Jacob Karp - Week 5 - Bodily and Cellular Inspiration

This week’s concept of the body being the medium of art or the direct inspiration of art is one that I find fascinating and never realized how broad of realm it is. From Stelarc’s mechanical and artificial additional limbs to Orlan’s plastic surgery performances to the tensegrital quality of cells and the sculptures that have been directly inspired by this.

Because Stelarc has been previously discussed in previous weeks and Orlan’s performances are somewhat dated as so many people have undergone plastic surgery and the process to change and adapt one’s appearance is pretty common and understood today. Her performances of plastic surgery are connected to how many performers have had plastic surgery. I felt that Orlan’s message in her art was contrary to Stelarc that the body is not obsolete but rather so adaptable, so easily improved. Many of the people that have somehow risen to the top: famous performers, successful businesspeople, and other influential and monetarily well off people have undergone some form of plastic self-improvement surgery, whether it be liposuction and a tummy tuck, a nose job, or breast augmentation. This helps improve their image and be seen as a perfect (or closer to) being. It seems that the theme is that the body is not obsolete because it can be so easily improved and altered.

I was most interested this week in Donald Ingber’s article “The Architecture of Life”. The article analysis an attribute of cells called tensegrity. Tensegrity or tensional integrity is a structural quality caused by a uniform pull between all of the firm structural supports, which leads to a structure that mechanically stabilizes itself. This quality can make very beautiful and very unique cellular shapes. This art is the cell; the naturally occurring attribute of living organisms fundamental components is the art. This tensional integrity has been the inspiration of artists to create sculptures that have this quality also. I began searching tensegrity on the internet and discovered artist Kenneth Snelson. Snelson has constructed many sculptures that have a structure with tensegrity.

Kenneth Snelson claims that his art is based on nature in its natural state and involve “patterns of physical forces in three dimensional space. I find it amazing that the natural structure of a cell has inspired such incredible sculptures on the small and large scale. This is a perfect example of a scientific discover being evident in art, and a very geometric and mathematical form of art it is. Snelson would definitely qualify as a member of the 3rd culture with his amazing sculptures.

http://www.kennethsnelson.net/icons/scul.htm