Block Universe
A Biologically Immortal Living Being Can Still Die
Lina Hermsdorf
Tuesday May, 31st - 8pm
Bellenden Road, Peckham
The Hydra myth tells us a story of a many-headed serpent that has the ability to regenerate lost heads. As soon as one of its heads is cleaved off, Hydra re-grows the lost body part. Hydra is also the name of a freshwater animal with extraordinary regenerative abilities. The genus stem cells appear to have a capacity for indefinite self-renewal. Hydra stands for organisms that do not age or die of old age. Current researchers from the trans-humanism movement circulate the idea of wanting to cure ageing. According to those thinkers, ageing falls into the category of a disease that needs to be rectified. The actual causes of ageing still remain unknown. A Biologically Immortal Living Being Can Still Die looks at this subject matter by confronting the varying philosophical and scientific meanings of ageing with the ubiquitous desire of society not to senescence.
Performed by Henry Babbage.
↓ Artist biography
Lina Hermsdorf lives and works in London and Frankfurt am Main. Her practice is concerned with the intrinsic question of what one can define as living. In her work, Hermsdorf creates situations that encompass and play with the ways we perceive, communicate and process information as cognitive beings. She studied theatre at the University in Giessen and fine arts at the Städelschule in Frankfurt. Her performative works and installations have been shown at Minibar, Stockholm (2015), Yvonne Lambert, Berlin (2015), Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (2015), Rowing Projects, London (2015), and Taylor Macklin, Zurich (2015), among other venues.
Bellenden Road, Peckham
The Hydra myth tells us a story of a many-headed serpent that has the ability to regenerate lost heads. As soon as one of its heads is cleaved off, Hydra re-grows the lost body part. Hydra is also the name of a freshwater animal with extraordinary regenerative abilities. The genus stem cells appear to have a capacity for indefinite self-renewal. Hydra stands for organisms that do not age or die of old age. Current researchers from the trans-humanism movement circulate the idea of wanting to cure ageing. According to those thinkers, ageing falls into the category of a disease that needs to be rectified. The actual causes of ageing still remain unknown. A Biologically Immortal Living Being Can Still Die looks at this subject matter by confronting the varying philosophical and scientific meanings of ageing with the ubiquitous desire of society not to senescence.
Performed by Henry Babbage.
↓ Artist biography
Lina Hermsdorf lives and works in London and Frankfurt am Main. Her practice is concerned with the intrinsic question of what one can define as living. In her work, Hermsdorf creates situations that encompass and play with the ways we perceive, communicate and process information as cognitive beings. She studied theatre at the University in Giessen and fine arts at the Städelschule in Frankfurt. Her performative works and installations have been shown at Minibar, Stockholm (2015), Yvonne Lambert, Berlin (2015), Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (2015), Rowing Projects, London (2015), and Taylor Macklin, Zurich (2015), among other venues.
The 2016 festival explores the theme of ’The Future Perfect’ - presenting performances which ask how we construct the idea of ‘self’ in a technologically sophisticated society - and how identities can become transformed through body enhancement, ageing and digital technology. Block Universe 2016 will include a number of UK premieres and several new commissions.
ARTISTSniv Acosta
Sam Belinfante
Alexis Blake
Jesse Darling & Raju Rage
Philip Ewe
Trajal Harrell
Lina Hermsdorf
Grace Schwindt
Erica Scourti
Mårten Spångberg
VENUES
British Museum
David Roberts Art Foundation
Institute of Contemporary Arts
Kachette
Royal Academy of Arts
Sadler's Wells
Somerset House
PARTNERS
Arts Council England
Gaia Art Foundation
Mondriaan Fund
Violette Editions
Delfina Foundation
Dance Art Foundation
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Open Space Istanbul
