Hammer Museum: This is the End (Even Pricks)

The Hammer Museum plays host to Ed Atkins' "Even Pricks" exhibit, consisting of an eight-minute loop of the same video. It centers around a promiscuous thumb that is thrusted into many different orifices, including the ear, the eye, the belly button, and the nose. In each of the scenes the thumb in slow motion is somewhat manipulated before penetrating the body either being inflated or dipped in paint. This is similar to how medtech can change the way we manipulate body parts. Was the hand in the video even a real hand? Or was it a prosthetic? Or was it just CGI? Whatever the case, it is proof that artists are using the human body as a canvas to translate their message to the audience.

The entire video is narrated by a chimpanzee who addresses the audience directly. This exhibit really speaks to the neuroscience behind communication and language, and how humans and primates differ. Physically we both share opposable thumbs, a highlight in the video. A major difference is that humans have a much more developed left hemisphere, which is largely responsible for our adeptness for communication. The artists used CGI technology to mimic human speech in monkeys, another example of how technology goes hand and hand with art.

This was a great exhibit to end on, as this exhibit's title symbolizes more than what the artists were trying to get across. The posting of this blog marks the end of my college career here at UCLA.