Before beginning this unit, my extent of art and medicine
combinations were limited to one of my favorite TV shows, Grey’s Anatomy. As a form of art through drama, the show
utilizes detailed medical procedures combined with their personal lives. After this Module, I have a new perspective
on how medical technology can affect art.
The human body, itself, is a work of art and the work doctors are able
to do to the perfect the human body.
However, medical procedures that can harm one’s health or are merely
cosmetic are less artistic, straying from the roots of the human body’s
original perfection.
http://www.breathecast.com/articles/grey-s-anatomy-season-11-episode-24-spoilers-amelia-confronts-meredith-in-time-stops-video-27438/
Modern medical advances are made possible though imagining
techniques that allow us to view the human body internally. Renaissance techniques have been long cast
aside for contemporary MRI’s, X-rays, and Cat Scans. These microscopic photographs allow us to
explore previously unseen environments.
These images can even be classified as art. Virgil Wong, for example, incorporates
imageries of bodies into his work. Yet,
these pictures are still not the original pieces of the body. Walter Benjamin could argue that these
reproductions actually generate lost auras, not true art.
http://virgilwong.com/art/
Throughout history, the perception of what the human body
should look like has evolved. Modern
science has allowed plastic surgery to become an extreme part of modern
society. Orlan engages in body
performance art with series of live surgical performances that explore this
topic of what beauty should look like.
However, I believe these shows are not art, but merely unnecessary uses
of medical technology in the name of ar
t.
This also represents the loss of aura because it alters the original art
of the human body.
t.
This also represents the loss of aura because it alters the original art
of the human body. 
http://www.creative-mapping.com/controversial-french-artist-orlan-is-perhaps-most-infamous-for-using-her-own-body-as-a-tool-for-a-series-of-performance-surgeries-known-as-the-reincarnation-of-saint-orlan/
Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in Age
of Mechanical Reproduction.” Marxists. N.p.. Web. 24 April 2016.
<http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm>.
Jeffries, Stuart.
“Orlan’s Art of Sex and Surgery.” The Guardian, 9 June 2009. Web. 24 April 2016.
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jul/01/orlan-performance-artist-carnal-art
Orlan – Carnal Art (2001) Documentary. Dir.
Stéphan Oriach. Perf. Orlan. N.d. Film. YouTube. Web. 24 April. 2016.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=no_66MGu0Oo>.
Vensa, Victoria. MedTech
+ Art Lecture. UCOnline. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk>
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psjnQarHOqQ>
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIX-9mXd3Y4>
Wong, Virgil. “Art Exhibited
in Galleries and Museums around the World.” Art. N.p., 2012. Web.
24 April 2016. <http://virgilwong.com/art/>
I particularly enjoyed how you described plastic surgery strictly for the case of cosmetics as straying away from the original perfection of the human body. I share your sentiment on Orlan as well; however, the definition of what is "art" is so broad, so subjective, and so all-encompassing that it I find it difficult to make the claim that her representations of physical beauty through surgical procedures is not "art." In any case, it is certainly unorthodox and unique in its own right, despite the fact that you and I find it to perhaps be reprehensible.
ReplyDeleteLet me just start off with some similarities. I love Grey's Anatomy so much! But anyway, that was a great comparison between art and medicine and distinguishing our own body being art and how doctor's are trying to save our beautiful bodies. I totally agree with you about cosmetics straying away from originality meaning how we were born with plastic surgery being the enemy of keeping our original human form.
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