ISSN 1695-5951

NODE "ORGANICITIES"

Towards a new class of being - The Extended Body

Oron Catts (sym@symbiotica.uwa.edu.au)
Artistic Director of SymbioticA at the School of Anatomy & Human Biology, University of Western Australia
Ionat Zurr (sym@symbiotica.uwa.edu.au)
Artist in residence in SymbioticA at the School of Anatomy & Human Biology, University of Western Australia
Abstract

The biomass of disassociated living cells and tissues is in the thousands of tons. These fragments do not fall under current biological or cultural classifications. The notion of the Extended Body developed by the TC&A (Tissue Culture & Art) Project can be seen as a way to define this category of life and, at the same time, an attempt to destabilize some of the rooted perceptions of the classification of living beings. The Extended Body is an amalgamation of the human extended phenotype and tissue life-a unified body for disembodied living fragments, an ontological device, set to draw attention to the need for re-examining current taxonomies and hierarchical perceptions of life. The Extended Body is a tangible metaphor for the Victimless Utopian ideal; at the same time, it is paradoxically an embodiment of the sacrifice of the victim.





Keywords
art and biology, art and science, extended body, new species, partial life, semi-living, tissue culture, tissue engineering
Submission date: July 2006
Published in: November 2006



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