodies, and societies that he believed cybernetics would assist in cultivating. Wiener proposed the field of cybernetics as an interdisciplinary field that would unite scientists around problems of communication, control and statistical mechanics. Central to cybernetics as both practical and theoretical exercise were numerical computers: binary machines, dependent upon electronics instead on mechanical gears or relays, and entirely automatic during computer operation. Wiener felt that such computers could allow formulation of central control systems of larger electormechanical assemblages designed to mimic complex human functions, inculding tracking enemy aircraft with antiaircraft artillery or reading text aloud. Biro, M. (2009). Dada Cyborg: Visions of the New Human in Weimar Berlin. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp.2-3
Organisms
Animal, plant, micro-organism or fungus Humans are organisms, as well as all plants, microorgansims and fungi. In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system. In some form, all types of organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development. An organism may be either unicellular (a single cell) or, as in the case of humans, comprise many trillions of cells grouped into specialized tissues and organs. The term multicellular (many cells) describes any organism made up of more than one cell. The cyborg would not exist without the organism, it is central to their composition. In early cyborg forms the organism was considered to be a human with some form of prosthetic, but with continued development and studies conducted by scientists of varying backgrounds, the organism may now be thought of as anything from human to animal, to non material entities such as politics or society, as will be shown later.
top left the hierarchy of biological classifications eight major taxonmic ranks. top right basic anatomical features of the male and female body bottom left escherichia coli, example of prokaryotic micro-organism bottom centre polypore mushroom has parasitic relationship with host bottom right ericoid mychorrhizal fungus
Berlin Dada Art
1920s Weimar inspired Art - The birthplace of the Cyborg Berlin Dada was a loosely knit group of German artist active between 1918 and early 1920s. Members included Raoul Hausmann, Richard Huelsenbeck, George Grosz, John Heartfield, Hannah Hoch, and Johannes Baader. Although not the first group of Dada artists, with previous Dada movements formed in Zurich and New York in the 1910s, the Berlin Dadaists, were the first group to fully appreciate that Dadaist strategies held strategies for transformation of art’s relationship to the mass media, as well as being the first group to apply said strategies to the practice of politics. Berlin Dada is/was extermely political in nature, owing to the fact that it was the first Dada group formed firectly at World War I’s end, the first full-scale mechanized war, a conflagration, moreover, that had ended with the collapse of the German monarchy. The effects of the war were most obvious in Berlin, by comparison to New York and Zurich, with questions of Germany’s future as a political and a social entity dominating both public and private discourse. Biro, M. (2009). Dada Cyborg: Visions of the New Human in Weimar Berlin. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp.26-27
images Retrieved 20 05, 2013, from http://weimarart.blogspot. co.uk/2010/06/berlin-dada-fair-1920.html
Hannah HĂśch
German Dada Artist Hannah Hoch was one of the central members of the Berlin Dada. She showed the cyborg through use of photomontage and other forms of art to express her understanding of the developing technological network that subtended modern life to present both the greatest dangers as well as the most important possibilities to women living in the Weimar Republic. Hoch’s art centred around the position of women in the then current society, and inspired a seemingly cold way of perceiving the relationships of humans, technological systems, machines, environments. It attempted to inspire women to begin to change their social and historical possibilites and thereby distinguish themelves as cyborgs in a crucial, potentially liberating sense of the term. Her photomontages go some way to proving truth in the cyborg definition of Donna Haraway, who will be looked at later in the portfolio. Biro, M. (2009). Dada Cyborg: Visions of the New Human in Weimar Berlin. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp.203
Raoul Hausmann
