POSTHUMAN TENDENCIES IN PERFORMANCE ART

PERFORMANCE ART AS

TECHNO-CULTURAL AVANT-GARDE

POSTHUMANISM IS A MOVEMENT ON THE BORDER BETWEEN SERIOUS SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE AND FICTION: BASED ON THE MATHEMATICAL THEORY OF COMMUNICATION, AS WELL AS THE LEGACY OF CYBERPUNK DYSTOPIA, IT OFFERS A VISION OF A TRANSITION FROM HUMAN TO THE SO CALLED POSTHUMAN. THE POSTHUMAN IS SEEN AS AN OFFSPRING OF TECHNOCULTURE, THE SYNTHESIS OF LIVING AND ARTIFICIAL, A LOOSELY EVOLVING ENTITY WITHOUT FIXED ONTOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES. THE EXISTENCE OF THE POSTHUMAN LIES BEYOND DUALISTIC CATEGORIZATION, HAS A PROCESSUAL CHARACTER AND REFUSES ANY ESSENTIALIST APPROACH.

CORPOREALITY – IDENTITY – TECHNOLOGY - INFORMATION

IT IS AN ATTRACTIVE SUBJECT OF SCIENCE-FICTION STORIES AND A SEXY POSTMODERN SLOGAN, BUT ALSO A SYMBOL OF A TRANSGRESSION OF ACTUAL

PREDESTINATING CATEGORIES SUCH AS RACE, GENDER OR SOCIAL STATUS. MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, POSTHUMAN IS PRIMARILY A METAPHOR, ADOPTED BY A

VARIETY OF NARRATIVES FOCUSED ON THE POTENTIAL ASPECTS OF TECHNOLOGICALLY EXTENDED LIFE: FROM SERIOUS SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS, THROUGH

SCIENCE-FICTION, UP TO ITS NUMEROUS APPROPRIATIONS BY THE ART WORLD. FROM THIS PERSPECTIVE, POSTHUMANISM CAN BE APPROACHED AS A LIMINAL

TRANSDISCIPLINARY FIELD, LOCATED ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ART.

