HYUNDAI BLUE PRIZE ART + TECH 2023

Against this backdrop, theories and practices of ‘decentralisation’ have become a means to reflect on and confront existing socio-economic structures by encouraging us to consider and envision alternative sociological and ecological orders. Such practices emphasise anti-anthropocentrism, equality between species, and cohabitation and solidarity with other species. But how do we humans take our first step towards a decentralised world? How can we begin to imagine a reality where all species are treated as equals?

Metamorphic Ecosphere proposes metamorphosis as a methodology—for human-kind’s introspection, for analysing the economic and ecological structures that we find ourselves in, and for examining the inequalities that manifest through ‘voluntary’ and ‘forced’ metamorphoses. Perhaps only through conceiving and welcoming the metamorphoses of our bodies, living spaces, and ecosystems can we truly embrace the “encroachment” of other species and substances—and, in turn, stride towards a decentralised world.

The word ‘metamorphic’ has multiple meanings. In geology, it refers to the physical and chemical “mutations” that rocks undergo when subjected to heat, pressure, and other agencies; In biology, metamorphosis describes the changes in bodily form as an organism develops into maturity; In computer science, a metamorphic code is a malicious program that constantly rewrites itself, and through such self-transformation it evades the detection of anti-virus programs. Metamorphic Ecosphere branches off from the plural meanings of the ‘metamorphic’ to inspire meditations on the voluntary and forced metamorphoses that humans, other species, and myriad substances go through in the current technological era, in our planetary metabolic system. We thereby probe the extent of change that we’re willing to accept and begin to question whether the anthropocentric beliefs we hold will ultimately consume us.