Member Profile: Treva Wurmfeld

“I see technology as a tool that can be integrated seamlessly with the human mind,” says Fractured Atlas member Treva Wurmfeld, a filmmaker, sculptor, and performance artist who was featured at the 2006 benefit. Her work explores the relationship between biology and technology and how human beings are adapting to a world in the midst of rapid change.

“As humans become more dependent on computers, it is important to explore the possibilities of the brain unmediated by technology,” says Treva of her work. “I spend a lot of time on sail boats where people are turning to electronic equipment for navigation, rather than using the natural elements.”

“Like being on a boat at sea, however, technology tends to isolate humans,” she continues. “It would seem as we grow more dependent on technological devices that mimic our own functions we grow lazier and less in touch with our own bio-feedback.”

Treva’s most recent project is the documentary Destination Therapy, in which she follows Dr. Howard “Bud” Frazier of the Texas Heart Institute as he designs and implements the next generation of Total Artificial Hearts. “It will completely replace the human heart and take over the functions of both ventricles,” she explains. “Patients on this device would not have a pulse. Rather, they would have blood flowing continuously through their circulatory system.”

The subject of the film mirrors the themes found in Treva’s other work. “The artificial heart is the scientific pursuit of mimicking anatomical function. It represents the anthropomorphizing of technology and how it integrates into natural systems.”

Treva is influenced by other artists who explore this issue. “I draw a lot of inspiration from Mary Shelley,” she says. “Shelley supposedly wrote Frankenstein in a waking dream state between consciousness and unconsciousness. The oscillation between reality and fantasy – a blurry space between night and day – is what truly inspires me as both an author and spectator.”

For more information on Destination Therapy visit www.destinationtherapy.org.