Civilized — Youyi Echo Yan

Civilized Paradox
2023
Douglas Fir, Synthetic Fur, Electronic Parts, Single Channel Video, Sound
25” x 8” x 48” (63.5 x 20.3 x 121.9 cm)

Civilized Paradox is an interactive sculpture that explores dominance and submission within a single entity. This piece reflects on the anthropological hypothesis of Human Self-domestication, suggesting that our biological adaptations might distort our cognitive processes, a notion that adds depth to the long-standing philosophical debate about the reliability of sense perception.

The installation features a wooden sculpture with a screen mounted within, above the screen, two mechanical tails are attached to servos. These tails react to audience proximity through sensors, mimicking a tamed dog's wagging tail. The speed of the wagging increases as viewers get closer, partially obscuring the screen, symbolizing how our natural inclinations and sensory biases can cloud our understanding of the world.

The video is a digital animation made from distorted and deconstructed 3D scans of the sculpture itself.

The background narrative of the video is a long, absurd poem that abstractly recounts the process and consequences of the domestication of humans.

He's got spots on his back_________ (Soft and beautifully decorated) His face began to retract________________ (The collapsing façade)
His tail made the air happy___________(Dust on the floor diffuse) He didn't make a sound when the door was opened.
(The door was oiled so it didn't rattle He's as quiet as an oiled door.)

Flesh has human waved within A woven tide of flesh.
When he is separated
from the meat and bones.
There's nothing left but ashes.
We obey the meat We obey the meat around us
Every bone, every muscle in our body has been carved.

But it wasn't God who did the carving.
It was some other lump of bony flesh. (Maybe it's decay rather than carving.)
As your skull is squeezed so tight. (And your mind becomes finite)
You wag your tail
As your eyes are
put into three cones instead of four
(The pigeons there don't know what you mean by blue)

The spots on your back became brighter When you witness turquoise
turn glue and bleen
(It might never happen,
or it might always been) You became your own
perfect creation.

You were fed. You don't know

Those things are
as unstable as taco.

The slightest stimulus breaks it down.
Juice all the way dip down to your elbow

We believe in the feeling of silk against our bodies
in a moist summer
like we believe in oracles

Never demon There's only meat
Your tail is alive as a taco.
We saw the world that meat had painted for us.
It's a wonder we can feed ourselves

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