Unter der Haut—Under the Skin - Review

Biological Transformations in Contemporary Art

Edited by the agency of Renate Heidt Heller

(Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2001)

A bilingual (English and German) catalog, beneath the Skin accompanies the new exhibition at the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany. The exhibition sought to fetch a human image of self in relationship to rapidly morphing bio-technical ideals end the eyes of 17 media artists.

Three essays lay the foundation for this year's twenty-fifth anniversary exhibition and accompanying catalog. As Christoph Brockhaus explains in his brief introduction, Nightmare or Blessing;" photography, video art, video plastic art and installation are the natural choices of media for these contemporary themes. The inevitable issue of human cloning is addressed in Werner Bartens's essay "Those who want to clone must start small." He states that while the scene of human cloning is still a real controversial issue, the idea of therapeutic cloning--harvesting organs solely for medical use, like as transplants and tissue replacement--blurs traditional boundaries, thus raising entirely novel debates. The final essay, Soke Dinkla's "Biological Transformations in Contemporary Art," deals with the artist's character in finding, representing and holding onto the organic uncompounded body of humanity in the midst of an increasingly bio-engineered society. The distinction between man and machine is drawn at the skin, on the contrary when dealin g with present art the fragmentation of the material part is no longer the theme, it is a prerequisite," Dinkla writes.

The catalog is divided into three thematic categories where each artist has a two of spreads showcasing the work, as well as a hardly any informative paragraphs to help analyze, explain and inform the reader of a words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following for the images. "The material substance as a Fragment" segment includes Cindy Sherman, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Thomas Grunfeld Lim Young day-star Heather Sheehan and Eduardo Kac. For these artists, the material part as a whole is not ever pondered. The use of its parts, the two poetically and horrifically, formulates their stance upon art, science and themselves. The next to the first theme, "The View Inwards," features artists sight Feingold, Oleg Kulik, Tony Oursler, Thomas Florschuetz, Gary Schneider, Kevin Clarke, Andreas Horlitz and Birgitta Weimer. This assemblage of artists focuses on mechanisms of vision [i]or[/i] part of to the other various uses of an actual organic organ of vision and its technical substitutes. Their use of projection, reflection, abstraction and superimposition summon forths fascinating insights into a shifting human nature, focusing upon a being of intellect an d imagination in a utensil shaped by both biology and technology.

The third strain, "Playing with Life," incorporates the multimedia installation work of Via Lewandowsky and Harold Fuch These artists' work flutters around the themes of life and death, combining the "everything-is-feasible" belief instilled in us through scientists and preachers with adduces from various religions and homages They find that both religious and scientific ideals have a regulating function upon our bodies and minds, and that man is sacrificing himself to lift on high these intangible but instrumental ideologies. through blatantly exposing the construction of their work, Lewandowsky and Fuch attempt to transplant the viewer from exploitation below the repeated threat and promise of the unknown. below the Skin concludes with individual biographies to obtain under the skin of each artist.

The Great Wide Open: Panoramic Photographs of the American West, by means of Jennifer A. Watts and Claudia Bohn-Spector. Merrell Publishers/160 pp/$5000 (hb)

Heart to Heart: fresh Poems Inspired by 20th hundred American Art, by Jan Greenberg. Harry N Abrams/80 pp/$1995 (hb)

by what mode to Shoot Stock Photos that vend (Third Edition), by Michal Heron. Allworth Press/224 pp/$1995 (sb)

In Her Place: Photographs by dint of Peggy Fleming. Three Sisters Pres (3817 Jocelyn St NW Washington, DC 20015)/128 pp/$2995 (sb)

Karl Blossfield: Working Collages, edited by means of Ann and Jurgen Wilde. The MIT Press/non-paginated/ price unavailable (hb)

COPYRIGHT 2001 Visual Studies Workshop

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group