BODY

CODE

MIND

HUMACHINE AN INTIMATE MIXING OF HUMAN AND

MACHINE…OUTSIDE THE SUBJECT/OBJECT BINARY

1940th

1960th

1970th

1980th

1990th

2000

2010

1950th

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

SHANNONS DISEMBODIED INFORMATION

BODY AS INFORMATION CIRQUIT

CYBERNETICS

INFORMATION SCIENCE MACY CONFERENCIES

TURING TEST

INFORMATION REVOLUTION

AI

CELLULAR AUTOMATON

CYBORG

HUMAN GENOME PROJECT

BIOPUNK BIOTECH REVOLUTION

DIGITAL REVOLUTION

CYBERPUNK

BIOHACKING

HACKERPSPACES

HACKERS

SCI-FI

TRANSGENICS

DTC GENOMICS QUANTIFIED SELF

SYSTEM THEORY

VR

PC COMPUTER - MAN OF THE YEAR 1982

NBIC

INFORMATION SOCIETY

SMARTPHONES

WWW

CYBERCULTURE

SOCIAL NETWORKING

NANOTECHNOLOGY

DNA COMPUTING

DIGITAL SUPERHIGHWAY

WEB 2.0

DIYBIO

WEARABLES

GENE THERAPY

IN VITRO FERTILIZATION ADVANCED PROSTHETICS

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

ARDUINO

OPEN SOURCE

1940th

1950th

1960th

1970th

1980th

1990th

2000

2010

POSTMODERNISM

SECOND WAVE FEMINISM

LGBTI

PEACE MOVEMENT

CRITICAL RACE THEORY

CYBERFEMINISM

HIPPIES

ANIMAL STUDIES

GREEN MOVEMENT

CYBORG MANIFESTO

RHIZOMATIC PHILOSPHY ANT

DECONSTRUCTION

CRITICAL THEORY

ENDANGERED EARTH – PLANET OF THE YEAR 1988

POST-STRUCTURALISM

ANTI-RACISM

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

SEXUAL REVOLUTION POST-INDUSTRIALISM

QUEER THEORY

LESBIAN AND GAY STUDIES ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

TECHNOBIOPOWER

PARTICIPATORY CULTURE

AUTOPOIETIC SYSTEMS

CITIZEN SCIENCE

TRANSHUMANISM

MASS COLABORATION

SHARING OPENESS

PEER PRODUCTION

PROSUMER DELEUZIAN BECOMING

DIWO

POSTHUMAN IS AN ATTRACTIVE SUBJECT OF SCIENCE-FICTION STORIES AND A SEXY POSTMODERN SLOGAN, BUT ALSO A SYMBOL OF A TRANSGRESSION OF ACTUAL PREDESTINATING CATEGORIES SUCH AS RACE, GENDER OR SOCIAL STATUS...

PERFORMATIVE SELF-CREATION, OPENESS,

FLUID IDENTITIES, PLURALITY, UNCERTAINTY, VAGUENESS, HYBRIDITY, MONSTROZITY

…HOWEVER, POSTHUMAN IS PRIMARILY A CRITICAL METAPHOR ADOPTED BY A VARIETY OF NARRATIVES FOCUSED ON THE POTENTIAL ASPECTS OF TECHNOLOGICALLY EXTENDED LIFE…

…POSTHUMANISM CAN BE APPROACHED AS A LIMINAL TRANSDISCIPLINARY FIELD, LOCATED ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ART…

…POSTHUMANISM DEALS WITH TOPICS OF IDENTITY, TECHNOLOGY, POWER & CONTROL..

ENVIRONMENTALISM

PERFORMANCE ART AS TECHNO-CULTURAL AVANT-GARDE

ENVIRONMENTALISM

POSTHUMANISM & PERFORMANCE ART

CORPOREALITY

SOCIAL CONTEXT

BODY AS A CENTRAL TOOL

LOOSE BOUNDARIES

HERE & NOW

INTERACTIVITY

VAGUENESS

TRANSDISCIPLINARITY

TECHNOLOGY AND PERFORMATIVE ASPECTS OF FEMALE BODY

PERFORMING A FEMINIST PRAXIS

Orlan, La réincarnation de Sainte-Orlan (1990–1993)

VNS Matrix, All New Gen (1994)

Avatar Body Collision, Screen Save Her (2002)

Anita Ponton, Unspool (2003)

SubRosa, SmartMom (1997) U-Gen-A-Chix: Why are Women like Chicken? (2008)

QUEER-TECH PERFORMANCE

GENDERFUCKING IN (CYBER)SPACE

Micha Cárdenas, Becoming Dragon (2008)

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Breaking Sex (1999–2007)

Suka Off, tranSfera 1.2 (2011)

Darina Alster, Bianca Braselli (2009)

ETHNO-TECHNO PERFORMANCE

Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Mexterminator (1997-1999)

ETHNOCYBORGS

La Pocha Nostra, Corpo/Ilicito the posthuman society 6.9 (2009)

PERFORMANCE OF COMPANION SPECIES

NATURE-CULTURE INTERFACE

Art Orienté Objet, May the horse live in me (2011)

Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau, Interactive Plant Growing (1992–97)

Eduardo Kac, Genesis (1999)

Critical Art Ensemble, Cult of the New Eve (2000)

MANIPULATED BODIES

PERFORMING THE TECHNO(BIO)POWER

Institute of Artificial Art, Arthur and the Solenoids (1997)

The Centre for Metahuman Exploration (CME), Absentee Ballot (1996).

CME, Project Paradise (1998)

Stelarc, Ping Body (1996)

Marcel-lí Antúnez Roca, Epizoo (1994)

Wafaa Bilal, Domestic Tension (2007)

Wafaa Bilal, 3rdi(2010–2011)

BODIES UNDER SURVEILLANCE

Stelarc Stomach Sculpture (1993)

Paul Vanouse, Items 1-2,000: A Corpus of Knowledge on the Rationalized Subject (1996)

Máša Dudziaková, QRbodies (2012)

Paul Vanouse & Kerry Sheehan, Suspect Inversion Center (2011)

SUPERBODIES?

Neil Harbisson, Eyeborg (2004)

Stelarc, Ear on Arm (1996 - 2012)

Stahl Stenslie Sensless (1996)

SNEAKY ®EVOLUTION..?