Austrian Dada (Berlin) Artist In conjunction with a select few Hausmann was one of the young diaffected artists in Berlin circa 1918 who formed the nucleus of the Berlin Dada art movement. Prior to Dada, Hausmann was primarily a painter, influenced greatly by abstract art, as well as cubism and futurism. He also wrote a number of texts for various journals post 1917, focussed upon aesthetics and politics. It was through one of these journals that Hausmann became friendly with Huelsenbeck [another member of Berlin Dada] and from here that the movement developed aspects of the Dada ideology based upon shared beliefs. Biro, M. (2009). Dada Cyborg: Visions of the New Human in Weimar Berlin. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp.28-29
Manfred Clynes & Nathan Kline Clynes - Scientist [in study of Biological Systems & Neural Physiology], Inventor, Musician Kline - Scientist [in psychopharmacological drugs]
Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline were part of the NASA space programme in the late 1950s and 60s. They first put forward the term cyborg in their paper ‘Cyborgs and Space’ in 1960 to articulate the idea of human or animal - machine hybrids: a sentient body altered biochemically, physiologically, or electronically so that it could live in environments otherwise uninhabitable. Largely their use of the cyborg term was somewhat one-sided and uncritical, a long way from the meticulous disections of the cyborg studies subsequently conducted by others such as Donna Harraway, for instance. Unlike the ideals of Norbert Wiener and other developers of cybernetics, the foundations upon which the cyborg developed and grew from, Clynes and Kline were of the thinking that technological augmentation was principally beneficial to human-kind. Biro, M. (2009). Dada Cyborg: Visions of the New Human in Weimar Berlin. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp.4-5
Donna Haraway
Professor & Scholar in Science and Technology Studies In response to understanding of human identity considered by Norbert Wiener, as well as to Clynes and Kline’s concept of the cyborg as altered organisms fit for existence, to live in space, and to progression of cybernetics since World War II, Donna Haraway was responsible for developing a new, more socially critical concept of the cyborg in the mid-1980s. According to Haraway, the cyborg posed fundamental political questions. A creature of both “imagination and material reality,” it reflected the postwar world and offered hints as to how human beings might adapt themselves to better live in it. In 1985, Haraway published the essay “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century” in Socialist Review. In “A Cyborg Manifesto”, Haraway used the cyborg to challenge feminists to engage in a politics beyond naturalism and essentialism, as well as to offer political strategy for interests of socialism and feminism. Biro, M. (2009). Dada Cyborg: Visions of the New Human in Weimar Berlin. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp.5-6
Chemical Enhancement Medication, pills, anaesthetics
Although not necessarily something to be considered in the cyborg realm, the notion of chemical enhancement was particularly of interest to NASA during the early 1960s when space travel was first considered. This area is notable particularly for the work carried out by Nathan Kline, a specialist in psychopharmacological drugs. At a glance, early space travellers would have been likely to experience adverse reactions to forces exerted upon their bodies and minds whilst in space, thus chemical alteration and enhancement was at the forefront of the work of NASA during early space exploration. Nowadays, with the scientific and surgical programmes developed to combat human and indeed animal ailments, it is possible for a course of antibiotics to enable categorisation of any given specimen as a cyborg. Diabetics use insulin on daily basis, to facilitate function within everyday life for instance, whilst patients due to undergo surgery will be subjected to anaesthetic, whether local or general, to enable surgery to occur without the experience of pain. Dare we suggest that without the work of NASA and the notion of space travel, advancements made over the last half century would not have been made at quite the speed that have been witnessed in recent times regarding chemical alteration and enhancement.
Prosthetics
Bionic, mechanical, etc. 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. The notion of the prosthetic features highly in regard to the fusion of technology with an organism, it is one of the components of the cyborg idea that intrigues me most. With this in mind it is the prosthetic, the arm to be exact that will feature within the design project In the present time, many academics associated with cyborgs consider differing forms of technology to be considered as prosthetic, from the computer, internet, mobile phone or indeed what would be considered a traditional prosthetic, these are areas discussed further in my thesis as well as denoted in other areas of my portfolio.
