Necromania

Another way of reading Hengeveld’s piece through the lens of Heidegger is in terms of Heidegger’s taxonomy of being. In Heidegger’s thought, there are three types of beings in the world:

World-less Inanimate objects – simply do not perceive the world, are not aware of existence or non-existence

World-poor Animals – strictly bound to experience the world as it already exists

World-building Humans – have the ability to create our own enduring structures, environments and meaning

According to Heidegger these divisions do not contain value judgements, but rather, each being is complete in their own world.

These classifications are interesting in relation to Hengeveld’s “Uprising” and “Independent Rider On The Lam” projects. Both projects include shopping carts which seem to roam by their own agency. As discussed earlier, the cart in “Uprising” roams the lake within the bounds of a tethered anchor. “Independent Rider On The Lam”, similarly, roams by seemingly its own volition. This piece uses an electric motor to allow the cart to move without being pushed by a human.

In terms of Heidegger’s thought, the shopping carts are ‘world-less’ beings. However, Hengeveld’s contextualization of these objects seems to challenge these boundaries. As the carts exist and act in different contexts, we are challenged to reconsider our own relationship to these objects. As ‘world-building’ creatures, do our creations have the ability to act in value systems other than our own? Furthermore, can or will humanity be able to create other world-building entities and what does this mean for us?