Hara Chikei | Kara Walker: Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine)
Kara Walker's SFMOMA exhibition critically examines the relationship between the body and technology, linking it to the trauma of slavery.Summary
Kara Walker's exhibition, "Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine)" at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), critically questions the desire for mechanization and the violence inherent in transhumanism by connecting the relationship between the body and technology post-COVID-19 pandemic with the historical trauma of American slavery. The installation features eight mechanical automata set against a floor of obsidian, reflecting layered memories from pandemic isolation, California wildfires, and historical events like slavery. The automata's awkward, repetitive movements and spasms symbolize modern existence where the physical body is diluted in favor of digital data on screens. Walker amplifies this critique by incorporating dialogue with ChatGPT in the creation process, highlighting the violence of algorithms bleaching historical events and pain. The work intersects the history of people of color, treated as sub-human machines, with contemporary embodiment in algorithmic environments, ultimately questioning the locus of the human spirit through representations of imperfect bodies.
(Source：artscape)