Exhibitions in life and death: The photography of Lucinda Devlin, Gunther von Hagens' body worlds, and the disassembly of scientific progress

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-28-2008

Abstract

The line that demarcates art and science is a tenuous one. Recent exhibitions by artists such as Gunther von Hagens and Lucinda Devlin attempt to challenge this traditional demarcation by suggesting that thanatos, the death instinct, lingers at the core of both projects. The first half of the analysis assesses the damage that these exhibitions render to modern rationality by reducing human beings to the traces they leave in a world where mechanics define the boundary between life and death. Once these imprints puncture the membrane between art and science, the constituent parts that form the basis for epistemic representation come into stark relief against the aesthetic background. The second part of the analysis disassembles these discursive components into a collage of images that, rather than expressing unity or equilibrium, create a counter-narrative of conflict and transgression that resurrects the specter of thanatos rather than represses it. Here art and science clash in a realm of semblance where the body no longer establishes authenticity, but becomes the primary symptom of epistemic failure. Copyright 2008 American Communication Journal. All rights reserved.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

American Communication Journal

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