THE AFTERLIFE PROFILE

2016
performance/installation
New Theatre Festival, Rzeszow, Poland

The Afterlife Profile is a performative installAction investigating the boundaries of new philosophical trends of transhumanism. This ideology, derived from the futuristic visions of the Russian philosopher Nicholas Fiodorov, hit the fertile ground of the Silicon Valley. Today it’s primary goal is to overcome human limitations and improve the human condition by using the latest achievements of neurotechnology, biotechnology and nanotechnology. Martine Rothblatt, American CEO and entrepreneur, advocates the need to abandon the physical body and transfer / release consciousness to a common network, converting human existence to cyber data.

Defeating the dead, rejecting the physical body, functioning in the immortal and unlimited nature of the digital environment, seems like a distant idea from the science fiction genre. But this revolution is happening in front of our eyes. Experiments on nanobots, mind-clones or personalized profiles imitating our deceased loved ones are now in a great degree of advancement. The progressive digitization of each of our spheres of life begins to transcend the classical framework of ethics and the concept of memory.

The creators – Kuba Falk, Kuba Garcia and Tomasz Jękot – focus on the cultural dimension of transhumanism. They create the character of Ivan Tulepov, a digital performer who sees data reduction as the main goal of his actions.

Can the collective memory of the Internet be completely forgotten at some point of timespace?

How to commit digital suicide when all our self is recorded in petabytes, in collective clouds of data and in the bundles of cables?

Will we replace in the future the need for transgression or rush to death for the need to press DELETE?

New Theatre Festival commision.
Poland, Rzeszow 2016