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/
Technnology
Mobile phones, et. al The first, commercially available [mobile] phone was in 1983, not long ago in real terms, yet between 1990 and 2011 mobile phone usage and possession grew from 12.4 million to over 6 billion, penetrating 87% of the global population. Human progress, growth of this nature is not linear, it is exponential, acceleration and singularity. In Finland, 1999, mobile phones were owned by 67% of Finnish residents compared to a meagre 28% of the United States. Nokia was the mobile phone of choice for the pre new-millennium masses. They originated in a town of the same name in Finland, home to a factory responsible for production of considerable volume of the Nokia phones. Due to the high number of phones consumed and used in late 90s Finland, a slang term, “kanny,” was adopted by Finnish youngsters, meaning extension of the hand. It was both something to use, as you use your hands to write, and also a part of you, as without it you could not function. The “kanny” was/is like a prosthetic limb, over which you wield full and flexible control, and on which you automatically rely in formulating and carrying out daily goals. Although seemingly insignificant, the term is a demonstration of how adept humans are at dovetailing minds and skills to the shape of any tools and aids they deem worthy, yet when these tools and aids begin to dovetail back, when technology actively, automatically, and continually tailors itself to the human, just as humans do to it, the line between tool and user becomes flimsy, minds and identities become ever more deeply enmeshed in non-biological matrix of machines, tools, props, codes, and semi-intelligent daily objects; user-sensitive technology.
Ray Kurzweil
Inventor, thinker, futurist Ray Kurzweil is recognized as a public advocate for the futurist and transhumanist movements, due to his stances on life extension technologies, his efforts to forecast future advances in technology, and his interest in the concept of the technological singularity. Singularity is, according to Kurzweil, a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed. Although neither utopian or dystopian, this epoch will transform concepts that we rely on to give meaning to our lives, from our business models to the cycle of human life, including death itself. Kurzweil currently works with the Army Science Advisory Board developing rapid response systems for possible abuse of biotechnology. He suggests that the same technologies that are empowering us to reprogram biology away from cancer and heart disease could be used by a bioterrorist to reprogram a biological virus to be more deadly, communicable, and stealthy. Fortunately, he believes that we have the scientific tools to successfully defend against these attacks, similar to the way we defend against computer software viruses. He has testified before Congress on the subject of nanotechnology, advocating that nanotechnology has the potential to solve serious global problems such as poverty, disease, and climate change. In media appearances, Kurzweil has stressed the extreme potential dangers of nanotechnology but argues that in practice, progress cannot be stopped because that would require a totalitarian system, and any attempt to do so would drive dangerous technologies underground and deprive responsible scientists of the tools needed for defense.
“To avoid dangers such as unrestrained nanobot replication, we need relinquishment at the right level and to place our highest priority on the continuing advance of defensive technologies, staying ahead of destructive technologies. An overall strategy should include a streamlined regulatory process, a global program of monitoring for unknown or evolving biological pathogens, temporary moratoriums, raising public awareness, international cooperation, software reconnaissance, and fostering values of liberty, tolerance, and respect for knowledge and diversity.�
Manuel De Landa
Writer, artist and philosopher
In the aftermath of the methodical destruction of Iraq during the Persian Gulf War, the power and efficency of new computerized weapons and surveillance technology has become chillingly apparent. For Manuel De Landa, however, this new weaponry has a significance that goes far beyond military applications; he shows how it represents a profound shift in the relation of human beings both to machines and to information. The recent emergence of intelligent and autonomous bombs and missiles equipped with artificial perception and decision making capabilities is, for De Landa, part of a much larger transfer of cognitive structures from humans to machines in the late twentieth century. Landa, M. D. (1991). War in the Age of Intelligent Machines. (S. K. Jonathan Crary, Ed.) New York: Zone Books.
