∘ ∘∘Pt

⌕ Rely not on it: life as we (don’t) know it

Of what is hidden and what is shown,
there is always something that escapes.
Teases, promises, insinuates.
When I think: I saw!
Another part then hides.

The word "thing" encompasses everything that is not a being, including ideas, abstractions, the immaterial, and the material condition of physical existence. What we see and what differs from us, while we do not name it, are things. Things can also be apparent aspects that we project onto other bodies while or if we do not see them as people. Hannah Arendt wrote, "Not only do appearances never reveal what lies beneath them of their own accord but also, generally speaking, they never just reveal; they also conceal."

In "People and Things", Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito tells us that the Western human experience seems to have been organized and divided between people and things based on the dominance of the first over the second. He exposes the thesis that the only way to untie the metaphysical knot between things and persons is by bringing the body’s point of view closer to it. The author states: "The more technical objects incorporate, with the knowledge that made them fungible, a kind of subjective life, the less is the possibility of suffocating them in an exclusively servile function." As biotechnologies and artificial intelligence continue to advance, we are at a crossroads that may shift the hierarchy between humans and technology.

When referring to the search for life on other planets, scientists often mention one caveat: they limit comparisons to life as we already know it. This sentence carries a hint of doubt about the possibility of life existing in unfamiliar ways. How should we imagine the unknown? How should we imagine new life possibilities beyond what was programmed and not just mirror domination policies? Art allows us to think of other ways of perceiving, treating bodies (human and non-human) and relating to things.

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Curators: Elaine Tedesco and Marina Polidoro
Undergraduate students UFRGS: Carolina Esteves Vieira and Elae Eliaz Dorneles
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⩰ Catalog available (EN): https://www.ufrgs.br/verter/nao_te_fies/catalog.pdf

At the top
Carolina Esteves Vieira & Elae Eliaz Dorneles
everything that isn't the living being
Net Art
2023