The human body from a biotechnological perspective in art contexts: active space of experimentation in constant transformation

Abstract

Over the last three decades, the rise of new conceptualizations around the human body in connection with technology and machines has led to the development of new art practices in parallel with technological advances in the fields of biology, medicine and computing. This paper examines the human body in art contexts where biotechnology plays a relevant role in the generation of new conceptualizations around the human body topic. Thus, re-contextualized in social and cultural spheres and technical terms, the body will become redesigned, revamped, or augmented through the use of technological advances ranging from plastic surgery to robotic prosthetics. The human body is our vehicle of direct interaction with the environment. Its modification, alteration or expansion implies a redefinition of the existing limits between our corporality and the environment itself. Not only in the physical sense, but metaphysical and social. Hence, the introduced artists and strategies blur these limits and establish new relations through the body as a physical and social entity. In the search of new boundaries far beyond socio-cultural and natural limitations, they will reach new social, perceptual and conceptual statuses, far beyond aesthetic practices, focusing on the generation of political and social debates.

Keywords

• art
• body
• plastic surgery
• activism
• prostheses
• robotics