TRANSHUMANIST CEPHALOPOD EVOLUTION

Workshop:
- Saturday, February 3rd, 5:00PM - 6:30PM
Closing Reception:
- Saturday, February 3rd, 6:30PM - 8:00PM

TRANSHUMANIST CEPHALOPOD EVOLUTION is a psycho-physical training regimen for human enhancement, with the cephalopod as our role model species. We study cephalopod sensitivities and capacities, and attempt to understand their way of being in the world through embodied exercises. The Transhumanist Cephalopod Evolution Workshop is led by artist Miriam Simun, will take place in the studio on Saturday, February 3rd, 5pm - 8pm alongside a closing reception for the Onassis ONX Winter Exhibition.

We focus on three cephalopod capacities:

Seeing with the skin: tactile learning and proprioceptive sensitivity
Shapeshifting: a hyper-awareness of one’s hyper-local environment and the ability to quickly re-orient the self for best resiliency
Distributed Intelligence: cephalopod nervous systems differ radically from the human: 3/5 of its neurons are in the arms. Some say the octopus is a single organism with 9 brains. From another perspective, we can say it is nine organisms housed within a single skin. How can multiple humans+ come to inhabit a single organism with distributed sensory and decision-making capabilities? Beyond negotiation, beyond collaboration: toward shared intention.

The workshop will last 90 minutes. We will work alone, in partners, and as a group. Please wear clothes you feel comfortable moving in, and be prepared to take off your shoes and spend time on the floor (chair work is also possible).

TRANSHUMANIST CEPHALOPOD EVOLUTION was created in collaboration with and forever indebted to the great choreographer luciana achugar, and the engineers, scientists, dancers and synchronized swimmers that co-evolved this practice together. Please see the full list of collaborators.

In the face of a rapid technological and ecological change, TRANSHUMANIST CEPHALOPOD EVOLUTION proposes the cephalopod rather than the machine as the model for the future of the human. Feeling towards our fellow species and oceanic roots, embracing the capacities residing in existing bio-availabilities and the *pleasures* rooted in bodily labors; exploring the possibilities for mythological, embodied and indigenous knowledge for the project of innovation; positing the “model species” as role model for a kind of humanity rather than exploited instrument for science; and embracing training as a technology rooted in practice, development of internal abilities, and equity in access.

How can we know what technology we need to augment the human, if we don’t yet know what’s possible with what we already have? What happens when we take up the molluskian position? And what are we going to do with all these futures?