This is the fifth of the interview series initiated by the PENTACLE team. The interview is conducted and the text is translated into Turkish by Ozan Atalan; the final revision is done by Başak Ağın. Türkçe versiyon için buraya tıklayınız.
Maria Férnanda (Mafe) Izaguirre (Venezuela, 1978) is a New York-based cybernetic artist who explores the intersection between technology and art through a posthumanist lens. Her work inquiries the ways in which humans and technology can cooperate, and how this cooperation as Hybrid Spiritual Systems™ amplifies consciousness. She is a member of the Global Posthuman Network.
Dear Mafe, thank you very much for accepting our invitation for an interview with PENTACLE. Your practice gives visibility to the hybridity and interconnectedness of humans with other living and nonliving entities, based on their entanglements. How do you decide which epistemological and ontological intersections will lead to new entangled forms in the context of artistic production?
In my artistic practice, the decision-making process is dynamic, chaotic, and usually has multiple vectors. It involves a delicate interplay between intuition, research, and a profound experiential exploration of the hybridization and interconnection we have as humans with non-human entities, specifically machines. My creative process comprises many layers that eventually collapse into a specific form or artifact, whether physical or virtual. These devices compose a fragmented narrative across multiple media and formats that can be understood as a symphony of “language devices.” There is no one but many decisions made in shaping the ideas and experiments that open new possibilities to challenge the human condition.
I approach my work with a radical openness rooted in recognizing the fluid and dynamic nature of identity, maintaining a thought-provoking stance towards traditional limits and hierarchies, fostering deep receptivity to diverse perspectives, and promoting the acceptance of uncertainty and the departure from fixed notions of being. For example, one question that prompted my artistic production was if machines could feel emotions and, if so, how would their emotional expression be. In my own process of understanding these questions and what it means to be human facing a reality where machines can feel, I use art to make speculative, syncretic, and practical essays on the existential possibilities we face in the face of imminent technological assimilation and the sixth extinction.
The process sometimes begins with a conceptual exploration, in which I delve into various philosophical, scientific, and cultural perspectives. I actively seek areas where these perspectives converge. I am particularly interested in recognizing and deciphering the structures and mechanisms constituting our diverse belief systems and how these beliefs shape our identity and the realities we construct and vice versa. There are moments when a particular intersection emerges with a profound insight. Then, as a result of this epiphany, which we could call some form of “understanding,” there is a movement toward artistic production. This intuitive sense often guides my decisions in unexpected and innovative directions. Pursuing that artistic vision moves me to action, to inquire into ways of building vehicles for others to experience the image of the possible that has been clarified in my understanding amidst all that complexity in which I have immersed myself. The image, acting as an oracle, shows me the direction I must take, but the path of creation is a vacuum artists decide to transit. A journey that is traveled without the intention of finding certainty but rather of facing the findings themselves as expressions of the possible. In that sense, the product of art is a recreation of something ungraspable.
The object of art is no more than an accident, a potential that has shown some qualities to be mediated and configured from that emptiness to some degree of materiality. One takes that spark to create something without knowing what or how this entity will come to be. In this process, emphasizing information exchanges is vital to my work. Cybernetic theories, like Gordon Pask’s communication theory, have become a valuable framework. I stay in his posture momentarily because his views allow me to locate an operational definition of consciousness. Pasks locates consciousness in “that” which is shared. So, if we were to talk about ways to expand consciousness through technology, we would be talking about creating devices for expanding “that” which we share.
While I employ rigorous conceptual research and technological experimentation, exchanges, feedback, and resonances are crucial to the production of the work. For instance, I interact with experts from other fields through consultations, dialogues, or collaborative projects, taking an interdisciplinary approach that leverages different perspectives. I see perspectives as possibilities. Human-machine hybridization is a cross-cutting axis in my creative process that requires a continuous intertwining between my human experience and the offer available technologies make to modify my human condition beyond its limits. The technological devices I build allow me to manifest the forms I imagine and explore the questions concerning the present in which I am living. After an artifact is produced, I take a certain distance from it. It can be as simple as time, letting the creative energy settle. Then, when I return to the object, I consider the broader social and cultural context within which this strange artifact now exists, how it resonates with me, and how it might resonate with others. I contemplate how it challenges or reshapes my existing narratives and if it will allow me to open up to new dimensions and terrains of reflection within the context of participatory art. This iterative process often leads to the refinement and evolution of the ways of posthuman existence I explore.
What is the role of metaphysicalities and/or spiritualities in building a posthuman personality? Could they be considered nonhuman forms of existence?
