Sougwen Chung: Body Machine (Meridians)
United Kingdom, 2024-2025
Courtesy of the Artist and Studio SCILICET
Chinese-Canadian artist Sougwen Chung’s Body Machine (Meridians) is a series of biomimetic explorations. In this digital work, forms are sculpted in air, reflecting the artist’s vision of machines as extensions of living systems. The concept of Meridians is woven throughout as both a planetary measurement and a pathway within the body. Through this dual meaning, Chung encourages us to contemplate on how bodies in motion, machinic forms and the earth’s biomes might intertwine.
Drawing inspiration from philosopher Gilbert Simondon, who viewed machines as metaphors shaped by imagination, fabrication and illusion, Body Machine (Meridians) expands the boundaries of how we imagine machines. In doing so, Chung challenges today’s AI systems and proposes a more symbiotic relationship between human and machine.
Sougwen 愫君 Chung is a Chinese-Canadian artist and researcher, widely considered a pioneer in human-machine collaboration, exploring the mark-made-by-hand and the mark-made-by-machine as an approach to understanding the dynamics between humans and systems. Sougwen’s work MEMORY (2017) is part of the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and is the first AI model to be collected by a major art institution. Recently, Chung was recognised as a Cultural Leader at the World Economic Forum, as one of four recipients of the TIME100 Impact Award, and named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI. Chung has exhibited internationally at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, FL (2022); Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE (2020); ArtScience Museum Singapore, SG (2018); and New Museum, New York, US (2016); among others.
