We investigated the interface between biomedia and humans by inviting participants to interact with biometric devices that measured and visualized their body data. At first, they struggled with the alienating and disembodying nature of the devices and the constrained, reductionist representation of data. Through their bodily interactions with these devices, however, participants reframed the data and inserted their bodies into the process of data collection. Drawing on the ideas of Bergson, Grosz, Merleau-Ponty and Bachelard, we argue that by working (...) with their subjectivity in a mediated process of becoming, participants ‘filled in the intervals’ of the visual representations of their bodies to interpret them in ways that marked the duration and meaning of their selves. We conclude that even when presented with artificial representations, individuals convert the representation of the data into narratives inspired by their embodied experience, and the ‘virtual’ pasts of their own lives. (shrink)

"Der Text gilt den Aporien der Medienanthropologie. Neben den Debatten um das mediale Apriori, wie sie vor allen die Arbeiten Friedrich Kittlers ausgelöst haben, geraten dabei zwei Dinge in den Blick. Zum einen die Möglichkeit, die Rede von der technischen Datenverarbeitung nicht nur metaphorisch, sondern der Sache nach auf die Verarbeitungsprozesse des Menschen zu übertragen und so quantifizierbare Kriterien für dessen Leistungsfähigkeit abzuleiten. Zum anderen wird in der Abwendung von einer spezifisch deutschen Medienwissenschaft gerade in der aktuellen internationalen Diskussion ein (...) Medienbegriff etabliert, der in seiner pluralen Ausrichtung Bezugnahmen etwa auch zur Biologie erlaubt (BioMedia). The paper is devoted to the aporias of medial anthropology. In addition to the debates about the medial a priori, as initiated primarily by the works of Friedrich Kittler, two things come into view: On the one hand, the possibility to apply the notion of technical data processing to human processes not only in a metaphorical, but also in a literal way, in order to derive quantifiable criteria for their performance; on the other hand, the turn away from specifically German media studies in the ongoing international discussion establishes a notion of media that, thanks to its pluralistic orientation, allows references to other fields of study, e.g. to biology (biomedia). ". (shrink)

This article displaces the terrain upon which the question of power in modern societies has been framed by reference to the concept of hegemony. It presents a genealogy of power which pays attention to what has been at stake in the shifts in the effectivity of the concept of hegemony for cultural theory from the 1960s, correlating the mutations in the analyses of power to shifts in the analysis of the relations of culture, politics and the economy. Questions of the (...) relation of internality or externality of power with regard to the governed, and issues of counter-conducts and 'counter-hegemonic' struggles will guide the development of this genealogy. The article brings to bear on the issues the point of view of hybrid forms of sovereignty, such as imperial governmentality and implications relating to the emergence of biopolitics in the 19th century. It is argued that the situation today regarding global governance and new forms of rule compels us to re-examine the problem of consent and consensus by turning to the apparatuses for constituting hybrid publics that work through biomedia and new strategies of securitization and insecuritization. (shrink)

This article will address an overview of BioArt, biomedia and its practitioners, developed through a series of semi-structured, qualitative interviews and openended discussions with more than fifteen experts in the field. BioArt is approached from the perspective of scientific exploration, visual design in interactivity and installation, and social commentary and political activism. Of consequence is the fact that BioArt is relatively new, its nomenclature is without a codified definition, and bioartists have varied views on the parameters of its (...) class='Hi'>biomedia. Regardless, BioArt has been escalating as a fecund medium with the potential for spawning visionary and critical practices and theories. In lieu of a slippery slope in which artists rely on freedom of expression in substantiating artworks, the burden of proof is placed on artists to be creative and objective in understanding what it means to tamper with biology and alter life forms. Issues of ethics have already affected artists' practices and venues for exhibition, and as BioArt continues to develop, research practice has become a necessary field of study. In addition, as biomedia evolve and emergent technologies partner with current biotechnologies, there is concern if the concept of BioArt is ambiguous in light of the fact that biotechnology is dovetailing nanotechnology, artificial general intelligence and cognitive science. Herein there is a need for practice-based scenarios for questioning constructive and destructive viewpoints about BioArt and, more particularly, concerning the future of life forms. (shrink)

In the summer of 2009, we conceived a special issue of MediaTropes on the theme of “bioconvergence.” We sent out an initial circular to measure interest and solicited abstracts from scholars across disciplines. We received so many engaging and excellent contributions that we decided to publish two volumes of this special issue. Volume I appears here, while the publication of Volume II is anticipated in early 2012. The contributions to this volume examine, from a range of angles, the ways in (...) which living bodies, media, and technologies “converge.” The starting proposition of this special issue is that bodies are technologized and conceived increasingly in technical and biotechnological terms, while correspondingly, techniques and technologies have become increasingly “bodied.” Moreover, both tendencies are pointedly and pervasively mediatized as bodies and technologies constitute intercutting currents of spectacle and digitality in public and cultural life... (shrink)