The trip to the Human+ exhibit was an eye-opener and it also sparked questions that make us question the boundaries of humans and robots. Famous artists such as Stelarc, Neil Harbisson and even works of local polytechnic students were displayed in the exhibition and perhaps what is the most fascinating for me was the artwork that involved the lightbulb manufacturing company and its workers. The video showed scenes of the workers leading their daily monotonous lives; making sure parts were not defective. Their faces remained straight as they stared into the camera, contrasting to their hectic jobs in the background. This made me thought that if we as humans are performing such repetitive tasks every day, aren’t we becoming more like machines? On the other hand, machines are designed to be more human/life -liked in which this whole situation is an irony. How can we tell apart a human and a machine if our functions are swapped?
Euthanasia Coaster, Julijonas Urbonas
A rollercoaster that terminates life in a non-messy and simple way. This piece was intriguing both in concept and application. The idea behind this coaster is that the extreme G-force will cause blood to rush away from your brain, essentially causing a person to blackout and pass away. What could the purpose of this sinister creation be for? One of them that intrigues me is that whenever society reaches overpopulation, the government could force outcasted people such as criminals and the poor to take a ride on this coaster, culling the population.