Body Talk

Alfred North Whitehead is quoted as saying "No one ever says, here I am, and I have brought my body with me." What it means to have a body, our often fractious relationship with it, and how its definitions have played out in relations of power are all topics of increasing importance in the art world. As science and technology expand the limits of the body, artistic practice is exploring new ways of its representation.

In collaboration the 10th annual Subtle Technologies Festival, Year Zero One presents three events operating within the festival’s theme, [in situ] art | body | medicine, all of which foreground the liminal space between biology and culture.

The first is not for the squeamish. Starting today, artists, scientists, or none of the above can participate in a three day workshop in tissue engineering and its potential applications in art. Staffed by members of the University of Toronto and SymbioticA, "The Art and Science Collaborative Research Laboratory," one can explore the "basic principles of animal tissue culture and tissue engineering, as well as [an introduction] to its history and the different artistic projects working with TC and TE."

The second event, co-presented with Interaccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, continues to examine the relations between bodies, power, and technology. Whose Body is it Anyway? promises to explore the "emerging discourses within the growing field of new media art where culture intersects with science and medicine to challenge and critique the technological evolution of humanity." The exhibit runs from May 25 to June 16.

Interested in some or all of the above? You can also participate in an online forum here.

Image by Trevor Haldenby from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.