From today's Wall Street Journal:
Arakawa and Madeline Gins's quest to make human beings immortal is at risk of dying.
That's because the couple lost their life savings with Bernard Madoff, the mastermind of a multibillion-dollar fraud.
Of all the dreams that were crushed by Mr. Madoff's crime, perhaps none was more unusual than this duo's of achieving everlasting life through architecture. Mr. Arakawa (he uses only his last name) and Ms. Gins design structures they say can enable inhabitants to "counteract the usual human destiny of having to die."
The income from their investments with Mr. Madoff helped fund their research and experimental work. Now, Mr. Arakawa, 72 years old, and Ms. Gins, 67, are strapped for cash. They closed their Manhattan office and laid off five employees.
The pair's work, based loosely on a movement known as "transhumanism," is premised on the idea that people degenerate and die in part because they live in spaces that are too comfortable. The artists' solution: construct abodes that leave people disoriented, challenged and feeling anything but comfortable.
Hmm...disoriented, challenged and feeling anything but comfortable? Sounds like my first studio apartment.
And be sure to check out the reader comments to this article on WSJ.com...like this one:
You would think someone aiming for immortality would have learned to take better care of their cash. Immortals need a sound, conservative investment strategy. Let's face it: we don't want the world filled with destitute 200 year-olds living in the streets.
