NANOTOPIA / Michael Burton

Utopia for who?

Nanotechnology promises a utopian vision as a result of our future capability of manipulating the world around us on a nanoscale. As presented by Professor Richard Jones, author of Soft Machines: nanotechnology and life, the true potential of this new technology is when it is fused with organic living systems, like viruses, cellular automata and self-replication.

If our production methods shift to simulate organic self-replication what will happen to the global socio-economic balance? How will the gap between rich and poor be affected? How will people dependent on income from manual production survive?

With these questions as a premise, nanotopia presents a future vision for people at the extremities of the social classes. The project references how people currently use their bodies as a last resort, to sell their hair, blood and kidneys. Nanotopia then envisions a future where the poorest utilise new possibilities of fusing nanotechnology and the body as real-estate. In reaction to this use of the body, the film also visualises the changes in bodily aesthetics within the upper classes.

Source: http://www.michael-burton.co.uk/index2.htm