A series of 20 negatif-bas-reliefs in wax representing differents shapes: animals, body parts, objects, abstract thing.
The formats have variable size. From min: 10x15cm till 700x320cm
Here, I use a concept-scalpel which comes from Developmental Biology: neotenia. From the Greek νέος "new" e τείνω "I tend to") neoteny means « the conservation in adults of a species of physiological and morphological characteristics of the fetal period ».
This neologism was created by zoology in order to account for a particular phenomenon, namely the persistence of the juvenile form of a species beyond its normal duration, or even throughout the life of the individual.
Into the neotenic island of our species, the juvenile times has grow up, creating a centered zone of luxury and treat. And this process has pushed far the moment in which homo sapiens become “adult”.
Seen upside down we could say when homo sapiens born, it is not finished, it is not ready to survive alone. And this dimension of unfinished pushes and allows homo sapiens to evolve, to learn, to adapt, to change habits in response to news context in which he/she lives. The concept of neoteny therefore allows us to reflect on « humankind as an unfinished project ».
Incompletion is therefore at the heart of the dynamics of life. Life seems to be in a hurry to survive, so that a new species can be born from a preserved childhood , and substituted for maturity. The child could succeed the adult instead of preceding it.
It is not science fiction but a reflection that has affected humanity since the end of the 19th century. Contemporary philosophy continues to develop it to designate humankind as the one who realizes its humanity in a situation of radical and permanent immaturity.
It is obvious that compared to other species, homo sapiens caught in the prism of neoteny, must compose its evolution with what has always been called technology.
The relationship between technicality and neoteny is interesting because it suggests that it is only for a being that is not finished that the question arises of its technical relationship to the world. This is already the paradigm we have lived in since a long time now.
There is therefore an invitation here to consider whether the structural incompleteness of humans can be compensated for by technical development. And if this compensation could be possible in our societies without institutions , dependent on the relationship between technological innovation and development of the capital.
This compensation for incompletion occurs because the technique operates for the creation of artificial spaces. But when the difference between the external-wild-space of the neotenic island and the internal-artificial-space increases too much , a new fragility of being in the world arises.
« The intrusion of a predator, a natural disaster, a virus or even an human enemy attack can prove fatal for this living being who has taken up his habits in his golden cage by indulging in the luxury of biological refinement ». Here we follow the thinking of Peter Sloterdijk, and we conclude with his words: « To cope with these critical moments of the onset of the external threat, it takes a reservoir of memories and routines to be able to rebuild its protective environment. The recovery of memories dating from the period preceding the disasters is the starting point for the birth of religions ”
Contemporary philosophy used the concept of neoteny to explain that homo sapiens is not a finish being. And technic is the only way to reach a kind of ultime state. We are probably in the middle of the biggest anthropological revolution. In the next future , if any catastrophe arrives to cut the process, the humankind will be apparently not the same anymore. What will remain of the homo sapiens we know?
