[spectre] Corpus Extremus (LIFE+) work by artists who are using bio- and media- technologies to investigate questions of life and death.

[Adam Zaretsky]

Corpus Extremus (LIFE+)

February 28 – April 18, 2009
Opening: Saturday February 28, 7-10pm

Exit Art
475 Tenth Ave
New York, NY

 info at exitart.org


EXHIBITION // ARTISTS // CURATORS // EVENTS  

Corpus Extremus (LIFE+), the second exhibition of Exit Art’s Curatorial Incubator Program, will present 
work by artists who are using bio- and media- technologies to investigate questions of life and death. 
Representative of a relatively new international trend, these artists are uniting science and art to 
challenge conventional understanding of both fields.

Prior to the eighteenth century, art and science were not separated as distinct disciplines, and were 
often joined. Thus a hybrid bio-art discipline is nothing radically new. Yet, the work in Corpus 
Extremus (LIFE+) represents a revolution in interdisciplinary research and practices and offers a critical 
evaluation of science and technology through art. This direct involvement of artists in scientific 
research and lab practices aims to demystify science through a cross-disciplinary approach; to provoke 
discussion about art and science as creative stimuli to each other; and to pose ethical questions to 
society.

The artworks in this exhibition deal with the transformation of our notions of life and death due to the 
implementation of biotechnological advances in everyday life. Recent innovations in science and 
technology are causing us to confront and challenge our conventional understanding of the body. 
Trying to reveal “the secret of life,” and to retain health, we are finding new ways to create living 
transplants and sustain life outside of the body. This possibility gives ground for the design of new 
organisms – hybrids, cyborgs and extended human bodies – that might be a new stage in an evolution 
with a questionable future.

Artists                        
Suzanne Anker, Guy Ben-Ary and Philip Gamblen in collaboration with Dr. Steve Potter Lab (Dr. Steve 
Potter, Douglas Swehla, Stephen Bopic), BioKino (Guy Ben-Ary and Tanya Visosevic), Dmitry Bulatov, 
Center for PostNatural History, Kathy High, Soyo Lee, Yuri Leiderman and Andrei Silvestrov, Stelarc, The 
Tissue Culture and Art Project (Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr), ULTRAFUTURO (Oleg Mavromatti and 
Boryana Rossa) in collaboration with Chris Bjornsson and Kathy High, Paul Vanouse, Jennifer Willet, 
Adam Zaretsky and the pFARM Collective
 
Curator
Boryana Rossa is an interdisciplinary artist and PhD Candidate in the Department of the Arts at 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She works in the fields of electronic arts, film, video, performance and 
photography. Her works have been shown at Kunstwerke, Berlin; The Moscow Biennial; Elizabeth A. 
Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, New York; and Akademie der Kunste, Berlin. In 
2004, together with the Russian artist Oleg Mavromatti, Rossa established UTRAFUTURO — an art/tech 
collective.
 
Public Events
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 6–9pm
Corpus Extremus (LIFE+) Explained and Expanded, Part 1
A series of presentations by Corpus Extremus artists and researchers that shed light on their work and 
bio-art issues.

Paul Vanouse presents his work and issues of biopiracy and patenting of life. Dr. Steve Potter, Associate 
Professor, Laboratory for NeuroEngineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, joins us via Skype 
for a presentation regarding the science behind Silent Barrage in Corpus Extremus. Guy Ben-Ary will 
discuss the concepts behind Silent Barrage. Tanya Visosevic from BioKino will discuss the interface 
between biological arts to film theory and cinema history in The Living Screen. Exit Underground. FREE. 

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 6-9pm
Corpus Extremus (LIFE+) Explained and Expanded, Part 2

Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr of The Tissue Culture and Art Project discuss their work, NoArk II, and semi 
living objects (partly alive and partly constructed) as a new class of object beings. Adam Zaretsky does 
a presentation on mutagenic arts related to his work pFARM :: Organic Fetish Biotech, which is followed 
by a screening of the project’s 60 minute film. FREE. 


APRIL, TBA
Corpus Extremus (LIFE+) Explained and Expanded, Part 3
Panels and Screenings:
Kathy High, Faith Wilding, Irina Aristarkhova, Rich Pell, Suzanne Anker, Critical Art Ensemble and 
Jennifer Willet engage with issues of reproductive rights, male pregnancy, immolation from combat 
viewed through the destructive effects on skin, transgenic design, and the interaction of lab ecologies.

Yuri Leiderman, Andrei Silvestrov and Oleg Mavromatti will expand the science/society discussion by 
presenting a critical and historical overview of Russian Cosmism as a mystical philosophy that deeply 
affected the development of Soviet science and space research, as well as the relationship between 
spirituality and science and their media representation. 


http://www.exitart.org/site/pub/exhibition_programs/corpus_extremus/index.html