Week 6: Biotech + Art

Everyone has their idea of the perfectly sculpted, beautiful, flawless human individual. Whether it be male or female, the stereotype of what it is to be hot, beautiful, and perfect in the looks department is constantly striven to be achieved amongst many individuals. With the advancements in medial technology, people can now redesign their faces and body type to fit into what they feel will make the most pleasing individual. Those with the financial resources can get a new nose, new breasts, a slimmer figure, and even design new faces to replicated that of a famous celebrity. Though it has been proven over time that it is physically safe to undergo plastic surgery, I cannot help but questions how the moral, societal, and ethical standards of optional plastic surgery (non-detrimental) has influenced art and our perception of beauty.

Plastic surgery really delves into Joe Davis's idea that the human body is a whole new pallet for artists (Vesna Part I). Intertwining this idea with Orlan and her goals to understand beauty (Vesna Part IV), we see the very perplex and controversial idea of cosmetic surgery arise, especially among women. Though I do not feel that Orlan and her work in any way promote the use of plastic surgery to create the perfect human being, her work does delve deep into the “status of the body in our society and its future…in terms of the new technologies” (Davis pg. 458).

Today, I feel as if the natural body has become sort of an obsolete vehicle due to technology allowing us to manipulate and change our bodies in accordance with social pressures and the journey of figuring out “who we are” (Davis 458). I feel that it is important to recognize Orlan’s work not as something that promotes the good of plastic surgery, but as something that sheds light on the innate struggle humans have with the conventions carried out by it, and the idea that we can use technology like this for good or evil (Jeffries).

It is artwork like that this "raise a wide range of technological, logistical, and, crucially, ethical issues" (Solon). Is it okay to alter our physical appearance to better fit social stereotypes of what a beautiful person is? Is it okay for pop culture to drive the idea into our minds that all women need to have large breasts and be skinny and that men need to be tall and muscular? I think these questions go hand in hand with Davis's statement that all our dreams are going to come true due to technological innovations, so it is very important that we have the right ones (Vesna Part I) or we may risk corruption and a society that cares about nothing more than outward aesthetics.

References

Davis, Kathy. “My Body is My Art: Cosmetic Surgery as Feminist Utopia?” Web. 9 Dec 2013.

Hess, Bart and Lucy McRae. Plastic Surgery. Today in Art. 2013. Web. 9 Dec 2013.

Jeffries, Stuart. Orlan’s Art of Sex and Surgery. The Guardian. 1 July 2009. Web. 9 Dec 2013.

Ruper, Stegani. How Perfect is the Perfect Body? Next Level Performance. 2013. Web. 9 Dec 2013.  

Solon, Olivia. Bioart: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Using Living Tissue as a Medium. Wired.co.uk. 28 July 2011. Web. 9 Dec 2013.

TheMRuiter. Metamorphosis. 8 April 2012. YouTube. Online video clip. 9 Dec 2013.

Vesna, Victoria. Part I. 2013. Online Video Clip. YouTube. 9 Dec 2013.

Vesna, Victoria. Part IV. 2013. Online Video Clip. YouTube. 9 Dec 2013.