humatker

Artists: Sandra / Gaspard Baby Valerian

Tuesday, May 25 14:00 pm - 16:00 pm

Humatker is a hybrid sculpture and installation that combines three entities that embody the regime of coexistence of our time: a biological one, a software one, and a synthetic one. It is shaped like a 3D printed human spine that grows a curious organism: Physarum Polycephalum. Commonly defined as a "blob", it colonizes each of the vertebrae. While exploring its environment, the blob follows a ruthless and efficient logic to survive. It traces a path that obeys implicit rules and reveals a complex network whose numerous ramifications draw an extensive and intelligent cartographic system.

The spine integrates electronic contacts. When the fussar touches them, it triggers a set of generative patterns that are programmed to emit a sonorous voice, a modulated mantra. The latter morphs and shakes as the Physarum expands over the sculpture. The sound becomes an ever-changing healing mantra whose scans and chants evolve endlessly.

Humatker is inspired by Eastern healing systems that include a strong relationship with invisible forces and the search for universal balance. Traditional Chinese medicine considers the body and health according to specific poles that group physical, physiological, environmental, spiritual and energetic properties. Therefore, we make the following analogy. The physarum is a means to cure diseases, mapped and located in the spine, as would a physician or an osteopath. It is an agent of balance and symbiosis between all entities.