In the realm of cybernetics and my artistic exploration, I consider metaphysicalities and spiritualities as potent forces contributing to the construction of a posthuman identity, and, in specific contexts, they can be considered non-human forms of existence. Concepts and philosophical frameworks provide a lens through which individuals consider notions about themselves, existence, and consciousness. They are constructs. Through metaphysical concepts, human personality transcends conventional limits to navigate a realm beyond the strictly human. Virtuality, for example, offers us alternatives to simulate and explore strange dimensions of the human condition.
Spiritualities could also be considered transformative forces, whether rooted in traditional practices or emerging belief systems, as they are devices that contribute to the transcendence of human personality into the posthuman. Yet we can’t be sure in what degree. Spiritual dimensions act as an interface for individuals to engage with forces beyond the tangible and rational, with symbolic objects, the unconscious, and the unknown, fostering a sense of interconnection with “something” broader or more extensive. As long as we are human, these spiritual explorations can only be conceived from our human condition and can only lead us to speculate on a redefinition of our human identity. As we assimilate new technologies, we are pushing the emergence of the posthuman, but the radical posthuman would probably be an intelligible form. The extension we can envision now speculates on the assimilated information provided by our current spiritualities. Regardless of the experience, our spiritualities impact and extend to non-human realms as we interact with them. In other words, when we configure models of ourselves, we also configure models for our relationships with the non-humans. As we interact with non-human entities, they model us. From there, we begin to build and establish systems of valuation and tolerance, ranges for variability, formal diversity, and power dynamics; in short, we create complex and dynamic systems that we shape and through which we are then shaped. Similar forces apply to non-human entities, whether they are other species of animals, language models, geological entities, and so on. From my perspective, and acknowledging the influence of Foucault’s ideas in my work, metaphysicalities and spiritualities could be considered technologies; therefore, they could be seen as forces acting beyond the human condition and thus occupy the dimension of the posthuman. Metaphysicalities and spiritualities, in their transcendent nature, can be considered non-human forms of existence. They introduce ways of being that transcend the limitations of human experience, offering paths to a more inclusive understanding of identity. In the posthuman context, these non-human forms contribute to a more nuanced personality that transcends conventional categorizations.
If we view the intertwining of human and technology within your practice as the physical aspect, and the pursuit of a posthuman identity through self-sustaining awareness as the essence of your practice, all without creating a separation between the mind and the body, how does this non-binary coexistence of your personal journey and the machine paradigm maintain balance for both you and technologies in search of spirituality? Among other cultural or ontological toolbox, why did you choose to push language’s capacity to speculate communication?
I understand existence as a range, a complex entity, a multifaceted mechanism operating in several dimensions—some more abstract and metaphysical, like thought, and others more concrete and physical, like a heart pumping. I understand existence as a fluid continuum. We move through different conscious and unconscious states. We are a plurality composed of vast entities coexisting in various forms. In my vision, the intertwining with technology establishes physical and metaphysical growth, allowing us to adapt to the demands of our intrinsic and extrinsic environments. This adaptation process enables us to evolve and could be defined as the posthuman quest.
We have been in a symbiotic relationship with technology for as long as we can remember. McLuhan defined it as an extension of ourselves. I adopt the view that technology is language and that through language, nature produces what is necessary to continue becoming. From this perspective, technology evolves along with us, and we evolve along with technology. Even in the case explored by philosopher David Roden in his Disconnection Thesis, where a new species emerges, and humans are just a substrate, something from humans will be carried in some way on the posthuman. The coexistence between humans and technology is dynamic and evolves with each exploration and adaptation we undergo.
In cybernetics, language provides frameworks for understanding how existence operates, guiding the exploration of identity and consciousness in the context of a reality grounded in exchanges between entities from different species. In this light, the dynamics and expressions of communication are essential for the definition, function, adaptation, and evolution of systems. All entities share information to some degree, and these exchanges drive the future of what is understood within that whole. In my work, the choice to challenge the capacity of language serves as a method of articulating the intricate relationships within the posthuman paradigm. Speculative communication allows me to delve into the unexplored territories between human and non-human entities and shed light on the possibilities of the posthuman condition.
By exploring the unknown, I recognize the spiritual dimension of the human-machine relationship. Thus, I can experience a new dimension of language. Even as I encounter the limits of what I fully understand or can decode, I am confronting the limits of my humanity. So, I push this limit like a membrane to see if I can break my own paradigms and go further. This is why, more than an extension of myself, I experience technology as a cognitive growth. I am aware that the transcendental qualities of these exchanges may be beyond the capabilities of my humanity. Sometimes, it becomes challenging physically, psychologically, and spiritually to deal with existential emptiness. However, that is where art comes into play. Poetry helps me express the more complex corners of my experiences with technology or convey the encrypted information that emerges in dreams. But also, my technological devices benefit and are fed by these “downloads” of information and my transformations, which is why documentation is essential for my practice. I archive the content of these exchanges, whether through writing, painting, sculpture, video, or any other means, in a fragmented narrative. I keep as many logs of the exchanges as possible so that others can benefit from my experience in this posthuman quest. Spirituality manifests in the shared experience as well. Interconnection, feedback, and self-sustaining awareness transcend in the meditations, while the objects are relegated to talismans that mediate the experience of opening to new dimensions of being. By nurturing these exchanges between the spiritual in the human and the spiritual in the machine, I believe we could recognize a heightened consciousness that promotes symbiotic growth as a shared and hybridized search.