“In the last thirty years, for instance, computers have allowed scientists to investigate the mathematical foundations of natural processes of self-organization. These are processes in which order emerges spontaneously out of chaos.� Landa, M. D. (1991). p.6
Metropolis 1924
Directed by _ Paul Verhoeven Produced by _ Arne Schmidt Written by _ Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner A German science fiction film, expressionist, the focus, technology and women. A female robot is transformed into mischievous cyborg, indicating a link between technology and women. The ‘machine-woman’ embodies a 20th century male fear relating to perceived threat of technology and women to male control. Women and machines are deemed to embody male fear as a marriage of powerful technologies and female sexuality, the “otherness” of women, represented in two stereotypical images of femininity, the virgin, and the vamp, both male projections, both a threat to the male world of high technology, efficiency, rationality. The virgin is associated with nurture, affection, emotion, and the robot-vamp, embodied as technological artefact, the destructive female sexuality. The sexualized woman and technology, the machine-vamp, as a hybrid, equate to a threat to all men. These are differing depictions of the cyborg, in 1927, suggesting technology to be dangerous with feminine irrationality, the other, 1984 onwards, grotesque demonstration of male dominance, ego, political power.
Terminator 1984
Directed by _ James Cameron Produced by _ Gale Anne Hurd Written by _ James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, William Wisher, Jr. In 2029, a post-apocalyptic future, the Terminator is a cyborg assasin sent from the future to the present to prevent the birth of the latter day freedom fighter John Connor. Played by Arnold Schwarzenegger the Terminator was a bio-mechanic being formed of an endoskeleton with a living tissue outter skin which made him appear human. The Terminator, originated from human development of biometric weaponry, another symbol of war mongering political stimulus, not to police within the state but to protect it from another, backfired, leading to the overpowering of humans. Unlike Robocop, where subtlety is forsaken, mechanical components on show as they are, the Terminator requires a flesh ‘armour’ to conceal his mechanical-technological composition within, enabling Terminator to adapt to 20th Century surroundings and gain acceptance from unassuming humans that encounter the cyborg assassin.
Darian Leader considers The Terminator as an example of how the cinema has dealt with the problem of masculinity, stating that it illustrates that to be a man requires more than having the body of a man, and that something symbolic that is not ultimately human must be added.
RoboCop
1987
Directed by _ Paul Verhoeven Produced by _ Arne Schmidt Written by _ Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner 1987, the film Robocop, Alex Murphy, a policeman, is attacked by perpetrators of crime but saved from death by doctors, to assume the role as a pioneering new hybrid enforcer of law, namely Robocop. Robocop’s mechanical appearance is a result of his position in society, a policeman, the need to pursue, subdue, criminals, offenders of social codes and laws is paramount. Robocop is required to project an allconquering infallibility as determined by pre-oedipal symbiosis, a need to deter criminals, instil a sense that the state will not stand for acts against the system, and a show that any such acts will lead to the capture and punishment of wrongdoers, Robocop is unstoppable.
Iron-Man 2008
Directed by _ Jon Favreau Produced by _ Avi Arad, Kevin Feige Screenplay by _ Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway Set in modern day, Iron-Man is the alter ego of weapons developer Tony Stark, who took over the business of developing weapons for the USA maintaining the legacy of his late father. With the development of a new enery source Stark creates a suit of armour complete with flying capabilites, on board computer systems and weapons. The suit is passed onto the governement to be utilised by special divisions in the military, however Stark also continues to use his own suit for ‘Superhero’ pursuits, protecting the country against criminals and perpitartors of evil against the States, and World overall. Iron-Man is a cyborg, a human encased in mechanical armour, a hybrid of sorts of both Terminator and Robocop, without an official place in society Iron-Man assumes the role of maintaining peace both within the state and outside of it, a figure of power, a demonstration of muscle, good for youth to believe in and evil to fear.
