Seeing at Stake: The Anti-Aesthetic of Bio-Art

Abstract

In this age of biotechnology the concepts of biology and life are being radically transformed. Biotechnology is not only a category of science, but is also closely related to social, economic, and cultural fields, which are often overshadowed by technical rationality. Bio-art draws on emerging biotechnologies to create works of art that remove technology from the context of using, accomplishing something similar to Duchamp’s revolutionary art production models while providing a value-neutral platform to examine the current state of biotechnology. Foster’s anti-aesthetic is here, not in a pejorative sense but rather marking an interdisciplinary practice that disrupts the order of appearances so that unconcealment (aletheia) and re-examining the problem of bio-art not only challenges the established aesthetic, but also challenges our conceptual paradigms of the life, the body, and the constitution of life. At this level, art also becomes an effective attempt to bridge the gap between science and the humanities.

Key Words

Bio-art, anti-aesthetic, technology criticism, differance