KIKK Festival

“Am I designable?” Now that’s the kind of question that keeps the artist, designer and researcher Agi Haines awake at night. And this constant questioning process seems to know no limits. A speculative design buff, her work seeks to push the boundaries of ethics. She lets her imagination run wild, asks herself questions – sometimes as disturbing as they may be – and imagines deliberately fictional – yet also firmly rooted in scientific evidence – scenarios of potential futures. The hypothesis of research takes on a science-fiction feel: it would be possible to synthesise new organs in theory and perform transplants on humans in order to increase their capacities or overcome cardiac deficiency. One could even perhaps add gills to newborns to allow them to breathe under water? Agi Haines elaborates a speculative approach in her field of choice: the human body. She questions the impact of biomedical technologies on the human form.
A graduate of the Royal College of Art’s Design Interactions department, the artist exhibits her work, teaches and gives lectures all over the world, whilst pursuing a PhD within an interdisciplinary research group called CogNovo.