JAMedia Creation C (Concepts)
Since the establishment of quantum mechanics, the myth of ‘objective science’ has been debunked. The rapid development of information technologies, biotechnologies, etc., has urged us additionally to think afresh about “the body,” “life,” and “art” in relation to us. In this sort of world where the theory of unceasing bioengineering has come about, media art through installations and performances is using biological concepts and biomedia. These theories have materialized and the process of mankind’s transformation of nature has been pushed out to the forefront. This theory has materialized and mankind’s process of transforming nature is highlighted. Presently, elements of media art such as wetware, AI, alien life, etc span further over complex concepts such as the fields of synthetic biology and astrobiology. There are many artworks created about life-like qualities. In this lecture through the investigation of the concepts of life, the body, and biomedia, we will consider and examine the connection between art, technology, and philosophy to society.
Lectures, discussions, reports
Class 1: Introduction (Kobayashi, Okubo, Castro)
Class 2: Media and the body, organ transplants, body modification and schizophrenia (Kobayashi)
Class 3: AI and the body, the genealogy of human machine theory, the body without organs, information and the body (Kobayashi)
Class 4: Death and the body, artistic anatomy, butoh, mortuary studies (death theory) (Kobayashi)
Class 5: Identity and the body, dissociative identity disorder, gender identity disorder, body integrity dysphoria (Kobayashi)
Class 6: “Homeopathy” – Fighting fire with fire (Okubo)
Class 7: “Pharmakon” – Life connotes death (Okubo)
Class 8: “Archives” – Illness as an externalization of memories (Okubo)
Class 9: “Metamorphosis” – The new thoughts of life and technology (Okubo)
Class 10: Biomedia (Castro)
Class 11: Body modification, cyborgs, Biocybernetics (Castro)
Class 12: Wetware and wet artificial life (Castro)
Class 13: Alien life (Castro)
Class 14: Changes in the philosophy of body theory ~ From the 20th to the 21st century (Kobayashi)
Class 15: Overall summary (Kobayashi, Okubo, Castro)
*Castro’s classes are generally taught in English but may be conducted in Japanese as needed.
Eduardo Kac, ed. [Signs of Life: Bio Art and Beyond] Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press (2007)
George Gessert [Green Light: Toward an Art of Evolution] Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press (2012)
Hannah Star Rogers, ed. [Art's Work in the Age of Biotechnology: Shaping Our Genetic Futures] North Carolina State University Libraries (2019)
“Metamorphoses” by Emanuele Coccia（2022）
“Phaedrus” by Plato（1967）
吉岡洋［編集?責任］（現代社会における〈毒〉の重要性研究2019）『poison rouge 2』京都大学こころの未来研究センター（2020）