Tyler Coburn : "Ergonomic Futures"
Thursday 05 Jul 2018 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm
![Book cover of Olaf Stapledon, <i>Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future</i> [1930], New York, Magnum Books, 1978](/sites/default/files/styles/composant_visite_m/public/media/cover.jpg.jpeg?itok=3ERTwSpT)
Book cover of Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future [1930], New York, Magnum Books, 1978
Courtesy de l'artiste
Following his collaboration in Lafayette Anticipations' Faisons de l'inconnu un allié exhibition (2016) with Ergonomic futures, the american artist gives an eponymous lecture.
"Ergonomic Futures" is a multi-part project that asks questions about contemporary "fitness" through the lens of speculative evolution. The work comes out of Tyler Coburn’s interviews with paleoanthropologists, ergonomists, evolutionary biologists, and genetic engineers. To each he has asked: What are future scenarios for imagining new types of human bodies, and how might this thought experiment reframe conversations about body normativity in the present day?
In this lecture, Coburn will discuss genetic engineering, the founder effect, postplanetary living, and other things that may contribute to marked differences in how we biologically, philosophically, and legally define the "human."
"Ergonomic Futures" takes two forms in addition to the lecture. First, Coburn and New York architects Bureau V have designed functional ergonomic seats for different future bodies, intended to serve as museum furniture. Second, Coburn has collaborated with designers Luke Gould and Afonso Martins on a website of short stories (www.ergonomicfutures.com) meant to evolve over the years. "Ergonomic Futures" was co-commissioned by Lafayette Anticipations and the 11th Gwangju Biennale. Two seats are currently installed for long-term use in Centre Pompidou and the Musée de l'Homme.
Tyler Coburn received a BA in Comparative Literature from Yale University and an MFA from the University of Southern California. He also participate in the Whitney Independent Study Program from 2014–2015. He write regularly for art magazines like frieze, e-flux journal, Dis, Mousse and Rhizome. His performances, texts and installations had been presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), South London Gallery, Kunstverein (Munich), at the Kunsthalle Wien, in CCA (Glasgow), Sculpture Center (New York) and at Power Station of Art (Shanghai).
Access is free of charge for all. The event will take place in English.
In this lecture, Coburn will discuss genetic engineering, the founder effect, postplanetary living, and other things that may contribute to marked differences in how we biologically, philosophically, and legally define the "human."
"Ergonomic Futures" takes two forms in addition to the lecture. First, Coburn and New York architects Bureau V have designed functional ergonomic seats for different future bodies, intended to serve as museum furniture. Second, Coburn has collaborated with designers Luke Gould and Afonso Martins on a website of short stories (www.ergonomicfutures.com) meant to evolve over the years. "Ergonomic Futures" was co-commissioned by Lafayette Anticipations and the 11th Gwangju Biennale. Two seats are currently installed for long-term use in Centre Pompidou and the Musée de l'Homme.
Tyler Coburn received a BA in Comparative Literature from Yale University and an MFA from the University of Southern California. He also participate in the Whitney Independent Study Program from 2014–2015. He write regularly for art magazines like frieze, e-flux journal, Dis, Mousse and Rhizome. His performances, texts and installations had been presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), South London Gallery, Kunstverein (Munich), at the Kunsthalle Wien, in CCA (Glasgow), Sculpture Center (New York) and at Power Station of Art (Shanghai).
Access is free of charge for all. The event will take place in English.
Tyler Coburn questions tensions in our contemporary world, the relation between waged and leisure time, the inner self and the social media public space, the virtual world and the infrastructures it breeds.
Tyler Coburn received a BA in Comparative Literature from Yale University and an MFA from the University of Southern California. He also participate in the Whitney Independent Study Program from 2014–2015. He write regularly for art magazines like frieze, e-flux journal, Dis, Mousse and Rhizome. His performances, texts and installations had been presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), South London Gallery, Kunstverein (Munich), at the Kunsthalle Wien, in CCA (Glasgow), Sculpture Center (New York) and at Power Station of Art (Shanghai).