Panel Statement

Panel: Body Narratives

The body category is an important issue facing actual artistic theory and practice. In the present context of the development of technologies, can the body still be considered as a biological organism carrying the integrity of the subject? I attempt to explore the possibility of imagining the body in view of its present destabilized status. This reflection is developed through the concept of “performance” suggested by Judith Butler and certain sensual body perturbations in recent Canadian videos. How do the senses react to a destabilized body? What is a destabilized body? Do video performances of the body make possible the emergence of new categories and experiences of the senses?

• Christine Ross (Canada) is a historian and art critic and Associate professor in the Art History Department of McGill University (Montreal). Her interests include electronic arts, feminism, vision, and representation and performance of the body in contemporary Canadian art.