A fair amount of science but not much fiction with new technologies
As space travel becomes just a matter of affordability, science-fiction films of the 1950s, 60s and 70s are eerily less fantastic today. The Hellenic American Union in Athens is hosting a two-day event on April 25-26 titled «From Science Fiction to Reality,» with performance artist Stelarc and cyberpunk literature pioneer Bruce Sterling to address issues such as «The Body and the Machine» and «Redesigning the Body,» among others. Art historian Anna Hadziyiannaki, curator of the event, notes that with the change of focus in technological research came a shift in literature and cinema that crossed the Atlantic from Europe to the USA, and which expressed the changes brought to the world by the digital age and biotechnological revolution. The headline guests at the HAU event will discuss some of the issues that arise from these global changes. Stelarc, an artist and futurist who has been stretching the limits of the human body since the 1960s by analyzing the applications of digital technology, robotics and genetics, argues that as technology evolves, the human body becomes obsolete. Sterling, author of the seminal anthology «Mirrorshades» and one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is one of the chief ideological promulgators of cyberpunk and a vocal opponent of Internet censorship. HAU, 22 Massalias, Kolonaki. For information and reservations, tel 210.368.0047. Admission to all events is free of charge.