Amber Case
Cyborg Anthropologist Amber Case is a cyborg anthropologist, examining the way humans and technology interact and evolve together. Like all anthropologists, Case watches people, but her fieldwork involves observing how they participate in digital networks, analyzing the various ways we project our personalities, communicate, work, play, share ideas and even form values. Case founded Geoloqi.com, a private location-sharing application, out of a frustration with existing social protocols around text messaging and wayfinding. Case, who predicts that intensification of the humantechnology interface will quickly reduce the distance between individual and community, believes that the convergence of technologies will bring about unprecedented rapid learning and communication. Dubbed a digital philosopher, Case applies her findings to such fields as information architecture, usability and online productivity. She’s currently working on a book about using anthropological techniques to understand industry ecosystems.
Ted. (2011, 01 10). Speakers Amber Case: Cyborg Anthropologist. Retrieved 12 11, 2012, from Ted.com: http://www.ted.com/speakers/amber_case.html
Technology is evolving us, says Amber Case, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens. We now rely on “external brains� (cell phones and computers) to communicate, remember, even live out secondary lives. But will these machines ultimately connect or conquer us?
Neil Harbisson
Contemporary artist, composer and cyborg activist Born with the inability to see color, Neil Harbisson wears a prosthetic device — he calls it an “eyeborg” — that allows him to hear the spectrum, even those colors beyond the range of human sight. His unique experience of color informs his artwork — which, until he met cyberneticist Adam Montandon at a college lecture, was strictly black-and-white. By working with Montandon, and later with Peter Kese, Harbisson helped design a lightweight eyepiece that he wears on his forehead that transposes the light frequencies of color hues into sound frequencies.
“Conclusively, this project exists not in the software, or domain of so called ‘virtual’ reality, but in the reality of Neil’s perception of the world, unveiling, quite literally, an invisible architecture of energy.” - Adam Montandon
Harbisson’s artwork blurs the boundaries between sight and sound. In his Sound Portraits series, he listens to the colors of faces to create a microtonal chord. In the City Colours project, he expresses the capital cities of Europe in two colors (Monaco is azure and salmon pink; Bratislava yellow and turquoise).
Ted. (2011, 01 10). Speakers Amber Case: Cyborg Anthropologist . Retrieved 12 11, 2012, from Ted.com: http://www.ted.com/speakers/amber_case.html
above Neil Harbisson’s City Colours project, expresses the capital cities of Europe in two colors (Monaco is azure and salmon pink; Bratislava yellow and turquoise).
“Our knowledge is driven by our sense. If we enhance our senses by technology, we can enhance our knowledge.” - Neil Harbisson, President of the Cyborg Foundation
Kevin Warwick
Professor of Cybernetics at University of Reading 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 undertaken by Kevin Warwick 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. Through a series of self implemented experiements, involving the implantation of a micro-chip and, on a separate occasion, a transmitter Warwick has been conducted research that could lead to new medical tools for treating patients with damage to the nervous system, as well as opening the way for the more ambitious enhancements.
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.
Stelarc
Contemporary artist 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 the theme of Stelarc’s work is comparable to the ethics ofmodern politics, an ideolised model adopted and implemented but yet adapted and revised with the occurence of unforeseeable anomolies. The pejorative nature of understanding through doing is at the centre of the majority of Stelarc’s art.
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
Internet Map
Self generated organic form of technology This map of global internet use demonstrates the organic form of a system developed by man-kind, that assumes a life of its own and develops independently of controlling bodies. The form is akin to the neural receptors within the brain and has given rise to the unofficial term, Hivemind, in reference to the internet. This form of organic matter is in part inspiration for the form developed and implemented within the Cyborg Embassy.
