Stuggle for Air...an Epilogue to Suffering. [Excerpt From a Found Audiovisual Diary]

Abstract

Struggle for air … an epilogue to suffering is an audio essay that documents the imagined agony of a with Covid-19 patient, a man who is an artist with an academic scientific background in biology. It is conceptualised and written as an excerpt from a fictional personal diary, with a soundscape as a creative extension. At the time of his supposed suffering, the man questions and tries to foresee the future of the Homo sapiens as a species, after the appearance of the Covid-19 pandemic during a period of very critical conditions that concern humanity. The essay is, in fact, an examination of the human brain plasticity in relation to current major issues that the society faces; of the ways in which the contagion impacted human existence and activity; and of the avenues through which art may act as inspiration for science and vice versa. It argues that, in order to survive, humankind surpasses natural selection and enables an artificial one, by vitally connecting the human body with artificial parts. Science fiction becomes applied and leads to transhumanism. Thus, in an era where dehumanisation has become the norm, the inhuman assumes an even more significant place in contemporary society. The essay comes to a close by questioning the moral issues that arise from the transition from the human to the posthuman concept of existence, indicating that its repercussions are only just starting to be felt.