[-empyre-] Week 4 - Bio/Nano/Materialisms

Sun Jun 24 13:34:29 EST 2012

Hi all, 
Zach and Micha thank you for instigating a wonderful series of conversations in the last three weeks and thank you for your invitation to participate in this stimulating subject matter :)
I'll jump right in to my project " Speculative Biologies : SuperMammalTM, NeoLabiumTM , MegaMaleTM  and Other Species of Excess "
this  is an artistic research project that envisions a set of neo-organs and synthetic species in order to dissolve the infamous nature/culture and male/female dualisms. Speculative Biologies offers deviant anatomies born from the union of feminist and ecological thinking. 

The project states that: 

1. The interdependence of organisms within ecosystems is disrupted as a consequence of capitalist consumer culture. 

2. Excessive consumption has created new geographies of waste, new landscapes of detritus, and new sites of trash, e.g. the Pacific Trash Vortex in the Northern Pacific Ocean.

3. As natural habitats are replaced with man-made extreme environments, a need for post-natural  ecosystems that can thrive in toxic habitats arises.  

4. These ecosystems are post-natural, and their inhabitants are post-human. 

As a starting point Speculative Biologies questions the capitalistic desire to consume and exploit and studies the links between capitalism, desire and pleasure at a cellular level . By modifying the skin, mammary glands, density of blood vessels , cutaneous receptors etc. a new linnean order of hyperreal sexualities are created. There are many variations and new species are born almost every month. Yet I will start by chronologically older specimens that  have designed and implemented between 2008-2012.

SuperMammalTM  is a cluster of mammary glands . Breast , a highly charged organ ( milk/food, sexual arousal)  is repeated excessively until the familiar cultural meaning is replaced by a novel somewhat alien vocabulary for femininity is born

NeoLabiumTM  is a female reproductive organ sans the ovaries , fallopian tube and whatever else is there that will serve reproduction, the female organ minus reproductivity is designed to have a heightened sensation by increasing the density of blood vessels and touch receptors in labia minora, labia majora and clitoris.
There's also multiple layers of " labia synthetica " , each new layer of synthetic labia multiplies arousal , purifies sensation and overall intensifies the sexual experience.

MegaMaleTM  is a linear arrangement of penii. Although reproductive use of the male organ is of no value to the project, the testicles are multiplied as well as the penis.
This specimen has a very limited repertoire of behavior that only  consists erection and ejaculation , again the specimen has no centralized nervous system nor a brain.

For images of the specimens please check ---> http://pinaryoldas.info/speculativeBiologies/

Pinar Yoldas
{http://pinaryoldas.info}

On Jun 23, 2012, at 12:50 PM, Zach Blas wrote:

