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1 Sep 2021
Noémie Soula will present her work Raw/ à vif or the unnatural desire to design a human at the conference “Another End is Possible” on 19 September. The conference is part of the NEW NOW Festival of Digital Arts in Europe taking place this Autumn. Raw/ à vif transports the audience to three possible medical futures, exploring the consequences of designing a human body.
This presentation focuses on Soula‘s recent work called Raw/ à vif or the unnatural desire to design a human, which is a research-driven and critical project at the crossroad between transhumanism, biology, and art. By exploring how humanity could be transformed by current scientific research, the inquiry exposes three imaginary scenarios depicting new job positions.
The presentation will focus on how speculative design can act as a medium to imagine and experience alternative futures as well as a tool to reinvent the relationship between humans, technologies, and nature to transgress possibilities.
What are the consequences of designing a human body? How will biotechnologies modify what we define as humankind?
As well as presenting during the NEW NOW Festival, Soula’s work ‘Raw/ à vif or the unnatural desire to design a human‘ is currently being exhibited at the Epidermotopia exhibition in Paris.
NEW NOW Festival
NEW NOW is the new festival for Digital Arts in Europe which will explore notions of ‘From Not-Yet to New Now’ through rethinking the coexistence of humans, nature and technology. It takes place from 27 Aug to 03 October 2021 in the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein in Essen, Germany. The pioneering programme includes residencies, exhibitions, ‘phygical’ (physical / digital) events, installations, and a conference ‘Another End is Possible‘, at which Soula will present and co-lead a panel.
“Another End is Possible” conference at NEW NOW
Under the title “Another End is Possible”, an international and interdisciplinary conference will take place September 18-19 as part of the Festival. It will explore questions around the interplay of humans, nature and technology:
While the world is becoming increasingly complex and the advance of technology is rapid, our environment is becoming more and more imbalanced. The end of the world seems to be approaching. Or has the end—the “doomsday”—already come? Assuming we are already standing on the ruins of our society, how can we achieve a cooperative new start? How can we rethink our way of living so that humans, biosphere and technology can coexist in the “New Now”?
On 19 Sep, Soula will give a presentation and lead a panel, ‘RE-CREATING’ A DREAM TO SHARE with Amber Jae Slooten. This panel looks at the future of human identity, in which identity is no longer bound to a human biology and a haptic space. Between biotechnology and self-construction, the speakers will explore ways to re-describe what it means to be human and to relate it to the environment in a (sustainable) way.
Festival: NEW NOW
Conference: “Another End is Possible”
Location: Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage, Mixing Plant, 45141 Essen, Germany
Organisers: NEW NOW festival for Digital Arts in Europe
Dates: 18-19 Sep 2021
Website: //newnow-festival.com
Tickets: //newnow-festival.com/en/dabei-sein
About the Artist
Noémie Soula is a French artist who joined Lab4Living as a research assistant in 2020. Her practice and research interests sit at the crossroad between art and science, looking at what defines or even redefines humankind. This piece of work is part of the research focus on the 100-year life and the Future Home.