Human Fiction

Human Fiction: Shezad Dawood, Patricia Domínguez, Karlos Gil

The exhibition Human Fiction connects the work of three artists who use their practices to imagine a humanity that expands and reconfigures itself in collaboration with technology, science fiction, and ancestral knowledge. This gathering of artists brings forward narratives that were once confined to the realm of the future, inviting us to engage with these agencies and envision a new human ideal.

As part of the exhibition Human Fiction, Shezad Dawood presents The Terrarium, 2020. The virtual reality work situates audiences 300 years into the future, where 90% of the planet’s surface has become covered by water. Modified into a sophisticated cephalopod hybrid through complex genetic splicing programmes, the viewer is released from a terrarium into the open seas to explore their surroundings. Dawood blends scientific prediction and science fiction to imagine a future connected Baltic and Kent shoreline merging fluidly with an extractive colonisation of outer space. Viewers are immersed in an experimental soundtrack by British composer Graham Fitkin, who uses dissonant frequencies to explore the ‘Shifting Baseline’ syndrome, where each generation makes an unconscious shift in expectations of what a healthy ecosystem looks like. This inter-planetary journey highlights the implications of climate change for our marine ecosystems, and the consequences of rising sea levels for all life forms.

Click here to view a trailer.

Featuring parts of Anthropocene Island TAB17 by ecoLogicStudio and excerpts of The Terrarium Inventory by Graham Fitkin. Commissioned by UP Projects for Creative Folkestone Triennial 2021 and Kai Art Center, supported by CUPIDO, Arts Council England and Tallinn Culture Department. Courtesy of UBIK Productions.