The new media exhibition, “Copernicus”, is devoted to Nicolaus Copernicus. In “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres”, published under pressure before his death in 1543, it contained a revolutionary and reflective perspective. Copernicus asked people to imagine that they are not the center of the universe, uprooting the concept of “geocentricism”. This was the first time in the history of Western philosophy that humanity and the earth were not considered the epicenter of all existence.With Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and Sigmund Freud’s theory of unconsciousness, the position of human beings in the universe is constantly re-evaluated. The post-human generation has also contributed to concerns about the “future of humanity”, reimagining concerns Copernicus faced in the sixteenth century.
With these historical moments in mind, Through the selected artists and artworks, “Copernicus” will present a new perspective on the world and human beings. This perspective involves all kinds of considerations related to technology, geopolitics, nature and social systems. By interweaving these topics that are neither clear or rigidly defined, we can question anthropocentrism, the centralization of people, borders, and presuppositions, all while recognizing and giving recognition to historical contingencies.
This proposal is not as panic and fearful as it may seem. This is why “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres” has been cited as the primary text of the exhibition. Mankind has already accepted and digested such a process of a concession during the past five centuries. The pace of history has not been stagnant. The achievements of science and technology during the period are unprecedented. The revolutionary text of Copernicus is a prelude to the process of human civilization and will give us inspiration in this exhibition.
The exhibition will be divided into two parts: “Super-body” and “Altered Carbon”. Through these two states, it tries to call for an imagination of the future. Super-body is any form of human transformation. The Super-body can be represented through the physical transformation of media or the re-inspired thinking of human introspection; and from a political point of view, the Super-body presents individual autonomy disorder under the pressure of capitalism. Altered Carbon refers to a human subject that no longer possesses a “body”. It allows one to think about new species of human beings; this ultimately leads to the question: how would a “being” without a body form a new social and natural relationship?
Jenny CHEN 陳嘉瑩 