Would You Get High Heels Implanted Into Your Feet? This Exhibit Wants You to Consider It

The Nautilus Biological Heel
The Nautilus Biological HeelPhoto: Courtesy of A. Human/Luke Absolon

If you could change your body as easily as you change your clothes, would you? That’s the question A. Human, an experiential concept conceived by Simon Huck, is asking. Opening at 48 Mercer Street on September 5, the interactive exhibit is a showcase for body modifications—and not the ones you might expect from Huck, a longtime friend of the Kardashian clan. Which is to say, no lip fillers or contouring tutorials here. “We didn’t want to root any of our modifications on the idea of existing insecurities or discomforts,” he says. “A. Human is about the freedom to explore this world and live in this world in any way you choose.”

In this futuristic take on the world, your choices will include swapping out your wedge sandals for a conch-shell-like permanent heel or having new DNA-mirrored hearts created and implanted for you and your beloved. Creepy or cool? That’s for you to decide, but Huck’s intention is to present these options with a positive spin. “When you think of the future, you think dark, dystopian—there are all these images that come to mind. I didn’t want to create a utopian world, but I definitely wanted to create a world that was optimistic or, at the bare minimum, neutral,” he says. “We wanted to use the future of fashion and the future of self-expression as a way to look at the future. That is how the ethos of A. Human formed.”

Photo: Courtesy of A. Human/Luke Absolon

And so for the price of $40—hey, fun isn’t free—you can enter into a neon-lit lab of cinched waists and crystal ruffs that can grow right out of a human neck. Scientifically speaking, this is all light-years away, but that’s no matter for the creatives Huck has teamed with on some of the pieces, like theatrical director Michael Counts, makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench, and creative director Nicola Formichetti. “Fashion is more than the clothes you wear, it’s also the choices you make about your body and how you present yourself,” says Formichetti, who contributed an exaggerated shoulder that’s equal parts Lady Gaga and Alexander McQueen. “I like pushing the boundaries of what can be considered fashion and finding the edge of self-expression. My inspiration was a lot of imagery drawn from sci-fi and fantasy drawings of things that aren’t quite human. Aliens and robots are disquieting because they look humanoid but the details and proportions are different.” Should distended shoulders not be your vibe, you can opt for a printed tee at the exhibit’s gift shop.

The goal here isn’t just to do it for the ’gram (though obviously Huck’s fan base will surely be doing that) but also to get people talking. “Yes, sharable content is important, but there is also a desire to go to something that makes you ask questions when you go out the door,” he says. Think of it like the Museum of Ice Cream meets a museum of the unnatural, where you can take a selfie and then try on a new rib cage for size. Sounds wild, but with our relationships to our projected selves changing at lightning pace thanks to social media, maybe a new shoulder or heel isn’t that far off after all.

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