STELLA MARBLES AND AOIBHIN KILLEEN
Synopsis:
“The Mask You Live in” is an investigation into the queer futures of identity through bio art, artificial intelligence, and mask design. This installation takes the queer frontier of biohacking and transhumanism from the imagined into the tangible, exposing their potential to be catalysts for discovery and transformation. Making this artwork included: talking to robots, 3D printing, jelly faces, growing mold, mushrooms, a cemetery, liquid images, broken reflections, vacuums, and, of course, masks. Through the creative process, the living spores and creativity of the AI guided the outcome, reflecting the dual dystopian and utopian visions of a transhumanist future that we can imagine with the advancements of today. On the utopian side - it glimpses at a future where biotechnology and AI are tools that coexist with us, live within us, interchangeably connected with humanity so we morph and transform freely together. The masks take the theoretical, the fantastical, and make it personal: look upon yourself and embody the vision of queerness you can only dare imagine: that of being fluid, multitudes of other, alien, fabulously monstrous, extra-human, and together we can transform what often feels unknowable and terrifying into power, beauty, communion.
Stella Marbles is a multimedia creative, mask designer, art director, and queer performance artist. Their art intersects design, bio art, AI, 3D printing, fashion and performance - seeking to push the boundaries of drag and explore ideas of queer identity, gender expression, technology, and sexuality. Stella’s creative work has spanned nightlife, fashion, entertainment, activism, and the arts, working with institutions and brands such as Tate Britain, Democrats Abroad, MAC Cosmetics, HUNGER, Kaleidoscope Trust, Bushwig Festival, and others.
Aoibhin Killeen is a multidisciplinary Irish artist based in London. Her work often focuses on biological processes, theatrical elements of human existence and a playful juxtaposition of fantastical and factual through a layered material based experimentation.
Aoibhin’s practice stems from a fine art education in NCAD, Aoibhin then went on to work as a makeup artist and continues to use these skills within her practice. Her work is reflective of her life experience and she introduces a organic layered approach to a mixed media inquiry, ultimately leading to an image based outcome.
Additional project collaborators include Ryan Blackwell [photographer], Fabio Rovai [creative Coder], and Patrick Killeen [sound].