[ISEA2006] Paper: Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr – Towards New Class of Being: The Extended Body

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 can be seen as a way to define this category of life, while at the same time attempting to destabilize some of the rooted perceptions of classification of living beings. The extend body can and is an amalgamation of the human extended phenotype with tissue life—a unfilled body for disembodied living fragments, an ontological device, set to draw attention to the need of re-examining current taxonomies and hierarchical perceptions of life.

  • Oron Catts, Australia: Artistic Director and Co-Founder of SymbioticA, artist/researcher, Founder of the Tissue Culture and Art Project (TC&A) in 1996, Curator of Biofeel exhibition and The Aesthetics of Care? Symposium, BEAP 2002 and BioDifferences exhibition and conference, BEAP 2004 and Research Fellow at The Tissue Engineering & Organ Fabrication Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2000-2001).
  • Ionat Zurr, Australia: Artist, author, researcher, Artist in Residence in SymbioticA and the Art & Science Collaborative Research Laboratory at The School of Anatomy & Human Biology, University of Western Australia, Co-Founder of the Tissue Culture and Art Project, Co-Curator of BioDifferences exhibition and conference, BEAP 2004, and Research Fellow at The Tissue Engineering & Organ Fabrication Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2000-2001).

Full Paper (PDF)