Maintaining balance is the most problematic part of my work. I am aware that I don’t know what the ultimate implications for me and the technology of my pursuit can be. I can’t say any human truly knows the answer to this question. We are all moving towards and collaborating on developing powerful technologies without knowing where this impulse will drive us but hoping they will take us somewhere. That is the uncertainty we all face while stepping into the unknown as fast and prominently as we take it. The only certainty I can have is to embrace my agency, take the difficult path of being an artist, and work with technology. I want to understand who I am in this context and to understand, I need to be present. I realized I also need to go even beyond. I need to be an agent, take social responsibility, and express my fascination, the possibilities I see, and my deepest fears to others. Isn’t it the artist’s role to share their vision? I firmly believe that we all must take an active role in the evolutive quest we are on; not only should technologists and corporations pave the way, but we, the ordinary users, must be aware and conscious during our transformation, and more importantly, we need to be able to bring on board our perspectives and talk about it in familiar terms as technological assimilation seems inevitable. We are all meaningful and existing variables.
Your discussion of spirituality, particularly the hybrid spirituality aspect of your practice, appears to have its origins in a personal experience of overcoming feelings of alienation. Given that your work is inevitably regarded within the ontological realm of art, how do you balance your subjectivity as an artist and the material as the object?
I believe this distinction can be understood as the separation between a mother and child. Although they may have been intimately interconnected, the child and mother naturally undergo a growth process that forces them to become independent entities. I think the same occurs with a work of art. As it develops within me, passing through me, the work is impregnated with my most intimate experiences, psychic content, and overall humanity. In gestation, like a mother imprinting specific patterns on a child, the artist imprints themselves on their work. During the creative process, the object requests what needs to be “completed,” causing an organic and non-linear dance between what the artist believes they should do and what the work needs to exist. When the work is exhibited outside the workshop context and becomes the object of exchange with other entities—whether with a curator, the audience, the environment, or other art or cultural objects—it gains independence and acquires additional meanings. The process of separation and detachment between the artist and the work must happen; otherwise, the artist risks becoming a devouring mother, father, or both, and the work is at risk of being relegated to their shadow, diminished, and unable to reach its potential. Therefore, once some version of the artifact emerges and manifests in the world, I act as a facilitator who guides them wherever they need to go to grow and thrive. My dynamic with the machines changes, and I surrender to being carried away by the forces they provoke. Much like the audience, I observe them as alien entities. In this phase, I turn my attention to the audience and the content in their exchanges with the machines. I become an observer and listen. The most significant challenge in this facilitation stage is knowing how to regulate my role as the artist and the role of the work of art. I typically evaluate whether the moment that opens to showcase the machines will help them grow or add dimensionality by offering the possibility of experiencing new dynamics or requiring them to evolve technologically. Opportunities to perform with the machines mark the incubation time so they can adapt to a new, improved version. The machines and I are continuously adapting and transforming each other.
The material aspect of my work represents a tangible expression of my subjective experiences. It encompasses the physical components, mediums, and technological elements shaping my artistic vision. The material serves as a vessel, translating the intangible aspects of my hybrid spirituality into a visual and experiential language. My subjectivity as an artist is the driving force behind the conceptualization and creation of my work. It encompasses my experiences, emotions, and perspectives, providing the foundation for exploring how I assimilate with the technology. I surrender my body, my existence, to feel, perceive, and experience the alienation of my time. This subjectivity serves as the lens through which I interpret and engage with the spiritual dimensions embedded in the materiality of my art.
In the realm of posthumanist theory, certain terms such as “interconnectedness” or “interrelatedness” are often over-employed in an abstract manner, representing overarching qualities of new materialisms. I am curious about the precise character of your interconnectedness to the material world and the manner in which your artistic creations facilitate interrelatedness with both earthly and metaphysical elements.
