A Curatorial Perspective on Two Objects

Henry Tan’s interpretation of the four-armed Buddhist god of creation, Brahma, embodies the cyborgian nature of the present human being. Today, our bodies are transformed by technology that operates on us, in us, and with us. Tan’s Brahma sculpture holds aloft in each of his four hands a symbolic artifact, variously representing knowledge, as a DNA printer and synthesizer; cosmic energy, as a clinostat and brain organoid on a chip; time, as a a “dementia” tourbillon clock; and finally sacrifice, as a cultivated yeast or bacteria. Each of these objects tell a story about the future that human society is crafting for itself–will we become gods or machines?

Marie Bannier’s crying lacrimal gland organoid, on the other hand, asks what exactly it takes to be human. Her lacrimal gland is grown from stem cells in a lab, but it cries actual tears when exposed to the stress hormone noradrenaline, just like a person might. Tears generate sympathy and a desire to help from onlookers, making weeping both an intimate act and a prosocial one. Physiologically speaking, whenever we cry, we’re crying out. It begs the question whether a human being can ever be an individual, and how much our bodies know about ourselves.