Once again this week I was surprised to see the subject area
we were covering. I again found myself wondering how this new subject, Biotech,
can be related back to art. Joe Davis, the pioneer of biotech even said, “The
most absurd things are connected in very absurd ways. I like to take the least
connected things and try to build connections between them.” Through the
lectures this week I began to see these connections between the two subjects
and how prevalent Bio Art really is in our society. From Joe Davis’s crazy experiments
with info-genes and channeling lightning to more current artists working in
labs such as Symbiotica, the Bio-Art culture is years in the making. Joe
Davis’s famous lightening experiment is pictured below.
This structure channeled lightening into pulse laser of energy
that then caused the structure to change color creating a beautiful display of
art and biotechnology.
The Bio Artist I was most interested in was Orlan. She is an
internationally renowned French artist that creates scandalous works of art that
interrogate human ideals such as gender, ethnicity, religion, etc. I researched
her further and found that her most famous work is that of which she did to her
body. She went through over 9 plastic surgery procedures combining
biotechnology and art in ways unlike anyone before her. She says she “always
tried in my work, to break barriers between sexes and genders, generations and
artistic practices”. Her most famous surgery is when she had two lumps put in
her forehead to resemble the Mona Lisa. My favorite work of hers is her digital
photographs, which she calls self-hybridization where she merges her face with
images of pre-Columbian, Africa, or native American masks. In the picture below
her face is merged with a Native American mask and a pre-columbian mask and a link to an interview with Orlan. Also pictured below is a clip
from an interview with Orlan. Overall Orlan and Joe Davis are both pioneers in
the Bio-Art culture and have influences society greatly.
CITATIONS
Gilster, Paul. ""RuBisCo Stars" and the
Riddle of Life." Centauri Dreams RSS. Centauri Dreams, 18 Nov.
2009. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
"French Artist Orlan: 'Narcissism Is Important'" YouTube.
YouTube, 14 July 2009. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
"BLOG." WandaEwingcom. N.p., n.d. Web. 07
Nov. 2013.
"Photo |
ORLAN OFFICIAL WEBSITE / SITE OFFICIEL D'ORLAN." ORLAN OFFICIAL WEBSITE
SITE OFFICIEL DORLAN RSS. NetAgence, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
Rosenberg, Barbara. "Orlan: Is It Art?" Stanford.edu.
N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
"Picssr: SalomeIkeJulien's Flickr Photos." Picssr: SalomeIkeJulien's Flickr Photos. PICSSR, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
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