Posthuman Body: A Post-dualistic Entity in Bio(Technological)-Art

Authors : Mustafa Kemal Yurttaş

Pages : 95-103

Doi:10.47481/yjad.1366314

View : 62 | Download : 41

Publication Date : 2024-01-26

Article Type : Research

Abstract :The body has always been the subject of discussions whether in ancient, modern or posthuman times. In these discussions, it has been instrumentalized, domesticized, and even cursed or glorified, mostly through the dualisms such as mind/body, soul/body and self/other. Posthuman thought criticizes this dualistic comprehension for the body and proposes a post-dualistic understanding. This post-dualism blurs the distinctions starting from the ones between the human and machine, human and animal for a posthuman body. This study approaches the posthuman body as a post-dualistic entity as well. Through a qualitative research method, the academic literature was reviewed concerning the prominent debates on these issues and discussed the findings with the practical works of art. Primarily, Donna Haraway’s arguments on the body with the notion of cyborg and Katherine N. Hayles’ concept of posthuman were examined for building a basis of the research. At the intersection of these concepts, Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of becoming and becoming-machine notion were explored. Becoming-machine not only relates to Body without Organs (BwO), but also emerges as a developed concept for posthuman in Rosi Braidotti’s texts too. Braidotti interprets this Deleuzian concept in a critical posthuman perspective and proposes a new notion as Organs without Bodies. This concept connects to BwO with its criticism on organism and also benefits from Foucault’s arguments for biopower and biopolitics. So, Braidotti discusses Foucault’s arguments on modernity to develop a criticism on biotechnological capitalism. Therefore, this research aims to discuss these interrelated critical subjects through biotechnological manifestations in contemporary art. In this scope, the purpose of this study is to interpret critical issues on the body from an interdisciplinary point of view and contribute to the academic literature with an alternative discussion mentioning the post-dualistic possibilities of the posthuman body.
Keywords : beden, biyosanat, biyoteknoloji, insan sonrası, post-düalist