Uterus Man

Lu digitally reincarnates himself as a non-binary avatar, Dokusho Dokushi, or Doku for short. Without the physical constraints of time and space, Doku is able to consider the possibility of absolution from our mortal coil.

As the first narrative film, DOKU the Self, which premiered at this year’s Venice Biennale, introduces six virtual reincarnations of LuYang. Reminiscent of superheroes, gaming and anime characters, as well as deities and demons, these avatars embody different aspects of LuYang’s self. At the same time, each represents one of the six realms of samsara—the karmic wheel of life—and refers to the eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. In LuYang’s work, Samsara takes on different forms: virtual landscapes that resemble worlds of experience in video games, or a kind of gigantic reincarnation roulette that can be controlled by the player with a video game console.

Viewers are led by the young and energetic protagonist, the Material World Knight (an asexual figure) to travel through multiple identity transformations. In eight episodes they explore the universe, acquire energy, are destroyed and reborn, and experience internal battles with emotions and desires. Along the journey, accompanied by dramatic music and sound effects, the Knight makes observations, expressing views on life and death, happiness and suffering, desire, eternity and the cycle of transmigration, the passage of a soul after death into another body.

Electromagnetic brain god! Electromagnetic brain god!

Buddhism describes the near death of the human as a dissolution of the world's four elements within the body. Each element corresponds to a deity, who carries a mukut headpiece and wand, which perform two distinct methods of minimally invasive brain surgery.