For Tim, “all bodies are the wrong body”.

As Mark O'Connell explains in To be a machine, Tim Cannon is a person whose alcohol problems led to nullifying his physical existence by becoming a biohacker and founding Grindhouse Wetware, a startup dedicated to creating and implanting DIY body modifications. O'Connell recounts that after doing military service, Tim started drinking heavily and had no control over himself. After being able to recover from his alcoholism he became interested in the biohacker movement, being inspired by a woman online with the pseudonym Lepht Anonym who had put implants on herself at home, with no medical assistance. O'Connell notes that “not being an addict anymore was the start of a journey that would end (...) in [Tim] not being a human anymore”.

In a larger sense, the piece was inspired by Trans-humanist ideas and even though I wouldn't have the courage to create and install body implants by myself, the thought of reaching “morphological freedom”, or “the liberty to take any bodily form technology permits” was resonating with my whole biological body. These ideas are connected to my own desire to feel empowered through technology and gain agency over my own existence. While working on this piece, I was certain that only by forgoing my physical body, could I exist in plenitude.

This piece was premiered by Dimitris Pliatsikas during KOnStruCt.22 in partnership with Slagwerk Den Haag at Korzo Theater, The Hague.