> Hi all, Micha and I would like to thank everyone for joining us on
> empyre these last 3 weeks, especially all of our featured guests.
> 
> In the last few weeks, we’ve discussed approaches to queerness and
> media through computation, the nonhuman, affect, and the digital
> humanities. For our last week, we’ll be shifting to the scale of
> bio/nano materialisms.
> 
> In feminist theory, there has been a turn toward new materialisms,
> notably in the works of Rosi Braidott, Elizabeth Grosz, Luciana
> Parisi, and Jane Bennett. In an art context, there is a long lineage
> of feminist and queer artists working with and altering the
> materialities of their bodies.
> 
> This week’s guests fall somewhere in between theoretical materialisms
> and material artistic practices. During our last week of Queer Media
> Art & Theory, we’ll discuss how these artists and writers work with
> matter and materiality at bio/nano scales and consider how they
> approach feminism and queerness.
> 
> Ricardo Dominguez’s collective project *particle group* explores the
> implications of nanotechnology and capitalism by imagining various
> nano patent scenarios and opening fabbing possibilities.
> http://pitmm.net/ http://medialab-prado.es/mmedia/1779/view/?lang=en
> 
> Pinar Yoldas’ work engages mutation, genitalia, and alien species in
> her speculative biologies work:
> http://pinaryoldas.info/speculativeBiologies/
> 
> Elle Mehrmand has experimented with biosensors and the body in
> attempts to explore biopolitical relations between humans and nonhuman
> agents, like the virus. Her work virus.cirus with Micha Cárdenas can
> be seen here: http://elleelleelle.org/
> 
> Heather Davis, a writer currently based in Montreal, is in the process
> of editing an issue of No More Potlucks on dirt, so I’m sure she’ll
> have much to say on dirt, materiality, and queerness. Heather is also
> starting a post-doc with Elizabeth Grosz at Duke in the fall, so
> she’ll probably also have some interesting comments to share with us
> on feminist materialisms. http://nomorepotlucks.org/site/
> 
> To get us started, can the guests begin by saying more about these
> practices / projects I’ve mentioned? How does working at bio/nano
> scales affect your practices as well as impact your understandings and
> relations to queerness and feminism? What is important for you about
> queer/feminist interventions at these scales? How do you conduct this
> work--with science labs, collaborators, etc.?
> 
> Thanks & Welcome!
> Zach
> 
> Guests this week are:
> 
> Heather Davis (Canada) is a researcher and writer from Montreal. She
> recently completed her Ph.D. in Communication at Concordia University
> on the political potential of community-based art.  She explores and
> participates in expanded art practices that bring together
> researchers, activists, and community members to enact social change.
> In the fall, she will begin an FQRSC postdoctoral fellowship at Duke
> University to examine the shifting nature of institutional structures
> under the double pressures of social practice art and neoliberalism.
> She has written about the intersection of art, politics, and community
> engagement for Fibreculture, Public, No More Potlucks, and .dpi
> journal.
> 
> Ricardo Dominguez (US) is a co-founder of The Electronic Disturbance
> Theater (EDT), a group who developed Virtual-Sit-In technologies in
> 1998 in solidarity with the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico.
> His recent Electronic Disturbance Theater project with Brett Stabaum,
> Micha Cardenas, Dr. Amy Sara Carroll (University of Michigan), and
> Elle Elle Mehrmand, the *Transborder Immigrant Tool* (a GPS cellphone
> safety net tool for crossing the Mexico/U.S border was the winner of
> "Transnational Communities Award" (2008), this award was funded by
> *Cultural Contact*, Endowment for Culture Mexico - U.S. and handed out
> by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico), also funded by CALIT2 and two
> Transborder Awards from the UCSD Center for the Humanities.
> *Transborder Immigrant Tool* was exhibited at 2010 California Biennial
> (OCMA), Toronto Free Gallery, Canada (2011), the project was also
> under investigation by the U.S. Congress in 2009/10, and was also
> reviewed by Glenn Beck in 2010 as a gesture that potentially
> "dissolved" the U.S. border with its poetry. Ricardo is an Associate
> Professor at UCSD in the Visual Arts Department, a Hellman Fellow, and
> Principal/Principle Investigator at CALIT2 (http://bang.calit2.net).
> He also co-founder of *particle group*, with artists Diane Ludin, Nina
> Waisman, Amy Sara Carroll, an art project about nano-toxicology
> entitled *Particles of Interest: Tales of the Matter Market* that has
> been presented in Berlin (2007), the San Diego Museum of Art (2008),
> Oi Futuro, Brazil (2008), CAL NanoSystems Institute, UCLA (2009),
> Medialab-Prado, Madrid (2009), Nanosferica, NYU (2010), SOMA,
> D.F.,Mexico (2012).
> 
> Elle Mehrmand (US) is a new media performance artist and musician who
> uses the body, electronics, video, sound and installation within her
> work. She is the singer and trombone player of Assembly of Mazes, a
> music collective who creates dark, electronic, middle eastern,
> rhythmic jazz rock. Elle is currently a Lecturer at UCSD in the Visual
> Arts Department, where she received her MFA in 2011. She is part of
> the electronic disturbance theatre 2.0 and the b.a.n.g. Lab, and has
> been a researcher at CRCA <Center for Research and Computing in the
> Arts> at UCSD. Her work has been shown internationally at venues such
> as, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions <LACE>, the Museum of
> Contemporary Art San Diego <MCASD>, Highways Performance Space, Orange
> County Museum of Art <OCMA>, UCLA Freud Playhouse, CECUT, the Nevada
> Museum of Art, and the Gallery of the Nat'l College of Art and Design.
> Her work has been discussed in Art21, the LA Times, Juxtapoz Magazine,
> Networked Performance, the OC Weekly, Furtherfield.org, the CityBeat
> and VICE magazine.
> 
> Pinar Yoldas (Turkey/US) is a cross-disciplinary artist, all-in-one
> designer and a neuro-enthusiast. Through her work she investigates
> social and cultural systems in regards to biological and ecological
> systems. Lately she has been designing mutations, tumors and
> neoplasmic organs to rethink the body and its sexuality transformed by
> the mostly urban habitats of techno-capitalist consumerism. Her
> current project Speculative Biologies simulates the experience of a "
> natural history museum of the future" showcasing Species of Excess
> elegantly caged in incubators, jars, aquariums. Pinar's work has been
> exhibited internationally including Bologna(Italy) , Torun(Poland),
> Istanbul, Frankfurt, Providence, Portland, Berkeley, New Mexico and
> Los Angeles. She has been awarded residency fellowship grants at
> MacDowell Colony, UCross Foundation and VCCA. Her artwork has been
> featured in Wired Magazine(online), Digicult(online) and Beatiful
> Decay. Her research interests include evolutionary aesthetics,
> art-neuroscience interactions and subversive gaming environments . She
> is an active lab member of s-1: Speculative Sensation Lab, led by Mark
> B. N. Hansen (Duke University) and UCLA ArtSci Center + Lab led by
> Victoria Vesna (UCLA). She has held teaching positions in Istanbul KH
> University , UCLA and Duke University and has led workshops in
> physical computing, programming and interface design. Pinar has a
> BArch from METU , MS from ITU , MA from Istanbul Bilgi University and
> an MFA from UCLA.Currently she is a PhD student in the Art, Art
> History and Visual Studies department at Duke University. Check her
> latest project Speculative Biologies and more at
> http://pinaryoldas.info .
> 
> 
> -- 
> zach blas
> artist & phd candidate
> literature, information science + information studies, visual studies
> duke university
> www.zachblas.info
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre

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