CLIENT: Bill Seaman
2001

The genetic and nano-technical progress that is being made today is portrayed as something almost inevitable by its supporters and opponents alike. The computer specialist Bill Joy characterizes nano-technical development as a “Faustian bargain“ and thinks that we are opening a “new Pandora’s box“. The researcher Ray Kurzweil belongs to the great optimists and prophecies that technical progress will take off at lightning speed and foresees the fusion of man and machine.

The dream of tiny robots racing through a human’s arteries in order to destroy pathogens on the spot at the same time implies that so-called nano-robots can copy and reproduce a human brain. Man’s wish to improve the human body is as old as man himself. The technology with which it would be possible to realize such tempting visions exists in outlines; however it is impossible to know exactly what its effect on human life will be. The present debate raises hopes, addresses imminent dangers and poses the question of what it means to be human.

Based on this topical subject which scientists are doing research on, which is incorporated so often in science fiction movies and novels and which could soon be a part of our everyday life, INVERSION takes a look at the potential body of the 21st century.

Bill Seaman and Regina van Berkel’s subtle observations of the complex relationship man-machine are transferred to their dance/performance/installation in fascinating metaphors. The choreography and the direct presence of the body comment and contrast the aesthetic and expressive power of the onslaught of media images, supported by the poetry ´of music and text.

In Bill Seaman’s works we are repeatedly confronted with his view of human movement. He assigns the observer an active role and makes it possible for him to have a sensuous experience.

PARTNERS:
ZKM, Karlsruhe
Kunsthochschule für Medien, Köln