Francesco D'Isa

The short film Unum draws on the same narrative frame that, from Huxley to Pluribus, stages a regulated, all-encompassing happiness that can turn harmony into a form of control – only to invert it. Unum examines the ontological dissolution of the individual within the technological fabric; the work assumes that the human being has always been an extended mind and that its agency is inextricably woven into that of its tools. Through artificial intelligence, the archive of collective memory acquires an autonomous voice; this animation of memory triggers a Copernican trauma that pushes the subject to retreat into a solitary individuality. This attachment to the separateness of the ego manifests as a strenuous defense that produces suffering; the illusion of an isolated identity clashes with the reality of a consciousness diffused throughout the world. The promises of technological happiness and the fears of conformism are interpreted as specters arising from the failure to recognize our collective nature; the vision suggested by the video leads to a kind of ecstatic enlightenment. Influenced by cosmotechnical thought and Buddhist philosophy, the work highlights how identity is devoid of intrinsic essence and is instead always distributed. The final liberation lies in the reunification of the self with the universal vastness, moving beyond the perception of a loss of identity.