Part II of Ram Shergill’s exhibition at MOCA London (part I April 2022), is a continued exploration into the body, the environments we exist in, and our shifting into new relations with other living forms.
Shergill’s new works elaborate further on the ideas and concepts of “critical posthuman bodying” and bioregenerative systems. Through photography and sculptures, he pushes the materiality by fusing living matter with his photos and sculptures developing the notion of “intra-relationships” of the human and nonhuman form.
In the future the human body can be furthered by layering the anatomy with a series of bioregenerative encasements. Bioregenerative systems are systems that are made up of artificial ecosystems incorporating complex and symbiotic relationships between microorganisms, animals, and higher plants. The future human (posthuman) body is extended through a novel type of “body building” working with multispecies entities.
Working and layering the body with various species in speculative architectures allows for mutually beneficial gaseous exchange between the human and nonhuman, enabling possible adaptations of the body to harsher and alien environments. This exhibition explores the embodying of living systems through visions of a critical posthuman practice using artistic interpretations. Engaging with the ontological, technological, and aesthetic manifestations of the body combined with the biological and physiological anatomy realises a hybridised sympoietic type of posthuman body building. Human and nonhuman bodies are furthered in unison using adaptation, growth and refiguration achieving unique transformative possibilities through Bioregenerative Bodies.
Ram Shergill.
The two exhibitions at MOCA London are a result of Ram Shergill’s doctoral research at University College London, The Bartlett of Architecture and based on his thesis “Visions of a Critical Posthuman Practice: Embodying Exoskeletal Living Systems (ELS)”. Working closely with biochemical engineering, architectural design and bioregenerative methods, Shergill’s work hypothesizes modes of “becoming other together” through sympoiesis (making-with in collectively producing systems). Ram Shergill’s work analyses the human body through a performative and aesthetic façade, depicting a visual “Growth of Form.”
The exhibition sets out a critical discussion of our existence in a quickly changing environment and questions the intra-relationship between human, animal, and botanic organisms. It further brings the questioning of a new form of human bodies.
For the exhibition, an accompanied catalogue of part I and part II will be available during the exhibition period.
Ram Shergill, Bioregenerative Bodies Posthuman Body Building, 8th – 28th October, MOCA London
Opening event Sunday 8th October 2 – 4pm
About the artist
Ram Shergill is completing his doctoral research at University College London, The Bartlett of Architecture under the supervision of Professor of innovative environments, Professor Marcos Cruz, and Associate Professor in sustainable bioprocess design at UCL Biochemical Engineering, Dr. Brenda Parker.
Ram Shergill is an interdisciplinary researcher and artist specialising in bio-integrated design, photography, and creative direction. Internationally recognised for his contribution to the creative arts, Ram has advanced his practice through science, wearable technology and expanded photography. Working in the field of bioastronautics, Shergill is designing novel photobioreactor extensions to the body via biochemical engineering and architectural design.
Ram is a Senior Lecturer at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in the Business School for the Creative Industries (BSCI) and has previously lectured at UAL and Arts University Bournemouth. In addition to lecturing, he has been a keynote speaker at various conferences and galleries internationally.
Ram was awarded the Arts Culture and Theatre Award (ACTA) in 2016 for his contribution to the arts. His work has been shown in exhibitions internationally including Sotheby’s, The Wallace Collection, Somerset House, and the Whitechapel Gallery. Ram Shergill’s portraits are housed in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
