Secret Study on Future Adaptations
Hello, my name is Angara and I’m a Posthuman anthropologist. I’m also a former member of NeuBi Solutions – a confidential and corrupt organization running a vital human experiment. I want to introduce you to 5 select Beings that were created in their facilities, but first let me provide some context.
Nearly 6 decades ago in 2001, a group of tech elites (known as “Dr. Trust”) founded NeuBi Solutions and began ‘Posthuman Island’ – a research center beneath an island in the Philippines. Beginning in 2037, a group of human volunteers were left in isolation (with one-way access online) and repetitively mutated using beta quantum evolution technology. Twenty-three years later, I am revealing the current state of physiological, psychological, and technological developments that occurred in these persons and why they must be protected from Dr. Trust’s destructive ambitions. I need your help.
VIVI | FLUXIE | NBS | IMAGO | SPECIMEN
VIVI:
Vivi is part mother, part daughter, and part gastropod. Analysis shows a severe lack of sleep and strong dependency on caffeine. Inside her shell, she tends a garden of garlic and mugwort (my favorite time spent observing Vivi). Despite achieving her intention of fusing with her 4-year old daughter, she now expresses a desire to return to human form. The Dr. Trust board has refused to acknowledge this, instead planning an increased stimulus of stress to her environment.
FLUXIE:
Fluxie’s character is consistent with her pre-experiment life of revelry, however, she’s developed a quality of constant transformation that makes her character a challenge to study. Fluxie has claimed to be in a relationship with multiple online partners (despite the closed-circuit internet). Aside from her other impressive adaptations, little is known about the technology formed inside her earring – rumors have spread amongst NeuBi Solutions staff that it may be able to by-pass the network limitations. Dr. Trust wants this technology at any cost even though it is biologically fused with Fluxie.
nbs.ai.v13.3.7 / subject 1247:
NBS is one of the many unexplained errors made by NeuBi Solutions. I was not present during the “accident” over a decade ago, but I was told that one of the control rats was removed from their usb slot without being ejected which led to this off-course evolution. I now suspect this was an early manipulation from the Dr. Trust group. I personally felt that Subject 1247 had the most promising trajectory at the start of the project, but now as NBS, she is more AI rat than human and suspiciously dedicated to NeuBi Solutions. There are, however, signs of internal conflict with its “host” – high levels of an energy drink cause a brief shutdown of AI processing and an increase in empathetic behavior – evidence of some control that remains from the woman deep within. The NeuBi Solution’s team working on Dr. Trust’s updated OS system for NBS is attempting to “fix” this neurological “bug”.
IMAGO:
Imago possesses the single most powerful and dangerous piece of technology developed on the island today – her “Headstick” allows her to read minds. This is a clear breach of her contract and a serious risk to her mental health – causing increased loneliness and insecurity since its creation. There are several scientists who speak of Imago’s allure inappropriately and I can only imagine what they’re not saying aloud – I, myself, have felt guilty about my own attraction to her and the affect my thoughts could have. It should be self explanatory how dangerous her Headstick could be in the wrong hands.
SPECIMEN:
When Specimen was first cast for this project he was the World’s expert on Tardigrades (you can search his work for yourself), but throughout the course of his experiment he has completely forgotten this part of his past. Specimen may seem “lazy” by our standards but our analysis of his cognitive communications suggest a disciplined internal dialogue. Despite an unbelievable physical resilience (he can survive most obstacles of elemental life), he has made an exact science out of his preferred environmental sensitivities. Specimen’s adaptations have occurred without any external tool – I believe his “mechanisms” are rooted in the spiritual (a theory I was closed-minded to before studying him). The Dr. Trust group, however, distrusts Specimen’s mysterious disposition and plans to start surgical examinations paired with genetic alterations.
I can no longer take Dr. Trust’s bullshit. Please join me in fighting these injustices – the safety and well-being of the posthumans is now in your hands.
Be prepared for NeuBi Solutions’ response to this leaked information – read the hidden policies and no matter what they may tell you: DO NOT USE THE EARWASHERS.
