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Spermoid Manifesto Descartes is known to have stated that bodies of animals are just complex machines, able to be mechanically reproduced. Although technology as not reached such heights, many attempts have been made to create like creatures. Automata (multiple automaton) are devices which aim to reinvent nature as machines. These creatures can be as simple as clockwork automata (usually operated via wind-up springs) to contemporary autonomous robots (electrically powered.) The main criterion for automata is that during operation there is no human controlling its actions or any intervention beyond winding the spring. If Descartes is correct about animals existing as systems of organic springs and gears, then humans must be also. Eventually, as technology evolves, it will be possible to engineer organic matter into humanoid objects. Even the mental "soul," which is a physical phenomenon (disagreeing with Descartes) caused by electricity, will be recreated through manmade synapses in the humanoid’s brain. These automata will be indistinguishable from actual humans. Their psyche would evolve to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and fear death. From the fear of death spawns the desire for immortality or the seeking of a legacy through procreation. My project focuses on an automaton’s struggle at life’s most driving force: death. When the machine gains life, death should accompany it. As Ivan Ilyich before him, my automaton is desperate to escape oblivion. The sperm and egg are the beginnings of human life. Inside the egg, the sperm gains more time alive, outside is death. This battle for life represents both the automaton’s immortality dreams and its procreative legacy. The mechanical versus natural dichotomy is also symbolized by the sperm and egg respectfully. My sculpture consists of the automaton sperm and natural egg. The sperm is constructed of steel with the moving tail derived from universal joints. The egg wall is painted batting with a steel skeleton. |