eprintid: 10190162 rev_number: 17 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/19/01/62 datestamp: 2024-05-03 11:13:43 lastmod: 2024-05-03 11:13:43 status_changed: 2024-05-03 11:13:43 type: thesis metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Shergill, Ramandeep title: Visions of a Critical Posthuman Practice: Embodying Exoskeletal Living Systems (ELS) ispublished: unpub divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: C04 divisions: F36 note: Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. abstract: In the twenty-first century, the consequences of anthropogenic activity and the resulting changes in climate and reduction in biodiversity are having a substantial impact on the human body, threatening human survival. The unknown scope of environmental and ecological conditions may lead to a global existential threat. This research reimagines and redefines the body and its relationality to an increasingly environmentally fragile planet, through the proposition of Exoskeletal Living Systems (ELS). A modular set of biologically integrated interfaces between the body and its surroundings as a protective encasement system is suggested — achieving new aesthetics in a mode of critical posthuman practice. Bioregenerative Life Support Systems are interpreted through photographic explorations, supported by design and biochemical engineering. The perception of the body as a singular cultural agent is challenged through characterising sympoietic (making-with) alliances. Exoskeletal Living Systems are suggested as a response, through speculative design, to climatic existential risk conditions on Earth and for supporting life beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO). date: 2024-03-28 date_type: published full_text_type: other thesis_class: doctoral_embargoed thesis_award: Ph.D language: eng verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2265031 lyricists_name: Shergill, Ramandeep lyricists_id: RSHER08 actors_name: Shergill, Ramandeep actors_id: RSHER08 actors_role: owner full_text_status: restricted pagerange: 1-266 pages: 266 institution: UCL (University College London) department: Bartlett School of Architecture thesis_type: Doctoral editors_name: Cruz, Marcos citation: Shergill, Ramandeep; (2024) Visions of a Critical Posthuman Practice: Embodying Exoskeletal Living Systems (ELS). Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London). document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10190162/3/Shergill_10190162_thesis.pdf