Kevin Blackistone: Exquisite Corpus
Artist(s):
Title:
- Exquisite Corpus
Exhibition:
Category:
Artist Statement:
As humans, we regard our bodies through their visual surface com- ponents. The interior, when considered at all, is typically only due to medical concern for one’s-self – rarely envisioning that of others. While radiological tools have dramatically improved our capacity for noninvasive representation, their use is often confined to the domains of personal health. This work seeks to instead uncover the possibilities they represent to show the full scope of our bod- ily form. In their obfuscation of the accustomed visual boundary, they remove associations of race and many aspects of gender. To further the dissolution of perceived identity, it excavates our inner sameness through algorithmically merging bodily interiors into 3d human chimeras – hybrid beings existing beyond the possibilities of genetic merger. Through the collection of simple participant biometrics, blended avatars constructed from real patient data are selected to give viewers a bodily representation that extends be- yond the surface manifold commonly regarded as the self in both physical and virtual worlds. These avatars expand the represen- tations usually seen within virtual spaces by, rather than existing as a 3d rendered hollow shell – absent the organs necessary for the operating individual, providing a volumetric representation of those elements unnecessary in the virtual space as the participant’s character.
