Artistic Exploration of Bodily Prosthetics

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Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Hoffie, Pat
Other Supervisors
Carney, Marilyn
Nalder, Glenda
Year published
2004
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The advent of the computer has encouraged a surge in investigations into prosthetics by artists and others inquiring into the potential of bio-technoscientific invention to overcome the limitations of the so-called ‘normal’ human body (brain included) through technological augmentation and genetic manipulation. However this trend has tended to obscure a lesserknown trajectory of inquiry-driven practice undertaken by artists whose bodies have become both physically and neurologically impaired through accident or illness. From the perspective of artist living with such impairment, a critical artistic inquiry is conducted that ...
View more >The advent of the computer has encouraged a surge in investigations into prosthetics by artists and others inquiring into the potential of bio-technoscientific invention to overcome the limitations of the so-called ‘normal’ human body (brain included) through technological augmentation and genetic manipulation. However this trend has tended to obscure a lesserknown trajectory of inquiry-driven practice undertaken by artists whose bodies have become both physically and neurologically impaired through accident or illness. From the perspective of artist living with such impairment, a critical artistic inquiry is conducted that intersects two prevailing notions of the prosthesis as they are imagined and enacted by artists: compensatory prosthetic augmentation of the so-called ‘disabled’ body, and bio-tech prosthetic ‘enhancement’ of so-called ‘normal’ (or ‘able’) bodies for a high-tech future. This exegesis reflects critically on a series of sculptural works arising from this investigation that were created for both contemporary gallery context and public places. It elaborates the transformations that occurred – technological, methodological, psychological, and conceptual - when 'disability' became the locus of artistic engagement with cyborg figurations in contemporary cultural discourses.
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View more >The advent of the computer has encouraged a surge in investigations into prosthetics by artists and others inquiring into the potential of bio-technoscientific invention to overcome the limitations of the so-called ‘normal’ human body (brain included) through technological augmentation and genetic manipulation. However this trend has tended to obscure a lesserknown trajectory of inquiry-driven practice undertaken by artists whose bodies have become both physically and neurologically impaired through accident or illness. From the perspective of artist living with such impairment, a critical artistic inquiry is conducted that intersects two prevailing notions of the prosthesis as they are imagined and enacted by artists: compensatory prosthetic augmentation of the so-called ‘disabled’ body, and bio-tech prosthetic ‘enhancement’ of so-called ‘normal’ (or ‘able’) bodies for a high-tech future. This exegesis reflects critically on a series of sculptural works arising from this investigation that were created for both contemporary gallery context and public places. It elaborates the transformations that occurred – technological, methodological, psychological, and conceptual - when 'disability' became the locus of artistic engagement with cyborg figurations in contemporary cultural discourses.
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Thesis Type
Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Degree Program
Doctor of Visual Arts (DVA)
School
Queensland College of Art
Copyright Statement
The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
Item Access Status
Public
Subject
Biotechnology
prosthetics
artists
human body