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HUMAN+

The future of our species

Cyborgs, superhumans and clones. Evolution or extinction? What does it mean to be a human today? What will it feel like to be a human a hundred years from now? Technological capabilities are increasing at a rapid pace—should we continue to embrace modifications to our minds, bodies and daily lives, or are there boundaries we shouldn’t overstep?

"HUMAN+. The future of our species" Exhibition Report

Cyborgs, superhumans and clones. Evolution or extinction? What does it mean to be a human today? What will it feel like to be a human a hundred years from now? Technological capabilities are increasing at a rapid pace—should we continue to embrace modifications to our minds, bodies and ...

Prothetic Bodies and Souls

Soy Cámara online

The exhibition Human+ helps us visualise some of the challenges we are facing. Are we close to an artificial soul? To the singularity? Will sufficient resources exist to support the increase in mobility and worldwide demographic saturation? Language: English Subtitles: Spanish Dura...

Ars Robotica: Conversation with Roc Parés

Soy Cámara online

We talk with artist and teacher Roc Parés, a collaborator of the CCCB’s recent exhibition “Human+”, about today’s dangers of an invisible and omnipresent technology; about current fascination with hacking, which invites people to open and dismantle machines (like a child dismantling toys); about the constant war to control our consumer habits and invisible advertising, about virtual reality and the capacity to move extremities that we don’t have, etc.

Aubrey de Grey

An End to Aging?

The biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey is emphatic in his view that, in the near future, regenerative medicine and the new biomedical technologies will let us defeat biological aging. But is it really possible to gain control over the molecular and cellular changes which cause the body’s ...

Jo Labanyi

Thinking Affects

Why do we feel what we feel? What role do affects play in our lives? Are emotions a singular product of our own subjectivity or, rather, do they have a shared character? Jo Labanyi offers a critical overview of recent thinking about affects and how this relates with theories in the post-human domain...

Nereida Carrillo

Jose Valenzuela

Avatars, Cyborgs and Robots: Can Humans Enhance Themselves? (II)

Sandra Álvaro

Codifying human beings into data and increasing the processing capacity of computers has made it possible to create environments and machines that can adapt and respond to our actions. This interaction is facilitated by information processing, which has evolved from projecting our body and ...

Pantalles CCCB. The Woman Machine

Chapter 4

Screenplay and production: Ingrid Guardiola, Sofia Esteve Duration: 12' Based on the exhibition +Human, the programme reflects on the construction of the robot woman, the automaton, from a gender perspective, and is divided into three parts: Creation (soul), Work (submission) and Body (commodity).

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Cathrine Kramer presents “Afterlife” by James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau

Human + The future of our species

Afterlife suggests harnessing our chemical potential after biological death as a microbial fuel cell, harvesting its electrical potential in a dry cell battery. Here, technology acts to provide conclusive proof of life after death, life being contained in the battery. What would you ...

Cathrine Kramer presents “Transfigurations” by Agatha Haines

Human + The future of our species

Transfigurations consists of sculptures representing five babies, each with a surgically implemented body modification. Each modification is designed to solve a potential future problem for the baby, ranging from medical or environmental issues to social mobility issues. How far might parents ...

Cathrine Kramer presents “Reproductive Futures” by Zoe Papadopoulou and Dra. Anna Smajdor

Human + The future of our species

From the stork to the invention of the microscope, the ‘birds and the bees’ to IVF—how will stories evolve as our methods for human reproduction become increasingly more diversified? This multidisciplinary project investigates how scientific and technological developments influence the narratives that we use to explain ‘where we come from’.

Cathrine Kramer presents “When we all live to 150 ” by Jaemin Paik

Human + The future of our species

In this project, Jaemin Paik explores the consequences of life extension by asking how family, a fundamental basic unit that makes up a society, would change if we all lived to one-hundred and fifty or beyond. Cathrine Kramer, curator of the exhibition, explains the piece.

Liam Young talks about "New City: Machines of Post Human Production”

Human + The future of our species

New City: Machines of Post Human Production depicts the global trade infrastructure as a planetary-scaled conveyor belt. Along this endless factory floor, the human body has been enlisted as a machine, just one more component of a production line which connects the ...

Cathrine Kramer presents “Our Daily Bread” by Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Human + The future of our species

Cathrine Kramer, curator of the exhibition "HUMAN +" presents the film "Our daily bread".  From fields to factories, Our Daily Bread gives a panoramic overview of daily life within the industrial food system in Europe. At the same time monumental and intimate, the film captures surreal ...

Laura Allcorn talks about "The Human Pollinitation Project"

Human + The future of our species

What if humans had to assume the pollination responsibility from the honeybee? Aiming to draw attention to the human reliance on honeybee pollination, Laura Allcorn has created a hand pollination toolkit, designed to be worn as a functional fashion accessory. Donning the tool kit, the wearer ...

Richard Pell talks about European Organisms of the Center for PostNatural History

Human + The future of our species

This exhibit from the collection of the Center for PostNatural History features organisms deliberately altered by humans. Each of these organisms was modified and selected by an individual or institution for a specific purpose. This work asks us to examine the specimens and reflect on the natural, ...

