Transhuman

In 2020 the city of Ulm will commemorate the 250th anniversary of Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger (1770-1829), who went down in history as the “Tailor of Ulm”. To mark the occasion, the Museum Ulm will present an interdisciplinary exhibition that highlights his most successful invention, the first model of a modern prosthesis. Beginning with this pioneering innovation, the exhibition outlines the history of prosthetic development, culminating in current forms of body enhancements and modern cyborg design. With displays of international works of cultural and medical history, as well as artistic depictions of physical disabilities and their recurrence in the field of body art, the exhibition examines the complementarity, imitation and improvement of human nature, the overcoming of physical limitations and the prospects of creating artificial humans. The possibilities of medical prosthetics today and their prospective use in the future define the selection of artistic works, e.g. Sophie de Oliveira Barata‘s “The Alternative Limb Project”, which applies the medium of prosthetics to create portable, avant-garde artworks. Or the piece by Kader Attia who uses a leg prosthesis to symbolise the influence of Western culture and capitalism on societies of North Africa and the Middle East. With an extensive accompanying programme, the museum hopes to raise greater public awareness of the ever-increasing influence of technology on the human body. The international project is being developed in cooperation with numerous partners, artists and designers from nine countries.

Artistic director: Stefanie Dathe
Curators: Eva Leistenschneider, Gabriele N. Reichert, Gerhard Reichert
Artists: Albrecht Berblinger, Jacques Callot, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Heinrich Hoerle, Kader Attia, Sophie de Oliveira Barata, Mari Katayama, Igor Simic, Charlotta Öfverholm, Markus Schinwald, Stelarc and others

Project partners (science and design): Miguel Araya Calvo, Gabriele N. Reichert, Gerhard Reichert, Leslie Speer, Yuta Kozaki, Lea Suela Schwegler, Erika Mondria, Anna Blumenkranz, Patricia Marti and others