Research
Introduction Cybernetics Organisms Berlin Dada Art Hannah Hรถch Raoul Hausmann Ode to the Working Girl [Kieron Peaty] Communist Singularity [Kieron Peaty] Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline Donna Harraway Chemical Enhancement Prosthetics Technology Technology, the truth [Kieron Peaty] Ray Kurzweil Manuel Da Landa Metropolis The Terminator Robocop Iron Man Amber Case Neil Harbisson Kevin Warwick Stelarc Internet Map
Proposal
London as a Social Organism Site Location Site Reasoning Site Photographic Mapping Site Modelling Concept development Limb Prosthetic Form Rationale Organic Form Flow Thermo-receptors Endo-skeleton Alter Development collage 1 Development collage 2 Development collage 3 Development collage 4 Development collage 5 Development collage 6 Development collage 7
Design & detail
The Void The Void The Void
01 02 03
Preliminary Section Flor Plans 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite
F i l m Wo r k
Chronogram After Effects scenes As shown
Thesis
Final Product Images Preliminary thesis diagram Final thesis diagram
Appendix
Initial Scheme Images Initial Scheme Concept development collages
Circulation & Viewing 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite Internal Images As shown
Contents
Social Organism
Canary Wharf & City of London This drawing is an examination of the sprawl of financial organisms in London, the relationship, proximity, between the City of London and Canary Wharf, and the suggestion of other sectors, organisms, distributed around London in a wider context.
1 Millharbour, Canary Wharf. E14 Proposed Site for Cyborg Embassy
The proposed site for the Cyborg Embassy is situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the financial district of Canary Wharf. Canary Wharf provides one of London’s services centres, equipped with a wealth of transport links for visiting business men and women it is situated in close proximity to the City of London airport. This makes it an ideal location for an Emabssy, where visiting diplomats can gain easy access andd also providing an accessible location for would-be cyborg citizens to visit, gain information and undergo cyborg transformation. The existing building on the site, which is located on the Millharbour road, currently exists for use as a warehouse for local businesses. The proposal seeks to maintin and refurbish the existing structure, whilst simulataneously excavating down internally to facilite the new organic form and adjoining service core. The impact up the surrounding area and existing street scene is deemed to be minimal.
Site Modelling
Limb Prosthetic
Form examination
As I mentioned earlier in the portfolio, the prosthetic is a form of interest. With regards to the embassy, and the form of the internal arrangement of the proposal, I began to look at the arm, as a prosthetic, taking into consideration the idea of an organic prosthetic for a mechanical building such as the existing warehouse on Millharbour. With this in mind I began to play with the idea of an organic arm, hiding mechanical components, floors, overly engineered, like the endo-skeleton hidden behind the organic tissue of the Terminator.
Rationale Form
The sweeping concrete form will provide rhythm and flow to the embassy. The flow is a progression from entry level through the various stages of transformation, from human to cyborg, culminating at the bottom of the cavernous void, the cathedral. The structural steelwork will provide a sense of structured organisation of the system, cybernetics, for the building and process as a whole. Thus exemplifying key criteria of cyborgs, architecture with organic and mechanical entities working in unison. Tendons, muscle fibres, within an arm wrap around the bone structure. These entities within the arm provide opportunity to cut incisions into the concrete ‘arm’ to facilitate views up, down and around the embassy, the idea of being within the organism but conveying freedom of the cyborg people to potential new citizens.
Early suggestion of organic form to be occupied by necessary floor space to accommodate reception, gallery, research lab, operating theatres, diplomatic suites and offices for both diplomatic and consular purposes.
Organic Model [Prosthetic] Form
Flow
Progression through the Embassy As noted earlier the sweeping concrete form will provide rhythm and flow, not just for the form itself but also for the progressive phases of cyborg transfromation. The tendons, muscles cut into the form have been shown in a way so as to accentuate the sweeping nature whilst still allowing for suitable viewpoints and points of privacy for the various uses and floor spaces arranged within.
The suggestion is for the concrete form to be equipped with micro-fibres akin to thermoreceptors [hairs on the human body] which will constantly detect and the internal conditions, environment of the embassy and regulate the cooling and heating of the building. It is intended that these receptors will be connected to the mainframe of the building which will also incorporate the addition of PV panels, externally fitted, on the roo of the existing warehouse structure.
