HyperAdaptation

HyperAdaptation

[2021]

Various materials, various sizes

HyperAdaptation

[2021]

Various materials, various sizes

Collaboration between Jenny Brockmann (visual arts), Lynn Christenson (ecology at Vassar College, NY), Peter Groffman (biochemistry at CUNY, NY), Lathan Hardy (woodwind music) and Lauhona Ganguly (media theory at New School, NY).

Conceived especially for the exhibition “Collaborative Survival, Ecologies of Encounter” curated by Danni Shen and realized at 601artspace, the work unfolds in two parts.

The first part consists of “Archive of a Future Memory #2—HyperAdaptation”, a 5 foot wide, 8 foot long, and 2 foot high, 3-dimensional shelf made of aluminum and LED tiles, on which fabricated objects and materials are arranged that refer to the conversations the artist had with a group of
four New York-based scholars/researchers from different disciplines (biology, AI research, music, ecology). Together two questions in the face of current Anthropocene discourse had been addressed: (1) How does resilience, adaptability and/or non-adaptability reveal itself within species, environments, and social interactions? (2) How might a programmed being refuse and emancipate itself from its surroundings — can AI pose resistance, or not? An accompanying public dialogue event in the gallery with these collaborators will center around the sculpture “Archive of a Future Memory #2 — HyperAdaptation”. The project examines the constructed divisions of “nature” and “culture,” as well as the empirical bounds of scientific knowledge production, by creating an interdisciplinary space within the gallery.

The second part, “2020-20-02 — HyperAdaptation”, an 11 foot 6 inches wide roll of black paper fixed on tripods and hanging down from a height of 10 foot 11 inches, unfolds the complex cartography of ideas, questions, and positions related to the work’s title, HyperAdaptation. Carried out in delicate white lines, the short notes and concentrated illustrations are an attempt at making knowledge processes comprehensible, while the method of cartography (mapping)—used in natural science to visualize spatial information about landscapes or celestial bodies—is adopted to increase the ability of orientation within the landscape of thoughts on “HyperAdaptation”.

In addition to the artworks, a workshop and a discursive performative event around the collaboration with the scientist experts had been arranged by 601artspace.

In collaboration with: 601artspace
Funded by 601artspace and German Consulate General, NY