Redesigning the Body
I was looking through New Scientist Archives recently to see what I could find in relation to cyborgs and this article on two performance artsists, Stelarc and Orlan, came up. Both apparently work with technology's manipulation of the body, much of it purposely grotesque. Orlan has undergone a series of cosmetic surgeries that put bumps on her temple, enlarged both lips and jaw lines, with her next project being the addition of a large, caricature nose. The French performance artist claims these changes are mean to question normailty, gender, and the perception of beauty, and her plans for the future inlcude using biotechnology to alter her appearance yet again. While Orlan's work relies heavily upon doctors, Stelarc's uses direct application of technology. His most famous pieces are those when he suspended his body in the air, from over crashing waves to a cityscape, using tiny hooks and wires inserted into strategic spots in his skin. In another experiement, Stelarc combines robotic limbs with his own. The resulting man-machine can be contolled by a computer program that uses etirical shocks to trigger his muscles, so that the audience can control his limbs.
We spoke about what it means to be a cyborg, with Klynes' defintion along with Haraway's, and it seems that while there are many variations, most defintion's imply cyborg-ism to a be a semi-recent development. Stelarc's opinion on the matter differs greatly:
"Bodies are both Zombies and Cyborgs. We have never had a mind of own and we often perform involuntarily- conditioned and extremely prompted. Ever since we evolved as hominids and developed bipedal locomotion, two limbs became manipulators and we constructed artifacts, instruments and machines. In other words we have always been coupled with technology. We have always been prothetic bodies. We fear the involuntary and we are becoming increasingly automated and extended. But we fear what we have always been and what we have already become- Zombies and Cyborgs."
In an especially disturbing (to me, at least) project Stelarc features the "Shedding of Skin", where he proposes we "hollow, harden, and dehydrate the body to make it more durable and less vulnerable ". He ends his proposition on improving the human body with the ominous line, "THE HOLLOW BODY WOULD BE A BETTER HOST FOR TECHNOLOGICAL COMPONENTS", claiming that it is "no longer meaningful to see the body as a site for the pysche or soul but rather as a structure to be monitored and modified". Stelarc most likely wouldn't see it as such, but this seems to be an extreme end of dehumanizing technology. In a way, what's most startling is Stelarc's complete dismissal of the soul. As Klyne's argued, there's the problem of 'satisfactions', we have emotions and needs that run far deeper than just the materials technology can supply. In his intense but sparsely (and the spareness could be causing this) written theories on redesigning the body, Stelarc represents humans as ideally being like the scientists in sci- films; little heart, little ethic, and a whole lotta logic to rationalize what they're doing.
We spoke about what it means to be a cyborg, with Klynes' defintion along with Haraway's, and it seems that while there are many variations, most defintion's imply cyborg-ism to a be a semi-recent development. Stelarc's opinion on the matter differs greatly:
"Bodies are both Zombies and Cyborgs. We have never had a mind of own and we often perform involuntarily- conditioned and extremely prompted. Ever since we evolved as hominids and developed bipedal locomotion, two limbs became manipulators and we constructed artifacts, instruments and machines. In other words we have always been coupled with technology. We have always been prothetic bodies. We fear the involuntary and we are becoming increasingly automated and extended. But we fear what we have always been and what we have already become- Zombies and Cyborgs."
In an especially disturbing (to me, at least) project Stelarc features the "Shedding of Skin", where he proposes we "hollow, harden, and dehydrate the body to make it more durable and less vulnerable ". He ends his proposition on improving the human body with the ominous line, "THE HOLLOW BODY WOULD BE A BETTER HOST FOR TECHNOLOGICAL COMPONENTS", claiming that it is "no longer meaningful to see the body as a site for the pysche or soul but rather as a structure to be monitored and modified". Stelarc most likely wouldn't see it as such, but this seems to be an extreme end of dehumanizing technology. In a way, what's most startling is Stelarc's complete dismissal of the soul. As Klyne's argued, there's the problem of 'satisfactions', we have emotions and needs that run far deeper than just the materials technology can supply. In his intense but sparsely (and the spareness could be causing this) written theories on redesigning the body, Stelarc represents humans as ideally being like the scientists in sci- films; little heart, little ethic, and a whole lotta logic to rationalize what they're doing.
posted by Katie at 2:59 PM
3 Comments:
Perhaps we could watch some pieces by Orlon and Sterlac during our upcoming bioart classes. Would that interest people? Or are there any particularly sqeamish folks who would prefer not see such pieces?
As I read this, I realize that even in a nonscientific realm, humans are increasingly being defined in terms of the machines they use everyday. In other words, due to our pursuit of developing new technologies to suit our needs, humans have in fact become slaves to the machine: TV, mp3, etc. It's safe to say that many of us could not imagine life without these commodities -- doesn't this speak volumes about our bodies being "hosts for technological components"?
The idea that humans are increasingly automated and extended definitely in many ways stems from the new technologies that are around us. But in a different way it would seem to me that Stelarc is also targeting the way in which we are programmed from numerous mechanisms (some machines, some from others) to conform to certain norms and beliefs. The increased technological advances simply create more avenues for us to be fed select information, but in reality this mechanization of individuals has always been in effect.
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