Week 4: Medicine + Technology + Art

Where is medical technology taking us in art today? This week we discussed how medicine, art, and technology coincide in “bio-art”. Bio-art is the field that intersects art, biology, and technology and includes “medicine, genetics, and extensions to the body, and it encourages discussion on the relationship between living and nonliving organisms” (ARTDEX). Bio-artists use medical technology such as plastic surgery or inserting chips inside themselves to communicate art differently. 

For example, artists such as ORLAN underwent 9 facial plastic surgeries trying to embody the visions of beauty created by other artists' works. The surgeries ORLAN underwent were inspired by artists like Da Vinci, Botticelli, Boucher, and Diana. As Vesna described, ORLAN “has the chin of Botticelli's Venus those of the lips shares Europa the eyes of Diana from 16th century French and the forehead of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa” (Vesna 7:45). ORLAN “documented the entire performance on film [...] she’s shown fully conscious, smiling, and reading aloud to the camera” (Leddy) for the audience to see. 

 [Figure 1] ORLAN, Omniprésence Smile of pleasure, 7th Surgery-performance

[Figure 2] Venesa, ORLAN's most prominent facial feature surgeries

Eduardo Kac is another artist who uses bio-art and in 2000 created the “Time Capsule” project intending to preserve biological material over time. Kac injected a microchip, normally used to track pets, into his leg. The injection went smoothly and he was able to register himself into a database as both the owner and animal. Kac’s project succeeded because “after implantation a small layer of connective tissue started to form around the microchip, preventing migration” (KAC).

[Figure 3] Eduardo Kac, Time Capsule, 1997

Kevin Warwick did a similar project. Warwick’s arm was injected with a variety of microprocessors and was kept under surveillance through the cybernetics department for the next 9 days. Warwick states that “the implant responded to computer signals [...] doors opened automatically, lights turned on when I entered a room, and my PC announced ‘Hello, Professor Warwick’ when I approached. [...] it could have done anything had we programmed it accordingly.”

After reviewing ORLAN, Warwick, and Kac these influenced my understanding of this week’s topic the best because they’ve played leading roles in paving the way for bio-art by challenging viewers to reconsider their perceptions of the body, technology, and existence. My overall impression of this week’s material is that I have a new perception of art because I never considered how art + tech + medicine could be connected and innovative.

Works Cited

Leddy, Siobhan. At 70, Body Modification Artist Orlan Is Still Reinventing Herself | Artsy, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-70-body-modification-artist-orlan-reinventing. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

The Art Genome Project. From Chris Burden to Orlan, How 8 Artists Took Their Work to the Extreme | Artsy, www.artsy.net/article/the-art-genome-project-8-works-of-extreme-art-from-chris-burden-to-marina-abramovic. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

Redmond, Sean, and Darrin Sean Verhagen. “How Art and Science Fuse in Bio-Art.” CNN, Cable News Network, 7 Feb. 2017, www.cnn.com/style/article/bio-art-microbes-and-machines/index.html.

“What Is Bio Art?” ARTDEX,/. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.

Kac, Eduardo. “Time Capsule.” Time Capsule - Info, www.ekac.org/timcap-info.html. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.

Vesna, Victoria. "Human Body & Medical Technologies" 

[Figure 1] “Omnipresence by Orlan at Perfection.” YouTube, 23 July 2019, youtu.be/9IM3ADSprFc.

[Figure 2]  Vesna, Victoria. "Human Body & Medical Technologies" 

[Figure 3] Kac, Eduardo. “Time Capsule.” Time Capsule - Info, www.ekac.org/timcap-info.html. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.