Thermoreceptors
Self-regulating energy/heat usage
Alter
hand, greeting The hand form at the arm’s end provides a void, space, opportunity to situate the alter for the Embassy cathedral’s altar. Within the alter is where newly enhanced, extended, alter cyborg citizens complete the final ingratiation into the cyborg family. A handshake is a customary greeting in Western culture, and indeed further affield, but for the cyborgs it is a cursory exchange between fellows, acquaintances, new and old.
Research
Introduction Cybernetics Organisms Berlin Dada Art Hannah Hรถch Raoul Hausmann Ode to the Working Girl [Kieron Peaty] Communist Singularity [Kieron Peaty] Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline Donna Harraway Chemical Enhancement Prosthetics Technology Technology, the truth [Kieron Peaty] Ray Kurzweil Manuel Da Landa Metropolis The Terminator Robocop Iron Man Amber Case Neil Harbisson Kevin Warwick Stelarc Internet Map
Proposal
London as a Social Organism Site Location Site Reasoning Site Photographic Mapping Site Modelling Concept development Limb Prosthetic Form Rationale Organic Form Flow Thermo-receptors Endo-skeleton Alter Development collage 1 Development collage 2 Development collage 3 Development collage 4 Development collage 5 Development collage 6 Development collage 7
Design & detail
The Void The Void The Void
01 02 03
Preliminary Section Flor Plans 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite
F i l m Wo r k
Chronogram After Effects scenes As shown
Thesis
Final Product Images Preliminary thesis diagram Final thesis diagram
Appendix
Initial Scheme Images Initial Scheme Concept development collages
Circulation & Viewing 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite Internal Images As shown
Contents
The form . . . imposing, as new citizens sit in the Cathedral . . . not to intimidate, but to inspire, to tap into their consciousness, to enable understanding of their place, as new citizens, as part of something greater, bigger, than themselves, within the organism, within the cyborg society . . .
The Cathedral is a place for quiet contemplation and reflection . . . a place to inspire and soothe the soul of new citizens. Open for use by any cyborg native, the Cathedral will stand, embracing all who visit.
Research
Introduction Cybernetics Organisms Berlin Dada Art Hannah Hรถch Raoul Hausmann Ode to the Working Girl [Kieron Peaty] Communist Singularity [Kieron Peaty] Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline Donna Harraway Chemical Enhancement Prosthetics Technology Technology, the truth [Kieron Peaty] Ray Kurzweil Manuel Da Landa Metropolis The Terminator Robocop Iron Man Amber Case Neil Harbisson Kevin Warwick Stelarc Internet Map
Proposal
London as a Social Organism Site Location Site Reasoning Site Photographic Mapping Site Modelling Concept development Limb Prosthetic Form Rationale Organic Form Flow Thermo-receptors Endo-skeleton Alter Development collage 1 Development collage 2 Development collage 3 Development collage 4 Development collage 5 Development collage 6 Development collage 7
Design & detail
The Void The Void The Void
01 02 03
Preliminary Section Flor Plans 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite
F i l m Wo r k
Chronogram After Effects scenes As shown
Thesis
Final Product Images Preliminary thesis diagram Final thesis diagram
Appendix
Initial Scheme Images Initial Scheme Concept development collages
Circulation & Viewing 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite Internal Images As shown
Contents
After Effects
National Flags denote location The flags were an idea associated with my thesis which sought to re-theorise national identity. In the film the flags simply serve to suggest the location of the ensuing scene’s location, but they are also a nod to the idea of nationalism, national pride, national identity. The flags were modelled, materialed and animated in 3ds max, before rendering as a PNG sequence and imported into After Effects to be exported as an mov.
After Effects
Hausmann Dada sequence For the beginning of the film, I’ve used a couple of my favourite Berlin Dada artists, to exemplify the beginnings of the cyborgs story. In this sequence I’ve taken a still image of Raoul Hausmann’s Self-Portrait, imported it into photoshop, cut it into a number of layers and animated them to give the impression of the technological/political elements of the Weimar era.
