Marguerite Humeau
FOXP2 (Mutation)
2016
Duratran and bespoke lightbox
44 × 26 × 5 cm
Edition of 10 copies, signed and numbered by the artist on a certificate
Out of stock
about this work
FOXP2 (Mutation) is a lightbox edition that developed from Humeau’s project based on re-enacting the moment when a gene – FOXP2 – mutated, allowing our ancestors to develop language.
about Marguerite Humeau
Marguerite Humeau has described herself as an “Indiana Jones in Google times.” Her research-based work grows out of collaborations with scientists and other experts, reflecting on existential questions such as what it means to exist.
A recent touring solo exhibition FOXP2, grew out of conversations with zoologists. One sound installation takes the form of a “choir” of 108 billion voices, re-enacting the moment when a gene – FOXP2 – mutated, allowing our ancestors to develop language. This leads on to what Humeau calls a “biological showroom” of elephants, engaged in an elaborate mourning ritual. The installations take us back to the origins of life, while also imagining a future without humans.
Her project for Manifesta started from the idea that love is an evolutionary function. Based on her research in zoology, biology and paleontology, Mathias Bürki and his fellow experts in autonomous systems programmed two robot-like creatures designed by the artist, which twirled around ETH Zürich. They try to get together through a fog of anti-love drugs, squirting out ersatz love hormones and emitting mating calls from their mechanical throats. This ancient dance of courtship points to the near future, where artificial intelligence calls into question attributes hitherto thought to be distinctly human.
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