Join us on 17 December for the launch of the web-project Cyborg Futures: Who doesn’t want to live forever? The online event is free.

The Cyborg Futures web project includes works and presentations by EMAP artists Lancel/Maat and Hochschuh/Donovan, alongside numerous other artists and speakers including: Klasien van de Zandschulp & Ali Eslami, Simon Dogger, Monobanda, Wouter van Noort, Dan Hassler-Forest and Anneke Smelik.

Today’s rapid developments in AI, robotics and science will make people more like machines and vice versa. Not only are we creating robots that are increasingly true-to-life, but we are attempting to move beyond the limits of our impermanent bodies with the help of technological upgrades. Who doesn’t want to live forever? But what if man and machine become so similar that we can no longer tell them apart?  What would it be like to live in a world where technology and the organism have merged? How do we relate to robots and cyborgs that are taken for granted as part of society?

The same evening, Impakt invites you to a special online presentation with Cyborg artist Stelarc. Stelarc has worked on themes like the role of cyborgs, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics ever since the late 1960s, giving his body technological extensions and engaging in extreme interactions with machines. He has swallowed micro cameras to display the inside of his body, had a third ear surgically attached to his left arm, and placed himself in a harness so that the public could control his body remotely.

IMPAKT event and launch web-project:
Cyborg Futures: Stelarc
17 December 2020 // 19:30 h // online
More info and register: https://impakt.nl/events/2020/presentation/cyborg-futures-stelarc/

Cyborg Futures is a continuation of a Dutch-German partnership between the NRW Forum and IMPAKT, in collaboration with the Heartwire collective. The project is partly funded by the Dutch consulate in Düsseldorf and Creative Industries Fund NL.

Is there any reality beyond the digital world? Is there any digital world out there and beyond us? Do we need the machines, or do they live, grow and reproduce themselves out there and beyond us? Which is the chain reaction being triggered by our every single online reaction? What are the limits of human existence in the digital world? The Onassis Stegi virtual exhibition, Creatures in a Series of Tubes, will try to answer these questions through a series of artworks that were created as part of the European Media Art Platform (EMAP).

Participating Artists:
Beyond Human Perception by María Castellanos (ES) & Alberto Valverde (ES)
FANGO by Martin Nadal (ES)
The Eye of the Other by Tizian Derme (AT), Daniela Mitterberger (AT)
The Hidden Life of an Amazon User by Joana Moll (ES)
aqua_forensic by Robertina Šebjanič (SI), Gjino Šutić (HR)

Clusterduck will talk about its EMARE work #Meme Manifesto at the Impakt Festival 2020 ZERO FOOTPRINT at Oct 30 2020 13:45–14:20 CET online: https://impakt.nl/festival/2020/talk/mememanifesto