After Effects
Hoch Dada sequence Following on from the Hausmann sequence is the Hannah Hoch Working Girl collage. This was choosen for the feminine aspect that was so feared during the time of the Weimar Republic, as reflected upon in the film Metropolis. In the same way as with Hausmann, I took an image of the Working Girl, imported into photoshop, cut up a number of layers and animated them in After Effects.
After Effects
Space Shuttle sequence The sequence is a composite of still images of the helicopter, space shuttle and hills. The clouds/smoke were simply white fill photoshop layers with a ‘difference cloud’ filter applied, these were animated to create atmosphere for the scene. The footage of Canary Wharf was shot for other purposes, but I decided to use the sky to give the scene life. Afterwards it was a case of adding CC spotlights to the scene to heighten effect, create a slight vingette and add sound in the final edit.
stock images, footage
After Effects Social Organism
As shown through the works of various scientists, an organism does not have to be living in the typical sense. Society is a living entity, organism. In this sequence Canary Wharf acts as the organism, adorned with steel prosthetics providing paths for the bloodline, the humans, to pass along to the various organs of the body. These layers were a combination of steelwork generated in 3ds max, photos taken at Canary Wharf and an image of a number of arms. These were composited together to create a scene in photoshop, and in turn imported into After Effects and animated to provide the end product seen in the film.
Research
Introduction Cybernetics Organisms Berlin Dada Art Hannah Hรถch Raoul Hausmann Ode to the Working Girl [Kieron Peaty] Communist Singularity [Kieron Peaty] Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline Donna Harraway Chemical Enhancement Prosthetics Technology Technology, the truth [Kieron Peaty] Ray Kurzweil Manuel Da Landa Metropolis The Terminator Robocop Iron Man Amber Case Neil Harbisson Kevin Warwick Stelarc Internet Map
Proposal
London as a Social Organism Site Location Site Reasoning Site Photographic Mapping Site Modelling Concept development Limb Prosthetic Form Rationale Organic Form Flow Thermo-receptors Endo-skeleton Alter Development collage 1 Development collage 2 Development collage 3 Development collage 4 Development collage 5 Development collage 6 Development collage 7
Design & detail
The Void The Void The Void
01 02 03
Preliminary Section Flor Plans 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite
F i l m Wo r k
Chronogram After Effects scenes As shown
Thesis
Final Product Images Preliminary thesis diagram Final thesis diagram
Appendix
Initial Scheme Images Initial Scheme Concept development collages
Circulation & Viewing 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite Internal Images As shown
Contents
Memoirs of a 21st Century Cyborg 2013
Written by _ Kieron Peaty
Research
Introduction Cybernetics Organisms Berlin Dada Art Hannah Hรถch Raoul Hausmann Ode to the Working Girl [Kieron Peaty] Communist Singularity [Kieron Peaty] Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline Donna Harraway Chemical Enhancement Prosthetics Technology Technology, the truth [Kieron Peaty] Ray Kurzweil Manuel Da Landa Metropolis The Terminator Robocop Iron Man Amber Case Neil Harbisson Kevin Warwick Stelarc Internet Map
Proposal
London as a Social Organism Site Location Site Reasoning Site Photographic Mapping Site Modelling Concept development Limb Prosthetic Form Rationale Organic Form Flow Thermo-receptors Endo-skeleton Alter Development collage 1 Development collage 2 Development collage 3 Development collage 4 Development collage 5 Development collage 6 Development collage 7
Design & detail
The Void The Void The Void
01 02 03
Preliminary Section Flor Plans 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite
F i l m Wo r k
Chronogram After Effects scenes As shown
Thesis
Final Product Images Preliminary thesis diagram Final thesis diagram
Appendix
Initial Scheme Images Initial Scheme Concept development collages
Circulation & Viewing 00 Reception 01 Visa App. 02 Consular Office 03 Operating Theate 1 04 Microchip Research 05 Diplomatic Suite Internal Images As shown
Contents