a borderless existence
video + installation, 2021
a borderless existence is the dematerialized offspring of Altınöz’s anti-portraiture practice. Emphasizing the relationship of a confused mind and a confused body, an uncanniness on a cellular level, the vid eo displays an autoimmune selfhood’s endeavor to define itself through the images it creates.
a borderless existence is the result of Altınöz’s fascination with contamination and his personal interest in the concept of autoimmunity.
In the installation Altınöz investigates the old 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.
In this understanding, 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.
This understanding of autoimmunity was challenged by many scientists in the contemporary scene, who contemplated on the fact that the lived body already consists of many different organisms that exist together to sustain life.
Altınöz appropriates the problematic self/non-self theory, and showcases the exemplary situation of erasing of borders between the self and its other through an autobiographical and poetic approach, and crafts it into an impure, genre-less moving image.
In the installation Altınöz investigates the old 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.
In this understanding, 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.
This understanding of autoimmunity was challenged by many scientists in the contemporary scene, who contemplated on the fact that the lived body already consists of many different organisms that exist together to sustain life.
Altınöz appropriates the problematic self/non-self theory, and showcases the exemplary situation of erasing of borders between the self and its other through an autobiographical and poetic approach, and crafts it into an impure, genre-less moving image.