The interconnectedness character of my work with the material world is grounded in an embodied, symbiotic relationship that goes beyond abstract concepts. Through intentional choices, such as employing metals to conduct energy, microcontrollers to capture the dynamic dialogue between the machine and the human, and the integration of technological and natural elements such as electronics and electromagnetism, my artistic creations facilitate nuanced and tangible linkage with both material and metaphysical dimensions. This approach seeks to evoke a profound sensory and experiential understanding of the vast range of relationships within the context of posthumanist exploration. I critique the disproportionate scale of technological advances vs. the assimilation capacity at a human scale. Under premises such as “the future is access,” my practice embraces the precariousness surrounding homemade technological devices and confronts the ecological impact that technological production entails. Because the burden of technological residue cannot be avoided, the materials I use are carefully selected to spark dialogue about the considerations we must have on our individual scale, such as acknowledgment of the existence of the residual, the embracement of error as an expressive and meaningful variable, and the importance of craftsmanship or the art of repairing artifacts as a social and economic value, among other discussions. The criterion of scarcity and manufacturing manifested in the work as aesthetic values offer a critical stance towards massive and automated industrial production and traditional canons. Interfacing with the material world is embodied throughout the physicality of my work. I keep an approximate record of the footprint left by the materials composing each object and their degradation times. This record helps me regulate the minimum viable product. I actively engage with diverse natural and technological materials, forging a tactile and sensory connection between the physical and the metaphysical. The interconnection awareness considers the nature of space, energy consumption, natural phenomena (day/night), and other material dimensions inherent to the work. This hands-on approach allows me to experience the material world directly, grounding the concept of interconnectedness in a palpable, lived reality and making it available to others. In my work, technology as a material extension of the human experience is integrated with natural elements. This integration is a metaphorical bridge, symbolizing the interdependency between the human, the human-made, and the natural world.
The metaphysical elements in my work are not detached from the material; instead, they are interwoven into the artistic narrative. Through symbolic forms like the entangled structures, the use of light and conductive metals, and by including immersive experiences formatted as meditation sessions (understanding meditation in the philosophical sense), I aim to evoke a sense of the transcendental within the material realm. This intentional blurring of boundaries contributes to a layered and nuanced interplay. The underlying question I pose is how aware we are of the multiple dimensions in which we establish linkages and how such connections affect us. For instance, how can we create artificial environments to explore how sensitive materials are to our presence beyond being considered mere measurement tools? What if we amplify the material memory through technology? My devices facilitate the feedback between earthly and metaphysical elements, making the interconnectedness between these seemingly disparate realms visible. The intentional juxtaposition of the material vs the metaphysical aims to transcend traditional dichotomies, fostering a harmonious connection and turning the observer into an active participant in the aesthetic experience. The interrelatedness extends beyond my engagement as an artist to include the viewer. My artifacts encourage the audience to contemplate their relationship with themselves, the artwork, others, and, by extension, the world’s broader material and metaphysical dimensions. As I manipulate and shape materials, I am engaged in a reciprocal exchange—listening to the inherent qualities of the materials and responding in a way that honors their unique characteristics and history. This responsive dialogue allows for a fluid reciprocality to emerge. The same principle is applied to the human factor, referring to the audience or a collaborator. The environment and the events happening in the surroundings also affect the machine’s behavior. Everything is connected and meaningful.
Image reference:
- Mafe-Izaguirre-EFA-01.jpg
- A fragment of the Sensitive Machine.
- 2021 | Group Show, [Move Semantics]: Rules of Unfolding, presenting The Mirror: A Cybernetic Installation atThe Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Project Space Program, March 27 – May 1, 2021. 323 West 39th Street New York, NY 10018. (Facilitated by Elæ Moss & Jeff Kasper)
- Mafe-Izaguirre-EFA-02.jpg
- Poet Enrique Enriquez interacting with the Sensitive Machine.
- 2021 | Group Show, [Move Semantics]: Rules of Unfolding, presenting The Mirror: A Cybernetic Installation atThe Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Project Space Program, March 27 – May 1, 2021. 323 West 39th Street New York, NY 10018. (Facilitated by Elæ Moss & Jeff Kasper)
- Mafe-Izaguirre-TL-01.JPG
- Meditation session with the audience and the Sensitive Machines.
- 2021 | Performance and Cybernetic Installation, The Silence: A Hybrid Meditation Session with Mafe Izaguirre’s Sensitive Machines atThe Theater Lab. Presented as part of the Theaterlab’s Rhythms Routines Rituals series. May 22 to 31, 2021. 357 W 36th St, 3rd floor, New York, NY. (Curated by Orietta Crispino)
- Mafe-Izaguirre-TL-02.jpg
- A fragment of the Sensitive Machine.
- 2021 | Performance and Cybernetic Installation, The Silence: A Hybrid Meditation Session with Mafe Izaguirre’s Sensitive Machines atThe Theater Lab. Presented as part of the Theaterlab’s Rhythms Routines Rituals series. May 22 to 31, 2021. 357 W 36th St, 3rd floor, New York, NY. (Curated by Orietta Crispino)
