THE SPECTACULAR BODY
 

LASER talk as a part of the Medicine and Media Arts series

Featuring Medicine and Media Arts Board Members: Stelarc, Rebecca Messbarger, Piroska Kopar with special guest Siddharth Ramakrishnan

Register via ZOOM!

When: 3pm PDT, 5pm CDT, 6pm EDT, 12am CET, 8am AET

New advances in medicine, transgenics, and biomechtronics have generated genetically-modified “superhumans,” cyborg fantasies, and new evolutionary futures in the fields of art and medicine and also the cultural imaginary. Whether participating in bio-elective surgeries, performative dissections, or experimenting with invasive genetic editing, manipulations of the human form summon Mary Shelley’s cautionary tale, which serves as a metaphor for our darkest fears involving human evolution and knowledge. This event will feature four subject experts on the spectacular body in art and medicine. Transhumanist artist, Stelarc, who has used himself as an experimental canvas for exploring alternate anatomies, will discuss the obsolete body and its potential for technological alteration.  Scholar, author, and medical historian, Rebecca Messbarger will respond to these notions, and also discuss increasing scientific analysis of criminal and saintly bodies via dissection in the Early Modern period. MD, surgeon, and medical ethics specialist, Piroska Kopar will also respond to the ethics of bio-elective surgeries in contrast to the delivery of acute care surgery. Siddharth Ramakrishnan will be a respondent coming from the neuroelectronic perspective focusing on the increasing use of technologies to interface the brain with electronics and manipulating ourselves with disembodied cognition.

Patricia Olynyk, Fellow and facilitator

Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Art Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Affiliate Professor,  Medical Humanities, School of Medicine, Performing Arts, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Faculty Scholar, Institute for Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis Medicine + Media Art Fellow, UCLA, Co-Director, NY LASER (Leonardo/ISAST) 

Victoria Vesna, Director, Professor of Art, Department of Design Media Arts at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, director of UCLA's Art|Sci Center and the UC Digital Arts Research Network

Advisory Board Members:

Stelarc, Performance Artist, Art practice focused on extending the capabilities of the human body, Curtin University in Western Australia

Piroska Kopar M.D.Director, Center for Humanism and Ethics in Surgical Specialties (CHESS), Assistant Professor of Acute and Critical Care Surgery Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Department of Surgery

Rebecca Messbarger, Ph.D. Co-Founder and First Director of Medical Humanities, Director of Undergraduate Studies in Italian and Professor of Italian, Affiliate Professor of History, Art History, International and Area Studies, Performing Arts, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

Special Guest:

Siddharth Ramakrishnan, Chair of the Neuroscience Program at the University of Puget Sound

SPONSORED BY:

The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 40 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website. @lasertalks

For most up to date information on Los Angeles LASER Talks visit the UCLA Art | Sci Center LASER Page.