South Korean artist Wang, Zi Won creates futuristic mechanical sculptures that meditate and transcend into Nirvana as he envisions
a future where humans evolve into cybernetic sentient beings.
“The natural human features of Wang’s ‘post-human’ or ‘post-person’
sculptures with its serene and meditative expression are juxtaposed
against the disjointed mechanical components, creating a jarring
spectacle to the viewer. At the core of Wang’s works is the issue of
decision making- the emotive human decisions against the coded and
system judgments made by machines. Wang is concerned with the status of
human thought and how it will transgress to the future. Wang’s interest
in the manifestation and translation of the human decision making
process in works of art through the passage of time can be found in the
Buddha like poses which questions whether advancement of machinery and
technology has, if any, changed the fundamental elements of human life.
The characteristic faces that are repeatedly found are in fact a self
portrait of Wang himself. Wang’s combining of human features with the
artificiality of the machinery are derived from the three stages of
cybernetics. Wang is particularly interested in the stage of cyborg, of
robots being able to take on roles of the human body such as artificial
arms and legs to aid humans. Thus Wang is challenging of the often
thought perception that the moral nature of human being are lost with
the advancement of artificial intelligence.”
