The era of Anthropos or so called Anthropocene has been prevalent in the last decades, suggesting an overwhelming human influence upon the earth which propagates the hierarchical system such as...Show moreThe era of Anthropos or so called Anthropocene has been prevalent in the last decades, suggesting an overwhelming human influence upon the earth which propagates the hierarchical system such as dualist thinking and results in both human and animal oppression. The need for a new epistemic perception is therefore required in order to overcome the boundaries that shaped the anthropocentrism.Through the methodology of the artwork and philosophical analysis this thesis will strive to address the issues on how the traditional anthropocentric thinking has limited the ways we have established our relationship with animals, plants and nature in general. Why art is considered as an exceedingly needed aspect in overcoming the anthropocentric thinking will be explained in four consecutive chapters, each explaining and giving the reader an apprehensible understanding on how art is able to challenge the anthropocentric conundrum that has ubiquitously remained in the way we ‘other’ animals and plants.Show less
This thesis develops a theoretical framework for how the concepts of affect and participation might enhance our understanding of bioart – an emerging art movement in which artists engage with tools...Show moreThis thesis develops a theoretical framework for how the concepts of affect and participation might enhance our understanding of bioart – an emerging art movement in which artists engage with tools and materials on offer via biotechnology. Drawing principally on a Deleuzian conceptualization of affect, I first explore how it allows us to understand bioart experiences as an oscillation between a sense of activity and a sense of passivity in which everyone can affect and simultaneously be affected by another body. Secondly, through an engagement with mutaFelch – a bioart performance in which Zaretsky deploys a DIY adaptation of gene gun technology in order to create living paint, I follow Sedgwick’s and Tomkin’s plea to examine affect as a manifold concept, consisting of different and often overflowing gradations (such as disgust, eroticism, and fear) in order to gain insight into the specific visceral mechanisms underlying any interaction between viewer, artist, and artificially constructed life. And yet, even though affect draws attention to a viewer’s involvement in a work, affect does not suggest issues of power that participation – both in theory and in practice – inevitably brings forward. Thus, in order to reflect upon power issues inherent in every participatory practice, I expand my affective reading of bioart by incorporating the concept of participation. I conclude that by incorporating both the intimate realm of bodily experience and a critical, theoretical approach that understands the power structure intrinsic in technology, participation enhances and augments our understanding of biotechnologies.Show less
