Future Relic one: The Xenopthorpian Mythos
Excerpt from The Xenopthorpian Mythos
Hand drawn animation
Duration: 3:42
Text commissioned by the artist and written by Dr Maeve O'Lynn.
2015
In this project McGibbon unfolds a complex and theoretical narrative that offers an experimental hypothesis about the evolution of the human body and medical intervention. The work was created during a 6-month residency in CÚRAM, the center for research in medical devices.
During the course of the residency McGibbon found that one of the most interesting aspects of medical science is the experimental and evolutionary approach to the discipline. A scientist makes observations about an illness or a treatment, devises a theory to fit those observations, tests the theory and if successful, the theory becomes widely accepted. At any point in the future, if conflicting evidence emerges, the theory is discarded. The notion that medical science will radically evolve in the future is core to this hypothesis.
This elaborate theory of the Xenothorpean race evolved from “an accidental piecing together of separated things”, combining historical and contemporary breakthroughs through unusual enquiries into medical science. This concept was influenced by current research in CURAM into the regenerative capacity of the Xenopus Laevis tadpole, the zebra fish and the fictional character “Radithor”, a goddess created as a means to advertise radium products in the 1920’s.
McGibbon explores the use of narrative and the creation of a Para human (a hybrid that incorporates genetic elements from humans and animals) as a tool to discuss radical development’s in bio-technology and its ramifications on us as a species. The artist wondered how a being that is partly human/tadpole/zebra fish would be designed, how would it function and how would the implementation of such a creature be received? In this project McGibbon unfolds a complex and theoretical narrative that offers an experimental hypothesis about the evolution of the human body and medical intervention. The work was created during a 6-month residency in CÚRAM, the center for research in medical devices.
During the course of the residency McGibbon found that one of the most interesting aspects of medical science is the experimental and evolutionary approach to the discipline. A scientist makes observations about an illness or a treatment, devises a theory to fit those observations, tests the theory and if successful, the theory becomes widely accepted. At any point in the future, if conflicting evidence emerges, the theory is discarded. The notion that medical science will radically evolve in the future is core to this hypothesis.
Excerpt from The Xenopthorpian Mythos
Hand drawn animation
Duration: 3:42
Text commissioned by the artist and written by Dr Maeve O'Lynn.
2015
In this project McGibbon unfolds a complex and theoretical narrative that offers an experimental hypothesis about the evolution of the human body and medical intervention. The work was created during a 6-month residency in CÚRAM, the center for research in medical devices.
During the course of the residency McGibbon found that one of the most interesting aspects of medical science is the experimental and evolutionary approach to the discipline. A scientist makes observations about an illness or a treatment, devises a theory to fit those observations, tests the theory and if successful, the theory becomes widely accepted. At any point in the future, if conflicting evidence emerges, the theory is discarded. The notion that medical science will radically evolve in the future is core to this hypothesis.
This elaborate theory of the Xenothorpean race evolved from “an accidental piecing together of separated things”, combining historical and contemporary breakthroughs through unusual enquiries into medical science. This concept was influenced by current research in CURAM into the regenerative capacity of the Xenopus Laevis tadpole, the zebra fish and the fictional character “Radithor”, a goddess created as a means to advertise radium products in the 1920’s.
McGibbon explores the use of narrative and the creation of a Para human (a hybrid that incorporates genetic elements from humans and animals) as a tool to discuss radical development’s in bio-technology and its ramifications on us as a species. The artist wondered how a being that is partly human/tadpole/zebra fish would be designed, how would it function and how would the implementation of such a creature be received? In this project McGibbon unfolds a complex and theoretical narrative that offers an experimental hypothesis about the evolution of the human body and medical intervention. The work was created during a 6-month residency in CÚRAM, the center for research in medical devices.
During the course of the residency McGibbon found that one of the most interesting aspects of medical science is the experimental and evolutionary approach to the discipline. A scientist makes observations about an illness or a treatment, devises a theory to fit those observations, tests the theory and if successful, the theory becomes widely accepted. At any point in the future, if conflicting evidence emerges, the theory is discarded. The notion that medical science will radically evolve in the future is core to this hypothesis.
