Convolutions Public Program III. Dystopian Sci-fi Futures and Digital Corporeality 

｜Date｜

2024.11.23 Saturday 17:30-19:30 in Taipei/ 10:30-12:30 CET/ 1:30-3:30 Los Angeles

｜Panelists｜

Jon Rafman | Artist

Young joo LEE 이영주 | Artist

｜Moderator｜

Dr. Dan Hassler-Forest

｜Registration｜

https://forms.gle/irFNw7nESMCaLw5s9

｜Introduction ｜
Emerging technologies such as AI and biotech have enabled society to move toward a synthetic reality in which human and non-human actors collaborate and the dichotomy between digital and physical disappears. What, then, is the meaning and the role of corporeal bodies in the future world? This panel discussion invites two artists who explore this question through speculative scenarios and will be moderated by media scholar Dr. Dan Hassler-Forest. Young Joo Lee will share her artworks, Lizardians (2021)  and Nova Earth Odyssey  (2024). Through science fiction narratives about a biotech company that applies genetic engineering as the future of aesthetics product, along with a music video that remixes religions, current social issues and K-pop aesthetics from a female-centered perspective, both works critically reflect on the patriarchal social infrastructure and technology within a capitalistic system. Jon Rafman’s web-based interactive game, S.S. Lacuna: Prologue (2024), is set inside a dystopian AI-generated universe in which the player becomes enmeshed in an illegal organ-harvesting operation and is recruited as a mercenary. The game poses a thought-provoking question about the implications when the resource contested by the global elite is not oil or technology but human flesh.

• Online Exhibition “Convolutions” Curator：Nadim Samman 
• Public Program Curator：Emily Hsiang-Yun Huang 黃祥昀

| Agenda |

17:30-17:35   Introduction 

17:35-17:55  Jon Rafman’s Artist Talk

17:55-18:15  Youngjoo Lee’s Artist Talk

18:15-19:30  Discussion and Q and A 

Jon Rafman’s Artist Talk

Jon Rafman will share his artwork S.S. Lacuna: Prologue (2024), commissioned by TFAM-Open Commission,  an interactive Web-based game, set inside a dystopian AI-generated universe. Utilizing a first-person adventure format, the work’s narrative gradually unfolds as users explore their virtual surroundings. Wandering through the hellscape of this late-stage civilization, confronting a host of absurd and crooked characters, the user becomes enmeshed in an illegal organ-harvesting operation and is recruited as a mercenary. S.S. Lacuna: Prologue’s open-world, point-and-click design invites players to discover the interconnected plotlines of the various characters they encounter. What are the implications when the resource fought over by the global elite is not oil or technology but human flesh? What does a human become when they are no longer restricted by mortality? As this nightmare unveils itself, the moral authority of the powerful gives way to the nebulous confusion of an immoral world. 

Young Joo Lee’s Artist Talk 

Young Joo Lee will share her concepts and technical approach behind the making of her 3-D digital animation works, Lizardians (2021) and Nova Earth Odyssey (2024). Lizardians depicts a biotechnology company called RENEW that applies genetic engineering to grant humans the regenerative ability of salamanders, commercializing the technology and mass-producing it for consumption. Through a science fiction narrative, the work questions the value of labor and authorship in a world that is controlled by a capitalistic system. Nova Earth Odyssey reimagines narratives from Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam with female protagonists. Set on another planet, the story follows a female scientist who creates eight daughters to save humanity from systemic inequality. However, a mistake by an admirer causes them to lose their collective power, and their teachings are passed down through a mental network. This work challenges the powerful male imagery ingrained in religious and patriarchal narratives by presenting a female-centered vision using K-pop aesthetics.

｜About Artists｜

Jon Rafman 

Jon Rafman (b. 1981 Montreal) lives and works in California. Acclaimed for a multifaceted oeuvre that encompasses video, animation, photography, sculpture and installation, Rafman’s quasi-anthropological works—often incorporating internet-sourced images and narrative material—investigate digital technologies and the communities they create. Part archivist, Rafman explores the subcultures of the Internet, seeking to question the distinction between virtual and real. Many of Rafman’s most recent works use 3D animation. Examples include his Dream Journal 2016–2019, and the video essays Legendary Reality (2017), SHADOWBANNED (2018) and Disasters under the Sun (2019), which employ a visual language reminiscent of science fiction films. He has exhibited at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; The Zabludowicz Collection, London; Contemporary Art Museum St Louis; The Saatchi Gallery, London; New Museum, NY; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv; and Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal, Montreal. Significant group shows include Manifesta 11, Zurich; 9th Berlin Biennale, Berlin; Speculations on Anonymous Materials at Fridericianum, Kassel; The Photographer’s Gallery, London; Nine Eyes as part of the Moscow Photobienniale, 2012; Screenshots at William Benton Museum of Art, Connecticut; and From Here On, Les Rencontres d’Arles: International Photography Festival, Arles.

Young Joo Lee 이영주

Young Joo Lee is a multimedia artist from South Korea. In her recent moving image, installation, drawing, and performance works, Lee's personal experiences and observations as an immigrant, South Korean, and a woman interweave with the current, historical, and speculative narratives to investigate the issues of alienation, discrimination, and mental illness in late capitalist society. 

Lee’s works have been exhibited at the Alternative Space Loop - Seoul, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art- Seoul, ARKO museum- Seoul, The Drawing Center-New York, Curitiba Biennial, and GLAS animation festival, among others. Lee was a Harvard Film Study Center Fellow (2021-23), Macdowell fellow (2021), College Fellow in Media Practice at Harvard University (2018-20), and a Fulbright Scholar in Film & Digital Media (2015-18). Lee currently lives and works in Paris, Seoul, and Los Angeles.

｜About the Moderator｜

Dr. Dan Hassler-Forest

Dan Hassler-Forest (he/him) works at Utrecht University in the department of Media and　Culture Studies. He has published books and articles on many of his interests, including　superhero movies, comics, transmedia storytelling, Star Wars, critical theory, and Janelle　Monáe. His most recent project is a monograph on the Fast & Furious franchise, media　brands, and the industrial logic of the 21 st -century blockbuster.

| Notification |

1. This online panel will be conducted in English through Google meet.
2. We will send the link to join the session closer to the event date.