Arne Hendrick talks about "The Incredible Shrinking Man"

Human + The future of our species

The Incredible Shrinking Man is a speculative design research project about the implications of downsizing the human species to 50 centimeters, in order to better fit the Earth. What motivates contemporary goals of physical enhancement and genetic improvement of the human species? ...

Cathrine Kramer presents "¿Whose Utopia?" by Cao Fei

Human+ The future of our species

Cathrine Kramer, the curator of  the exhibition "HUMAN + The future of our species" talks about the piece "Whose Utopia?", a video that was born in a factory of the Osram company in Foshan, a chinese city. Cao Fei organized workshops for workers, many of whom were young people coming from ...

Cathrine Kramer presents "Optimitzation of parenting, part 2" by Addie Wagenknecht

Human+ The future of our species

There are many technologies created to facilitate domestic work, but the role of the mother is still being considered sacred. Addie Wagenknecht, artist and mother designed a robotic arm that swings the cradle every time the baby cries, trying to find a way to combine creative work with motherhood. ...

Cathrine Kramer presents "Teledildonics for long distance relationships" by Kiiroo

Human+ The future of our species

Our social lives are increasingly mediated by technology, is it inevitable that our sexual activities will be as well? Kiiroo is a company that hopes to bring teledildonics to the mainstream— enabling tactile sexual relations from separate locations via computers. Their interactive sex toys ...

Julijonas Urbonas talks about the "Cumspin"

Human+ The future of our species

Cumspin is a proposal for an orgasm enhancing funfair machine. Based on the principle of a centrifuge, it exposes the love riders to variable gravitational forces. Spinning in one of the eight spherical capsules, the lovers may control the centripetal force by changing the distance between ...

Heidi Kumao talks about "Misbehaving: Media Machines Act Out"

Human+ The future of our species

What is expected of robots? How do they enact or defy expectations? Can a robot be polite or misbehave? This project features two robotic, female performers who represent women and girls who disobey or resist expectations. Each intimate installation focuses on translating “unseen” ...

Lorenz Potthast presents the "Decelerator Helmet"

Human+ The future of our species

What would happen if we could perceive the world in slow motion? The "Decelerator Helmet", which can be seen in the exhibition of the CCCB "HUMAN +" allows to experience it. Its creator, the multidisciplinary designer Lorenz Potthast presents his work and the dilemmas that raise the possibility ...

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Neil Harbisson talks about the "Soundcromatic head" (Cyborg Foundation)

Human+ The future of our species

The artist Neil Harbisson is the first cyborg recognized by a government. Carries an antenna implanted in the head (made by himself) that allows him to hear colors and perceive invisible colors as the infrared and the ultraviolet, and also, allows him to receive images, videos, music and phone ...

Moon Ribas talks about the "Seismic arm" (Cyborg Foundation)

Human+ The future of our species

In the CCCB exhibition "HUMAN + The future of our species", the Cyborg Foundation (an organization that defends that people can become cyborgs) presents two cybernetic life-size sculptures that look like the classical sculptures but that carry certain sensors that capture data in real time and connect these data with the body and mind of the artist.

Soy Cámara #47. More than human

Parallel to the Human+ exhibition, the 47th program of the "Soy camara" TV show reflects the concerns and hopes aroused by the artificial intelligence, programs and applications that are already around us. Written and directed by Andrés Hispano, Félix Pérez-Hita ...

The “uncanny valley” hypothesis in robots

Ferran Esteve

One of the challenges inherent to robotics is the creation of an automaton that looks and behaves exactly like a human being. But what happens in the meantime? The “uncanny valley” hypothesis holds that when a robot looks and moves almost, but not […]

Judith Butler

Bodies That Still Matter

How can bodies be recognized when they do not fit the social norm of what bodies should be?

What does it mean to be human today?

Cathrine Kramer

What does it mean to be human today? From conception to death (and beyond), people’s lives are mediated and shaped by our tools and technologies. There are many advancements that, depending on your beliefs, are utterly frightening or totally exciting, but the most massive changes are ...

BIO·FICTION. Science Art Film Festival

Short films preview

BIO·FICTION, the Science Art Film Festival explores the field of synthetic biology from angles as diverse as engineering and design. Related to the exhibition "Human +. The future of our species ", the CCCB presents a selection of short films that were presented at the 2014 edition. 

Human + The future of our species

What does it mean to be a human today? What will it feel like to be a human a hundred years from now? Technological capabilities are increasing at a rapid pace—should we continue to embrace modifications to our minds, bodies and daily lives, or are there boundaries we shouldn’t overstep? The CCCB, in collaboration with the Science Gallery of the Trinity College Dublin presents the exhibition Human +. The future of our species. From october 7th 2015 to April 10th 2016.

Human +

The future of our species

What does it mean to be a human today? What will it feel like to be a human a hundred years from now? Technological capabilities are increasing at a rapid pace—should we continue to embrace modifications to our minds, bodies and daily lives, or are there boundaries we shouldn’t overstep? The CCCB, in collaboration with the Science Gallery of the Trinity College Dublin presents the exhibition Human +. The future of our species. From october 7th 2015 to April 10th 2016.