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ABSTRACT
The Transpecies Society is an association of cyborg artists and activists “that gives voice to nonhuman identities; raises awareness of the challenges transpecies face; advocates for the freedom of self-design and offers the development of new senses and organs.” This article explores how members of The Transpecies Society use sensory modification as a form of artistic expression and political activism. It asks, how do transpeciests seek to “stretch the bounds of experience” by developing new senses? Precisely what kind of experiences, and what kind of “sensory orders” are they interested in creating? By using technology to transform their own sensory capacities and connect more intimately with nature, how do transpeciests challenge anthropocentric views of society, and establish recognition and rights for those “who do not identify as 100% human”? I ultimately aim to demonstrate that for transpeciests, the creation of new senses is not just an attempt to refashion the individual body and push the boundaries of aesthetic experience. It is also an attempt to transform the social and political body by making room for new forms of posthuman identity and acceptance.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Cursory studies of the Transpecies Society have been generated by Alcaraz (Citation2019), Pearlman (Citation2015) and Rafaela and Anastasia (Citation2018).
2. Other scholars have proposed that “analytic attempts to distinguish “art” and “science” often founder at the boundaries drawn between them and they have cautioned against reinstating “the binary economy” or “two cultures debate” that positions art and science as opposing categories (Jones and Galison Citation1998, 1). Such warnings are not without merit. However, in what follows, I want to keep the categories of art and science in play and pursue this line of inquiry for two reasons. First, as anthropologists have long recognized, the terms by which people identify themselves do matter and even though they appropriate scientific knowledge in their creations, members of the Transpecies Society first and foremost identify themselves as artists. This is a meaningful distinction for them, and it is one of the central ways they symbolically position themselves with this larger field of cultural production. Second, I want to propose that analytically, much can be gained by following Pierre Bourdieu and treating sensory augmentation as “a field of cultural production” (Bourdieu Citation1993). We need to map how manifold institutions and actors, with diverse forms of capital contribute to this field. From scientists, to artists, to activists, and business entrepreneurs, sensory augmentation is both attracting and being shaped by a varied spectrum of people and institutions.
3. Retrieved from https://transpeciessociety.wixsite.com/transpeciessociety.
4. Retrieved from https://wetransfer.com/blog/story/influence-podcast-season-three.
7. As Russell Sharman notes, “The anthropology of aesthetics gives primacy to the expressive process, (Sharman Citation1997, 185). It is not just the product or object produced that matters, but the process itself.
9. Retrived from Neil-Harbisson-A-cybord-artist.pdf, https://cyborgproject.com.
10. See, “Designing organs at the Transpecies Society: Hybrid Practices between Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence” by Tatiana Afanador and Judit Pares. Retrieved from https://www.clotmag.com/oped/designing-organs-at-the-transpecies-society-hybrid-practices-between-cybernetics-and-artificial-intelligence-by-tatiana-afanador-judit-pares.
12. This quote and all of the subsequent quotes from Moon Ribas in this section come from the same 2015, Ted talk, “Searching for my Sense.” Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU6UPUlbmLw
Moon Ribas Ted TalkX Münich: Searching for My SenseJanuary27, 2015.
13. For an interesting analysis of the way VR games are used to produce intensified sensory experiences see Crouch and Damjanov (Citation2021).
14. This is an expression biohacker-transhumanist Liv Parish used in a talk she gave at the 2018 BDHYX convention in Austin Texas.
15. Taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K957NfUCj8
Interview with Manel De Aguas for The Talk Spot August 2020.
16. Taken from https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/xwnkwk/manel-de-aguas-cyborg-artist-sense-weather-ear-implants-artifical-organ.
17. Taken from https://www.inmynature.areweeurope.com/water-route-manel-de-aguas/. Moreover, de Aguas maintains that what separates transpeciests from transhumanists, is that transpeciests do not ascribe to the belief that human beings are the top of the species hierarchy because of their perpetual ability to “transcend” the limits of their condition. When an interviewer asked de Aguas if he identified as a transhumanist, he responded:
transhumanism is also related to technology and the body but transhumanism … is to enhance the human species and to me like adding the weather fins or adding new senses is not to enhance myself, it’s like to explore myself and maybe to become different but not better, like to me, having more senses or not having more senses is not about enhancing something, it is about extending I would say, and transhumanism, with this term I think they see the species and all around them like in a vertical way where you are better when you add technology and I don’t defend that. To me it’s more transpeciesim, like I feel less human now, like I discovered an inner identity that is not really related to the human species. So, to me, being transspecies is like having a part of yourself that doesn’t identify with the human being, but it’s not better or worse, you know, it’s like on a horizontal line. All the species are equal and it’s not about being human or being more human, and transhumanism is very united to humans still and to me I get a lot of inspiration from other species and I feel like I am adding organs that are inspired by other species.
transhumanism is also related to technology and the body but transhumanism … is to enhance the human species and to me like adding the weather fins or adding new senses is not to enhance myself, it’s like to explore myself and maybe to become different but not better, like to me, having more senses or not having more senses is not about enhancing something, it is about extending I would say, and transhumanism, with this term I think they see the species and all around them like in a vertical way where you are better when you add technology and I don’t defend that. To me it’s more transpeciesim, like I feel less human now, like I discovered an inner identity that is not really related to the human species. So, to me, being transspecies is like having a part of yourself that doesn’t identify with the human being, but it’s not better or worse, you know, it’s like on a horizontal line. All the species are equal and it’s not about being human or being more human, and transhumanism is very united to humans still and to me I get a lot of inspiration from other species and I feel like I am adding organs that are inspired by other species.
Taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K957NfUCj8.
19. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/speakers/neil_harbisson.
21. In this regard transpeciest art could be described not just as cyborg art, but as yet another manifestation of “ecological art.” As Ruth Wallen explains, “ecological art is grounded in an ecological ethic and systems theory, addressing the web of interrelationships between the physical, biological, cultural, political and historical aspects of eco systems”(Wallen Citation2012, 235). It would also be interesting to further explore how the transpeciests understand their art as a form of civic participation. As Doris Sommer writes, “Through art we reframe experience, offset prejudice, and refresh our perception of what exists so that it seems worthy of attention. And through humanistic interpretation we share the civic effect” (Sommer Citation2014, 10).
23. Or as Russel Sharman puts it, “As the embodiment of a productive process, aesthetic expression is a dynamic part of cultural transformation” (Sharman Citation1997: 185). Sharman proposes that anthropologists haven’t fully appreciated “the usefulness of aesthetic analysis” in their larger examinations of social life.
24. I am grateful to the anonymous reviewer who encouraged me to raise this critique.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jenny Huberman
Jenny Huberman is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.