PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES

Dave Keenan on his worldbuilding project that explores a cyberpunk future

Tell us about your personal project, HURT: In a World Full of It.

This is a visual and narrative tale that takes place in a world of two futures. One near future where we see the introduction of an addictive VR world and human enhancement, and a far future where we see the culmination of these events that leads to the transferral of human consciousness to a full android society. It addresses what it means to be human and how we confront our fears and emotions in times of conflict or great technological advancement.

What has led you to design characters that merge humans with hardware?

Mostly a love for the cyberpunk genre. Human nature and technology have an interesting contrast, there’s a lot of tension between what is acceptable and what is not. I like to push those boundaries visually.

How does transhumanism inform your art?

It is part of the base theme in a lot of my work. The question of what it is to be human in a world of ever-expanding technology is very interesting to me. The psychological ramifications of such an advanced world and how that is connected to our growth or decline as a people is such a thought-provoking concept that I find it necessary to visualise it somehow.

Dave Keenan is principal concept artist at Zenimax Online Studios alongside working on personal projects www.artstation.com/dkeeno