We Cannot be a Maxwell’s Demon

EUNHA CHANG

Single-channel digital video, colour, sound, 4 min 53 sec, 2021

‘We Cannot be a Maxwell’s Demon’ (2021) draws an analogy between musical scores and memory, creatively excerpted from the Sci-fi novel The Preserving Machine (1969) by Philip K. Dick. My work invites viewers to a journey from embryological to biological metamorphosis. It begins with the story of Doctor Labyrinth attempting to preserve the memory, saying that to make memory static is to ensure their survival. Yet, such a sheer attempt ignominiously fails, which conclusively proves that his thought is false; in so doing, he erases any meaning, any value in it. This narrative discloses the nature of memory that cannot be preserved as it was in a static form while ultimately questioning how memory can stay alive from a non-human perspective.


High resolution full video available on request