CYBORGIA MANIFESTO

The children of the eighties are the prototypes of upgraded humanity. They are the children of the digital age, children of the first generation cyborg. The concept of humanity is being transformed while post-modernism introduces a new era in art. Via computers, television, cartoons and comics my childhood was immersed in images of cyborgs, superheroes and machines from the land of the hyper-real. The essence of the cyborg became my own, I identified with the concept of such a being and it has informed my work to date.

Post-modern philosophy focuses heavily on the concept of the ‘hyper-real’ as immortalized byJean Baudrillard. This concept informs my research and has led me to other spheres of study, cross-referencing various genres influenced by the philosophy of the hyper-real. 

My work explores the contemporary (in)human condition and the aesthetic forms used are sculpture, conceptual drawing, video, and installations.The modern world viewed through the cathode ray, digital surveillance and observations of contemporary society compelled me to explore a dystopian vision.

Contemporary society explores the perversions of the media. Serial killers are glorified, the news is controlled and censored, military regimes and dictatorships prevail. The dystopian vision prevails over all.

My drawings are created using a continuous line, then worked into to add flesh. The images that are created are cyborgs, reflecting the body’s dystopian descent into the word of the hyper-real. The drawings have a classical style but flow in an expressively twisted dystopianvision of contemporary society. 

My early work concentrated on the ‘bare bones’ of the cyborg. It carries no flesh, it is the basis of my work in progress. It is naked and stark as is the central feature in Duchamp’s “The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors even” The drawings are pure cyborg, without embellishment. They are infantile and simplistic in their appearance but not in their construction, being drawn in one continuous line. 

From this premise, I conceived that my first born cyborg would interpret the modern age as I perceived it. He would grow and evolve through time and influence. Each epoch carries with it interpreters of that age and it is in the French Symbolist Movement of painters, poets, and novelists that I find particular empathy. Their dystopia is veiled in grandeur, concealing in the subject matter the notion and fear of decay, which pervades their various works. In contrast, the cyborg image openly displays that decay as it evolves into a continuing motif in my work. 

Hallidonto  is a Scottish artist originally from Dundee  based in London, England. His work relates to his “Cyborgia Manifesto” his main focus is drawing; The essence of the cyborg became my own. The cyborg image has been an integral part of my childhood. The cold war had just ended – the cultural landscape of the ’80s was very much rooted in the future, the natural feeling of that time was dystopia from the cartoons/films, I watched as a kid, the advent of console gaming: Nintendo, etc. The image of man was always his metamorphism into the machine, or the machines taking over. I identified with the cyborg image, and I wanted to be one. I identified with the concept of such a being, and it has informed my work to date. They are infantile and simplistic in their appearance but not in their construction, being drawn in one continuous line. The continuous line has such intrigue the build-up of lines mirrors the essence of double helix structures akin to DNA, that create these lifeforms. 

My visual discourse is motivated by transcribing the sociological developments of our age, the evolution of the flesh its reflection of the future state of humankind raises the questions of what it means to be human within an organic-techno-digital world, what was once flesh in an ever-changing landscape, I see my work as the neo-renaissance., my work questions our existence and relation to the organic and if we go to far can we call ourselves human, this anxiety, the flesh anxiety. Hallidonto’s cyborgs go a step further; his figures are devoid of all humanity- a testament to the suffering of the born in its struggle against the manufactured. Despite the symbolic nature of his work, Hallidonto’s cyborgs beg the question: what happens next? The result is a challenge to the viewer, deconstructing the remaining self-image of the human, the Cyborg forms are depicted in stages of life that are painfully familiar: birth, the past, family, death, sorrow and the future, the departure into a new being.

My manifesto presents describe my influences and my modus operandi. It unfolds my vision of humanity via philosophical context, this simulacrum of the cyborg image, now has an ontological reality.

The cyborg is very much the symbol of this current generation, I have been invited to present my ‘Cyborgia Manifesto’ at the Royal Academy and the Post Human Forum in New York, by invitation of award-winning philosopher Francesca Ferrando in 2015. Also by Luke Robert Mason at Virtual Futures and Central Saint Martins alongside Warren Ellis and Dr Jamie Brassett.

I was also recently invited as a panelist for the NEW REALITIES (When tech creativity collide) event at HERE EAST in Located in Hackney Wick London. Hallidonto was interviewed by Ben Thompson from the BBC about his Arts Residency with Hobs studio and how VR has opened up his practice alongside Tech lead for Hobs Kadine James. 

Here I discussed more about the project and my unique approach of using VR and Google tilt drawing software and 3D printing processes.  I was also invited to the V&A Dundee in the lead-up to their exhibition about AI and design, Hello Robot, –  as one of the speakers alongside Ana Matronic author of Robot Takeover: 100 Iconic Robots of Myth, Popular Culture and Real Life and Scissor Sisters fame.

Central Saint Martins Panel link

Hallidonto links:

• Website – https://hallidonto.onfabrik.com/
• Crypto Art-  https://superrare.com/hallidonto
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/hallidonto  
• Instagram –  https://www.instagram.com/hallidonto/