Future Human at Maison&Objet exhibition
Jenny Lee's Immateriality: Future Human - 'Future Human Android'
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 13:07:00 GMT
Uni artist Jenny Lee features at Paris exhibition, Maison&Objet
AN influential Paris-based agency with a mission to seek out futuristic trends in art and design encountered the thought-provoking work of University of Huddersfield lecturer Jenny Lee, who has been exploring the impact that science and technology might have on the evolution of human beings.
As a result, her Future Human project was featured at the 2014 edition of the prestigious Maison&Objet exhibition, which takes place in the French capital.
Jenny, who lectures in the University’s School of Art, Design and Architecture, was contacted by renowned French agency Nelly Rodi, which uses what it describes as a “tireless curiosity” in seeking talent that could help shape the future. Her Future Human project originated two years ago and has already been seen at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum plus exhibitions around the world, including the travelling Futuro Textiles exhibition.
“The project seeks to critically engage the public to question the future implications of how we choose to utilise science and technology in the future. A collection of ‘digital skins’ were fashioned, based on the notion that we might be able to design our own outer appearances and how we might want to augment our bodies,” said Jenny.
Exhibition goers who encountered her Future Human display would witness a computer screen that resembled a mirror. They would see their own face reflected, but it would be transformed in strange ways by pieces designed and handcrafted by Jenny that were digitally superimposed on it.
“A series of radical non-human like aesthetic were fashioned to engage the public to consider if we have the tools to re-design ourselves, would we still look, feel and be human?” explained Jenny.
Jenny Lee's Immateriality: Future Human - 'Digital Skins'.
She worked in collaboration with a company called Holition, who work with a range of 3D technologies to help realise the vision of the project. “We wanted to create a more tactile and tangible response to the project, creating an experience that would allow the public to interact and visualise the potential future technological impact on society and the self,” said Jenny.
Jenny’s wide-ranging interests in scientific development and its influence on art and design has an impact on her research and teaching at the University of Huddersfield. For example, a current second-year student, Rhiannon Gregory, is currently exploring bio-sensors that can be applied to a wound and help to heal it.
