[ISEA2018] Paper: Anca Bucur — Posthumanism, Technology, and Monstrous Life Forms

Abstract

Short Paper

Keywords: posthumanism, mutant life forms, biotechnology, hybridization, bios, zoe, human animal, non-human animal, monstrous creatures, bioart.

This article aims to discuss and argue about the tangled and intricate relations between posthumanism and technology in the attempt of elaborating upon the creation of new monstrous forms of life within the framework of bioart. By dwelling on works by Oron Catts and Ioana Zurr, the article seeks to re-think posthumanism’s species inclusiveness as a scientifically and technologically determined trait and to emphasize the role of technology in decentering the human-normative understanding of life. Nevertheless, using examples pertaining to the artistic field, the paper implicitly re-phrases the artistic enterprise from the point of view of a theoretical, lab-researched based endeavor dictated by accelerated biotechnological changes.

  • Anca Bucur is a Bucharest-based poet and performance artist, co-founder at frACTalia press, and editor at InterRe:ACT magazine. Being interested in techno-culture and bio-technological framings of future communities, she often works with text, images, sound and computer software. In her poetry she makes use of post-conceptual  experimenting with techniques, different types of language(s) and discourses. She studied literary theory at the University of Bucharest from where she holds a MA, and currently she is a research assistant at Human Language Technology Center and a Ph.D. candidate with a thesis researching Wittgenstein’s traces in literature and art.

Full text p. 313 – 316