Week 4: Medtech + Art

This week, I was introduced to new connections between medicine, technology, and art. From the Renaissance era of human dissections to the modern world-famous Body Worlds exhibition, artists have slowly moved from using paper to using the human body as the canvas for one’s work. The improvement of technology over the course of the last century has led many artists to use their own bodies as their canvas. Notably, Orlan held exhibitions where viewers would watch her receive plastic surgery to emulate many famous artworks throughout history. This idea that artists would go so far as to manipulate their own bodies to blur the lines between art and medicine is shocking.

Orlan in one of her performances.

Orlan's and Katz's operations on themselves reminded me of a man named Josiah Zayner, who is taking the supposedly multimillion dollar experiments involving gene therapy and performing them on himself to show that they can be cheap and accessible to everyone. He live-streams this gene-editing, or as he calls it: biohacking, process on his blog “Science, Art, Beauty.” His work is fascinating because not only is what he is doing a statement against big medicine corporations, but its also an attempt to help the general public with people who suffer from gene-related diseases. In this way, one could compare his motivation to that of Diane Gromala, who also seeks to help those with diseases that cause chronic pain. Below is a video of Zayner giving a presentation and delivering to himself gene therapy to ideally improve muscle gain.

Another thing these body-modifying artists reminded me of a body modification trend pioneered in Canada, but dominant in Japan a few years ago called bagel head. It involves a saline injection to the forehead to create a temporary bagel-shaped swelling. This body modification art scene was sensationalized by international media outlets and fetishized by the underground Japanese community. This 21st century temporary body modification brought something that was purely medical in the past, saline injections, and brought it to the world of physical aesthetic.

Bagel heads that can be injected in one or two locations on the
forehead of patients. They usually last between 6-24 hours

As medical technology improves, it seems there is no limit to which individuals and artists will employ the new technologies as a medium of self-expression and exploring new art forms. I look forward to what new medical technologies await and how these technologies will be employed in creating artwork to make the world around us a more fascinating place to be alive.


References

Gromala, Diane. “TEDxAmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty.” YouTube, TEDx Talks, 7 Dec. 2011, youtu.be/cRdarMz--Pw.

McCall, Rosie. “This Biohacker Became The First Person To Edit His Own DNA.” IFLScience, IFLScience, 20 Nov. 2017, www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/this-biohacker-became-the-first-person-to-edit-his-own-dna/.

Misener, Jessica. “WATCH: 'Bagel Heads' Are Asia's New Beauty Trend.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Sept. 2012, www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/26/bagel-head-forehead-injections-japan-saline_n_1916188.html.

Rosenberg-Carlson, Marissa, et al. “Controversial Performance Artist ORLAN Transforms Herself at the Alianza Francesa.” Bubblear.com, 12 June 2017, www.thebubble.com/controversial-performance-artist-orlan-transforms-herself-at-the-alianza-francesa/.

Sinclair, Alexis. “Bagel Head Saline Forehead Injections: Japan's Weird Body Art.” Smash.com, 11 Apr. 2018, www.smash.com/bagel-head-saline-forehead-injections/.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine pt1.” YouTube, Uconlineprogram, 21 Apr. 2012, youtu.be/Ep0M2bOM9Tk.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine pt2.” YouTube, Uconlineprogram, 21 Apr. 2012, youtu.be/psjnQarHOqQ.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine pt3.” YouTube, Uconlineprogram, 22 Apr. 2012, youtu.be/FIX-9mXd3Y4.

Zayner, Josiah. “Science, Art, Beauty.” Science, Art, Beauty, 13 Oct. 2017, www.ifyoudontknownowyaknow.com/.