/Ann Barrett
@annbarrett430Ann Barrett
Descartes’ Mechanical Daughter
clay and oil paint
10″ x 7″ x 5″
2024
In 1650, an octopus lives under a robotic fragment of René Descartes’ deceased daughter. The myth goes that Descartes so missed his daughter that he built a mechanical likeness. On a voyage, fearing witchcraft, sailors threw it into the water. In 2021, the United Kingdom declared the Octopus sentient: that through their complex nervous systems, they feel “pain, pleasure, joy, and excitement.” René Descartes was central in creating our still-held Mechanistic World View, that life is no more than a network of dead parts, operating without sentience. If something is perceived as dead, there is no prohibition against destroying it.
@annbarrett430