Debate

 Note: narator is in black, Red is Stelarc, and green is Janine Antoni. 

Hello and welcome to tonight’s debate on art we have two real stars of the contemporary art world. Stelarc and Janine Antoni. Tonight our esteemed guests will discuss Body Art. Stelarc is famed for his utilization of advanced technology in his work. Janine Antoni on the other hand uses many house hold materials to create original works. Our first topic for the debate is what is the body?

The body is a machine made of meat and a flawed one at that. Because the body is flawed it can’t be beautiful, therefore improving the body with technology isn’t just a scientific goal but an artistic goal as well. The body is not an object for desire but rather a technology in desperate need of upgrade. My work Ping Body proved how weak the body is since with little more than an internet connection and some wires people from all over the world were able to remotely control my body.

I would have to disagree the body is the tool for making, not a raw material. The body shouldn’t seek to imitate the artificial; the artificial should be made to imitate life. These days’ people just think about objects as objects, never caring where they came from. Even if you consider the body to be a meat-machine, it is a machine of greater sophistication than a false ear with a Bluetooth in it. As my work 2038 was meant to show how people don’t even really recognize cows as animals anymore just meat and milk factories.

Both good points, however let us move onto a new topic. You view the body differently; I shall pick a topic on which you might agree: the deconstructed body. Though neither of you deconstruct the body as drastically as Mona Hatoum or Tim Hawkins; both of you do deconstruct the body on some level in your work.

My works focuses on deconstructing the body to show the beauty and complexity of their interaction. My work Moor was an umbilical cord made from numerous different materials, each material having its own story.it demonstrates the innumerable complexities of life. 

Though my work also involves deconstructing the body, I do it for a completely different reason. My deconstructions are done to show the flaws of the parts and how they can be improved or replaced. My work Third Arm showed that the science can make a fully functional mechanical arm with little difficulty. My work Ear showed how the ear could be replicated and the body improved by adding another ear.

Why exactly does someone need a third ear?

I fear we are getting off topic. Unfortunately you did not really agree much. Can you both at least agree that deconstructing the body is vital in both your works?

Yes

Yes

Good, now moving on. What would you to consider to constitute identity?

Identity is the personal collection of stories that make up a person. My work Cradle is not just a backhoe bucket. It shows the potential that the raw materials had as well as the future they create. The contents of the bucket are all simple baby supplies that the raw ore could have been forged into instead of a backhoe bucket. The fact that they are baby supplies also represents how the backhoe is used not just to build a family’s home but also how it pays for its operator to support his own home. So that one bucket influences so many people’s stories and therefore their identities.

I would have to agree on that idea; identity is that which makes us unique via our stories. However I disagree on the importance of the materials. My  work Prosthetic Head was done to show how our identities are merging into technology, soon we will be able to put our minds, our very souls into machines; and the material used to make machines are always replaceable. That wonderful identity creating bucket of yours was mass produced after all.

Well that’s one agreement at least. Finally what is the role of the observer in your work? What do you want the person gazing at your work to come away with?

Well I want the people who see my work to come away with an acute awareness of the body’s flaws and the understanding that technology is our key to auto-evolution. My work Exoskeleton showed the audience how with only a few million dollars they can be a slow moving, awkward, unstable, six legged, 12 foot tall cyborg with one slightly extended arm.

Okay, well that is interesting. However I want the people who observe my work to use their creativity, I present them with objects and it is up to them to understand what they are seeing and try to figure out how I did it rather like investigators at a crime scene. Like in Eureka I present the observers with a bathtub full of lard with a silhouette missing from the middle next to a large cube of lard and let them make their own conclusions.

Excellent, well I would like to thank both of you for attending tonight’s debate and I wish you both luck in your careers, Good night.