RED PILL - I hear the blood running

Welcome to the era of BioNet, a corporate scheme to claim, alter, reconfigure our biodata. Using bacteria as foreign ‘agents’ to enter the human body, GENOM Co. can then reprogram the erythrocytes, to transfuse the membranes of red blood cells. Red blood cells which function as carriers to deliver oxygen to the body tissues via blood flow through the circulatory system, is reconfigured into DNA retainers with possibilities to store and reprocess data/memories. The hype of microbio research has certified UKI’s science fiction imagination.

Taking from the plot of Shu Lea Cheang’s UKI, a sci-fi viral alt-reality cinema in the making, RED PILL is an oral pill made by GENOM Co. which gives instant, ultimate consumption of climactic pleasure. In an era of post-net-crash, GENOM Co. exits the Net and takes the human body hostage to initiate BioNet, a network made up of re-engineered red blood cells (erythrocytes) capable of self-generating orgasmic data. In its profitable biotech engineering scheme, GENOM Co. further harvests orgasmic data transactions to produce red pills for mass pharmaceutical markets.

UKI is a science fiction fantasia cinema that responds to current advancement in bioinformatics, bio-engineering and mobile digital media. The research of bio-science in Genomics and Synthetic biology is remapping our body construct. Body parts can be replaced by micro-organism. Microchips implanted beneath the skin for data-tracking purposes have exposed our bodies for intervention. Mobile phones with sensors embedded are our extended prostheses, tracking our geo-locations, body movements, border crossings, making us part of a meta-integrated network surveillance structure. We are part of all integrated circuits of bio-networks which own our personal bio-infodata.

This release marks the launch of 2021 pre-production for Cheang's feature length movie, UKI, conceived as a sequel to Cheang's sci-fi cyberpunk feature I.K.U. (2000, Sundance Film Festival premiere). Cheang developed the UKI concept during her residency at Hangar media lab in Barcelona in 2009 and has since presented the concept in various media formats, including a live cinema performance and an interactive game with bio-sensors. Since 2017, Cheang has engaged in developing UKI concept into a feature length film for cinema release.

Learn more about I.K.U here: https://rhizome.org/editorial/2015/may/26/iku-experience-shu-lea-cheang-phenomenon/