Accessible Descriptions for KaleidoSkeleton Ti: The Desi Cyborg (2021) by Aminder Virdee

Short Description of Kaleidoskeleton Ti: The Desi Cyborg (2021)

The audio and visualisations for this work derive from the artist’s lifelong personal collection of hospital-quantified X-rays, which have been transformed into an embodied audio-visual stim of pain and joy through a myriad of computational art techniques, from transmedial and visual node-based programming to code. This work speaks to the artist’s lifelong experience across the spectrum of pain and joy as a Brown, South Asian, disabled, neurodivergent and chronically ill woman of the diaspora, and multi-survivor, forced into impoverishment, and the notion that disabled bodies are the future - despite the prevailing intersectional ableist narratives in society, our experiences hold value and significance in shaping and influencing the future of society. Here, the visibly diverse, crip (disabled) Brown female cyborg body is a site of wider possibility, and way(s) of being that transcend preconceived ideals of able-bodiedness, aesthetics and normativity, and fuel re-making, re-worlding, and allow the re-imagining of disability futures. 

Moving-image Description

The moving-images showcase a vibrant and transformative kaleidoscopic vortex. The colours used derive from data visualisation techniques and have been modified to align with the vivid colours associated with South Asian symbolism, including golden yellow, cyan, lime green, magenta, red, white, and dark blue. The mirrored movements of kaleidoscopic patterns evoke the beauty of ancient Indian mandalas, resembling the aerial view of an unfurling flower. In contrast, penetrating the vivid colours are long white lines with "teeth"; these are the original visual representations of the artist's internal titanium body implants and prostheses, sourced from their personal X-rays.

Sound Art Description

A pitch-shifting, cerebral, cosmic soundscape with a futuristic mechanistic ambience, curated from data sonification, overlaid with a resonant chime from a singing bowl, performed by the artist.

All Rights Reserved ©️ Aminder Virdee.