THE FIVE FACETS OF HUMANITY:
Intra-human, Meta-human, Post-human, Supra-human, Trans-human
Fellows of Contemporary Art is pleased to present 5 Facets of Humanity: Intra-human, Meta-human, Post-human, Supra-human, Trans-human, an exhibition that investigates five aspects of the idea of a humane humanity.
Questions about human nature and the values, goals, and ends that humans ought to actualize have always been at variance. Differences in understanding emerge not only about the being of humankind but also the becoming of its ideals.
Answers to the questions about our human nature and the ideals of a humane humanity can be sought in five facets: by contrasting the human with the meta-human (the metaphysical), the intra-human (social-ecological systems), the trans-human (ideals and values), the post-human (future states of being), or the supra-human (conscious machines).
In each facet the question at issue and the basis for comparison are different: a transcendent difference from the metaphysical that presents a possibility for emancipation from limitations and hardships; a relative difference in the consideration that individuals do not exist in isolation but are embedded in social-ecological systems; a practical difference with respect to the aim to realize and live up to the highest ideals; an evolutionary difference between the present state of being and the future of becoming; and a typological difference between natural development and technological augmentation.
In relation to each facet, how is human nature to be defined and what are the ideals for which humans ought to strive? They are to be defined differently for and inseparably from each facet.
These are the facets that a contemporary understanding of the idea of a humane humanity must address. To do so is the objective of this exhibition.
