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you imagine that the more technological progress succeeds in annexing reality,
the more our bodies will be manipulated or rather that we will end up being
satisfied with avatars (virtual representations)? WaIter: The theme of virtual identities that cybemauts adopt to act out their fantasies of existing on the Web I already exploited in my Winter '97-'98 collection. But I'm not all that convinced by avatars for the future. Cyberspace is all very well, but it's empty! I prefer reality. 0rIan: Without wishing to play the oracle, you could imagine the two trends running in tandem, sometimes conflicting, sometimes converging. It's true, though, that the more these new technologies evolve, the more one poses questions on the subject of what it is to be a human being. Also many artists are again working on the subject of the body, in photos, videos or performances. With science integrating more and more things in the human body in the form of prosthetic organs or artificial tissues, electronic chips under the skin, don't you think we're witnessing the emergence of bionic beings? After all the physical manipulations, won't the next step be human robots? 0rIan: If I could put microprocessors in my implants, I'd do so instantly! I refused an operation like that two years ago because it didn't offer me all the guarantees I needed. The intervention would have changed my appearance, but it didn't contribute anything aesthetically. Its aim in fact was to increase my physical powers. The idea however is not make one's body robotic, but to make it less obsolete, with regard to its needs and to new technological properties. just imagine a digital calculator in your brain! It would be the apotheosis of all my research if I could carry out an operation at that level. Walter: In presenting my Summer'98 collection I put my models on stilts and covered their faces with veils tattooed with pre-operation designs. The idea was to show that in future it would be possible to change the appearance of our body parts with intelligent prosthetic components. I thought that today there really were technological possibilities for improving our morphology, making it perform better. But I don't see that as a robotization of human beings. Rather I see it as a protective reinforcement so that we can survive in an environment that is becoming increasingly difficult. |
How
do you see your work evolving, both of you? 0rIan: There are still two sorts of operation I'd like to carry out. One would integrate the artificial intelligence that we've just been talking about and the other would be at a more poetic level and would consist of simply opening and closing cavities in my arms that would produce images of myself smiling and euphoric to prove that today you can do what you want to your body without feeling any pain. Having said that, I'm not going to carry out surgical operations all my life. I prefer to drink champagne with my friends. After all at the 'aesthetic' level I think I've said enough already. I've begun to look at virtual reality. I've tried to make a 'world tour'of standards of beauty during different civilizations and different epochs. At present I am working on the deformations of the skull that the Mayan Indians carried out, making a sort of self hybridization between my face with its bumps and these stories by means of cyberwear with its false 3D effects. WaIter: In keeping with the sweetsmelling dresses I designed a few seasons ago and the t ransseasonal 'puzzle' dresses that can be adjusted to fit all kinds of environment that I developed for Summer'98, I'd like to experiment with a theme for clothes that would work at a sensory level as an extension of the individual. I'd also like to be able to design outfits that would be different technically. I don't understand how it is that, at the dawn of the third millennium, we're still at the stage of the sewing machine! In fashion however, everything goes slowly. My dream would be to be able to develop a veritable research laboratory. The ideal would be to be sponsored by a fashion house such as Pierre Cardin to rediscover that sixties spirit when everything seemed possible. Pascale Renaux |
