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The notion of semi-livings Does it relates to the concept of biomedia?

Dissertation : The notion of semi-livings Does it relates to the concept of biomedia?. Recherche parmi 297 000+ dissertations

Par   •  5 Octobre 2018  •  Dissertation  •  1 337 Mots (6 Pages)  •  694 Vues

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David Chabot

7544588
CART 255
Christopher Salter

2015-04-20

The notion of semi-livings

Does it relates to the concept of biomedia?

Both artists and scientists are always seeking for new methods and techniques to innovate in their field. Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr are great examples of innovators in their fields. Catts and Zurr, both artists and biological researchers are experts who decided to merge their different passions all together to reveal and establish a new innovating field within the arts. They in fact, explain in their article Growing Semi-Living Sculptures: The Tissue Culture & Art Project that they merge art with tissue engineering and technology in order to create a new class of objects/beings they refer to as “semi-livings”. The essence of their project is indeed similar to the multidisciplinary concept that is “biomedia” explained by Eugene Thacker in his text What is Biomedia?  The project founded by Catts and Zurr strives to expose the huge distance between the cultural perceptions of life that our society holds and the fast paced implementation of the scientific knowledge. The art palette resulting from the notion of semi-living closely relates to Thacker’s concept of biomedia as to complete their purposes both fields use bodies as their media with biological and technological assisance. To better understand the thesis above, the art of growing semi-livings will be explained, as well as the importance of engineering into its creation. Lastly, an explanation will be provided to demonstrate that Catts and Zurr’s semi-livings relates to Thacker’s concept of Biomedia thanks to their use of Tissue Engineering.

When Catts and Zurr, the two innovators behind the “Tissue Culture & Art Project” (TC&A) coined the word “semi-livings” what exactly do they mean by that term? They wish to deliver pieces of art that are completely different of what the public is accustomed to see. In fact, they explore “the dichotomy of nature/culture by using cells (nature) over constructed materials (culture) to create a version of a “constructed nature””(Catts, Zurr 2001 p.2). What they mean by that is that they create new contradictory entities situated right between the borders of the born & the manufactured, the constructed & the grown, the object & the subject and ultimately the living & the non-living. This class of object/being had to be categorized and the word “semi-living” seemed to be the perfect fit. In their artistic manipulations of both organic and non-organic materials they are “exposing gaps between our cultural perceptions of life and scientific knowledge and its implementation”(5). They use super advanced technologies and tools that most average people do not even know exist and they direct the growth of cells communities outside their organisms on non-living materials to create sculptures on scaffoldings. The public is often grossed out or shocked by the sight of these sculptures. People in general are scared of what they don’t understand, because it is in the human nature to reject what one cannot categorize as soon as it threaten one’s “cultural beliefs”(2). When they create a semi-living art piece, ultimately they create a genderless kind of life that is multiracial and that can be seen as species-less or a multi-species form of life that is inanimate. Simply put, semi-livings are the results of a very contradictory style of art that use a biological body as its medium.

It is not to say that engineering takes a huge place in the art of growing semi-livings. More precisely, in the medical field it is the tissue engineers that “deals with constructing artificial support systems” with the help of bio-materials “to direct and control the growth of tissues”(1). These controlled tissue growths are made “in order to replace or support” damaged or malfunctioning organs or body parts (1). Simply put, they are creating new, super healthy tissues, organs and body parts by isolating specific cells and cultivating them outside of a living organism with technological tools that assist their growth. The Tissue Engineering field is a “multi-disciplinary field that involves biologists, chemists, engineers, medical practitioners and now, artists”(1). In general, this kind of engineering is solely for medical purposes, but the Tissue Culture & Art Project “has been applying Tissue Engineering principles to artistic expression”(2). They decided to exploit the results of Tissue Engineering and make an art form out of it. In fact, the TC&A Project completely relies on Tissue Engineering, as it is the pillar of this new palette of art. From the beginning to the end of the process, the people involved in TC&A Project use Tissue Engineering. They extract & cultivate cells with technological tools, sow them on non-living materials on scaffoldings and control, alter and guide the growth of the 3D formation of tissues placed in bioreactors. It is the core of their project.

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