– Angara
***NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: At the time this article was published, NeuBi Solutions refused correspondence. We are now looking into the allegations regarding the mental health of Angara. Stay tuned as the investigation unfolds.
Credits
ARTISTS
Curator, Cultural Producer Alice Scope US @alicescope
Creative Direction Michael Barth US @mycoolbarf / Alice Scope @alicescope
Writer Michael Barth US @mycoolbarf
Sound Designer DURA, Germany @mduraart
VISUAL ARTISTS
Chris Collins US @chris__content
Huntrezz Janoz US @huntrezz
Maria Dmitrova UA @mashadmitrova
Obso1337 UK @Obso1337.life + George Stone UK @georgejasperstone
Wednesday Kim South Korea @wednesdaykimm
ARTISTS (EXHIBITION INCLUDES WORK OF BIPOC, NON-BINARY, AND IMMIGRANT ARTISTS)
Curator/Cultural Producer Alice Scope US @alicescope
International art curator and cultural producer based in Los Angeles. Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine Alice is a founder of the international e-curatorial agency “Cultural Policy” that fosters and empowers digital artists and co-founder of a digital art education program entitled “Risa” which serves school kids in Kenya.
In her practice, Alice explores the topic of posthumanism, human psychology, and pushing the borders between reality and completely invented fantastic scenes.
Creative Director/Writer Michael Barth US @mycoolbarf
Director and artist based in Los Angeles. Michael is interested in the contradictions of non-fiction; his film work has been showcased at Sundance, IDFA, SXSW, PBS broadcast, and more. Michael is building a documentary program that provides indigenous peoples with tools and support for language preservation. As Creative Director of Cultural Policy, he’s bringing his sensibilities as a storyteller and desire for community impact into the digital fart space.
Sound designer DURA, Germany @mduraart
DURA is an artist and sound designer based in Berlin and Leipzig. She creates with her objects, performances, and installations atmospheric scenes. Due to her sculptural elements, self-developed sound microcosms and delicately balanced actions, complex sensory impressions and associative moments emerge.
VISUAL ARTISTS
Chris Collins US @chris__content
New media artist and educator based in Chicago. Chris is interested in networked technologies as a cultural force and as a site of many inherent contradictions: a place of beauty and banality, of empowerment and surveillance, of connection and commodification. He’s attempting to find poetry, humor, and logic from within the squirm of digital culture.
Huntrezz is currently making work across mediums and collaborating with a diverse array of human beings online. She presents her range of works in writing, fashion, animation, painting, music, and performance in Los Angeles.
Currently working for the Oakwood secondary school in NoHo. while in the collective residency at NAVEL LA and new clergy at the church of fun.
She worships a beyond that is at the center of all things, and her mind and body are always in flux.
Masha Dmitrova Ukraine @mashadmitrova
Designer and artist based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Maria has a strong passion for visual storytelling and fictional narratives. She works with 3D&animation, videos, print, and digital. In her works, she applies techniques of speculative design, to sneer at narcissism theme, use semantical analysis, and deconstruct&visualise social theories.
Obso1337 @obso1337.life + George Jasper Stone @georgejasperstone UK
Obso1337 is the collaborative practice of Tobias Seymour and Lachlan KosaniukInnes. Initially conceived as an online gallery showing digital work created for mobile devices, the platform has now expanded to encompass almost all of their creative output. This ranges from websites, digital video, and face filters to IRL installation, performance, and events.
George Jasper Stone is a CGI artist based in London. His work can be characterized by constructing vignettes and scenes that blend digital experiences with physical entities using intuitive processes. Holding the algorithmic with the real world that interlinks fantasy and reality, he transcodes data from these physical environments to digital landscapes.
Wednesday Kim South Korea @wednesdaykimm
Interdisciplinary artist and a co-founder of De:Formal Online Gallery. She is from Seoul, South Korea, and is currently based out of Alaska. Kim works with a mixture of analog and digital media including 3D animation, video, performance, installation, print, and sculpture. Her work is informed by personal experiences and human psychology; she derives imagery from nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and childhood trauma. Furthermore, she portrays the absurdity of information-saturated contemporary life in a surrealist fashion through wordplay, Wikipedia, voyeurism, and witticism.