GIVE MY CREATION… LIFE!
A heart is a vital pump which separates life from death. An energy generator which produces more than 30 million beats per year. Death is, in essence, the extinction of the human being’s homeostatic process, and hence, its end. Nowadays, thanks to multiple advances in medicine and bioengineering, it is possible to maintain a cardiac activity, extinct in theory, to maintain the being alive although devoid of autonomy. Autonomy granted by a machine.
Give my creation… Life! raises the antagonistic, even the opposite. Could a human or animal heartbeat feed a system, creating thus an energy autonomy for external or even internal devices implanted? That is, just like today, machines are designed to feed us energy, like, for instance, an artificial heart which gives life to an individual. Why not reverse the concept, having the human or animal being feeding machines through their vital rhythm, granting them energy, and therefore, life and autonomy.
Give my creation… Life! Is a project which links Art, Science and Technology. It is based on the generation of energy through the heart beating, with the aim of granting autonomy to a machine. During the research of this subversive goal, multiple issues have been addressed, such as the extension of a removed organ´s life, its artificial feeding of nutrients and its use as a source of natural energy, among others.
The result, theoretical fundamentals and investigations, is a series of experiences materialised in three conclusions; an audiovisual with images taken from an experimental operative procedure carried out at CIBA (Centre of Biomedical Research of Aragón), reinforcing the project’s narrative, together with material conclusion as the result of the process developed during the study, that embodied the investigation carried out, its goals, advances and outcomes, through a heart rythm simulation machine, which captures and feeds on the generated energy to give life a machine. All this, is accompanied by a more theorical and didactical part which introduces the project through stock footage concerning experiments and investigations in relation to extracorporeal circulation throughout history.
Give my creation… Life! thus sets the beginning of a dialog and new thoughts and invites an exercise of thought around multiple topics, such as the ethics of this practice, always from the point of view of reusing the animal’s organ itself, never performing an extraction for such a purpose; as well as its use to generate energy coming from a living organ to give autonomy to a machine or the fact that our own body generates part of the power we consume, creating awareness of our own energy consumption and its value, among other diverse and countless reflections, such as the cyborg antithesis, the rejection of a man-machine society, the dangers of science and technology, if they are not put at the service of the social utopia, utopia-dystopia and infinite more. The limit lies in the imagination…
OPN STUDIO- Susana Ballesteros and Jano Montañés
OPN Studio – Susana Ballesteros and Jano Montañés. Both combine complementary training based on Art, Design, Programming, Mechanical, Electronics and Audiovisual, that clearly mark all their line of work.
OPN’s research reflects on the individual in a broad context, focussing their study in the vicissitude related to the human condition, as a social being, as a mortal entity or corporeal substance.
Their experimental work during the last decade has explored the intersection between the fields of Art, Science and Technology, being articulated through the language of electronics, robotics, video and interactive installation as the main means of expression and direct transmitter, thus facilitating reflection by creating a more direct dialogue.
They have made collective and individual exhibitions in Europe, America and Asia, in countries such as Spain, USA, Taiwan, Finland, Slovenia, Estonia, France, Austria, Dominican Republic, Chile, Honduras, El Salvador or Mexico. Highligting ARCO Internacional contemporary Art Fair, CBA Círculo de Bellas Artes Madrid, NTMOFA Taiwan National Museum of Fine Arts, Würth Museum, LACDA Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Kapelica Gallery, ARS Electronica.