A Borderless Existence
| A Borderless Existence | |
|---|---|
| Creator | Cem Altınöz |
| Year | 2020 |
| Bio | Cem Altınöz (1993, İstanbul, TR) works and plays with images and texts. In his artistic research he investigates the problematic metaphorical medical language used in the definition of autoimmune diseases; the place of ‘ownership’ in one’s relationship with the lived body, and the place of the Other in the self-definition of the individual. Deriving from his own experiences with autoimmunity, he strives to make connections between the singular and the universal; often resulting in autobiographical still and moving images that are impure and sullied, roaming in the realms of the uncanny. |
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In "a borderless existence" Altınöz investigates the theories of medical autoimmunity which consider the body’s immune system to be making a distinction between ‘self-cells’ and ‘non self-cells’, defining the latter as dangerous. Being ‘immune to oneself’ translates as a self-destructive act where the self cannot identify itself and consequently destroys its own parts: cells ravage other cells as a result of a misidentification, a symbiotic relationship turns into a blitz on tissues and organs.
Altınöz appropriates the model of autoimmunity, the exemplary situation of erasing of borders between the self and its other, into an impure, genre-less moving image.