PERFECTION / SPECULATION is a research and practice-based investigation into genes, memes and the modifiable human body.

Developed with Norwegian arts and cultural catalyst PRAKSIS, the project is supported by a dynamic relationship between its partners: The Vigeland Museum and the nomadic queer club concept and conversational platform Karmaklubb*. Using the Genetics Gym project (2016-20) as a thematic reference, the project focuses on developing sculptural modifications of Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland’s work (1869-1943) as a centrepiece to investigate past and future constructions of gender, race, sexuality, age, body politics, and the notion of the ideal human. The project featured a party, exhibition, and talk series at the Vigeland Museum, exhibiting large format video and audio pieces projected against the internal courtyard over a curated evening of conversations and performances exploring research around genes, memes, and the modifiable body (2021).

In the summer of 2023, the project culminated in a four-part interview and research document with leading protagonists in the fields of new technology, identity, the body and the perception of self. Together, they provide a kaleidoscopic view of the impacts of new technologies on issues of identity and the human body. They variously reflect on the ways that algorithm-driven trends shape senses of (embodied) selfhood and desires relating to body image. Also under consideration are the ethical implications that arise when bio-technologies, perceptions and constructions of self, body modification and big data collide.

Keywords - Artificial Intelligence, Bioethics, Computer Science, Consumer Psychology, CRISPR-Cas9, Cultural Analytics, Cybernetics, Digital-Matter, Fashion Identity, Fine-Art, Generative-Art, Genetics, Human-Computer Interaction, Localised Culture, Metaverse, New Media, Ontologies, Post-Humanism, Sculpture, Soft-Materiality, Web3

Selection from,
‘Perfection / Speculation Clash’,
Made by P/S Film Clash Group,
Moving Image, 14 mins, 2023

PERFECTION / SPECULATION Explorer, Future Body Prototype

Made by PERFECTION / SPECULATION Clash Group led by Adam Peacock; Marte Aas, Jonathan Armour, Louis Alderson-Bythell, Trinley Dorje, Erika Stöckel, and Bobby Yu Shuk Pu.

Available in PDF and Limited Edition A1 Print. Oslo 2023

Available to read here on Issuu

PERFECTION / SPECULATION Explorer, Research Output

Made by PERFECTION / SPECULATION Clash Group led by Adam Peacock; Marte Aas, Jonathan Armour, Louis Alderson-Bythell, Trinley Dorje, Erika Stöckel, and Bobby Yu Shuk Pu.

Available in PDF and Limited Edition A1 Print. Oslo 2023

Available to read here on Issuu

PERFECTION / SPECULATION Explorer, Research Output (Folded)

Made by PERFECTION / SPECULATION Clash Group led by Adam Peacock; Marte Aas, Jonathan Armour, Louis Alderson-Bythell, Trinley Dorje, Erika Stöckel, and Bobby Yu Shuk Pu.

Available in PDF and Limited Edition A1 Print. Oslo 2023

Available to read here on Issuu

Adam Peacock x PRAKSIS x Vigeland Museum x Karmaklubb*,
‘Perfection/Speculation’

PERFECTION/ SPECULATION
THE CONVERSATION

Four interviews: Natasha Vita-More, author of The Transhuman Manifesto; Mark Jarzombek, Professor of History and Theory of Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); artist and digital culture theorist Lev Manovich, and science-fiction artist, filmmaker, inventor and body architect, Lucy McRae.  

Vita-More speaks with Peacock about concepts of beauty, the role of ego and the ethics of striving to overcome ageing. Jarzombek discusses the impacts of AI and design technology on perceptions of self, while delivering some tough correctives on questions of state and corporate surveillance and the struggle of ethics to keep pace with market-driven bio-technologies and data access. Manovich reflects on issues of autonomy and originality in relation to social media and the algorithmic mining of big data, and offers important contextual reflections on the history and evolution of information technologies and cultural analytics. McRae discusses what it means to be “human” in a science- and technology-driven world, and advocates for the role of art as a catalyst for experimental, open-ended approaches to the development of knowledge in this area.