Week 4: MedTech + Art

As I watched the movie Orlan, I found myself covering the screen at multiple moments. She even comments on this -- human nature’s capacity to withstand horrific news stories but its inability to withstand the view of her surgeries. I sat still and watched, perplexed by her journey of nine surgeries to gain the most lauded body parts of famous paintings. I sat still and watched, sincerely confused.

Orlan: http://situations.fotomuseum.ch

In pursuing this endeavour, Orlan redefined the parameters of surgery: for her, it was not for a medical purpose, it was for art. Her surgeon did not deem her crazy, but rather as an artist. The surgeon ignores the sentiments of the classical Hippocratic Oath, as she allows this somewhat vain pursuit.

Orlan’s endeavours bring up the pivotal point of the human body as a work of art, and medicine as therapy. In the case of Orlan, the human body is the outlet for her art. This is also seen in the Cremaster Cycle, which is a visual display that involves films,

Cremaster Cycle: https://i0.wp.com/www.guggenheim.org

photographs, and installations among other things to portray the male cremaster muscle. This transforms the male muscle into a work of art. It counters the concept of biological reductionism, which attempts to treat every disease and aspect of human health as a component of biology. These artists contend that the body is not just a physical piece, it is a social and cultural being and deserves to be respected just as that.

3-D Virtual Reality Box http://image.dhgate.com

Furthermore, art offers a remedy to pain. In the TED talk, the speaker, Diane Gromala, outlines how virtual reality is very effective in relieving short term pain. The inner body, she tells us, has 100,000 times more senses that the outer body. Virtual reality tools serve as a mirror for these inner senses, and allow the inside of body to be used to heal itself.

Medicine and art are inherently more connected that I could have ever began to presume. It gives me hope that the maladies of the human body can maybe be more effectively alleviated through this synthesis, and that alternative forms of treatment can soon be more accepted in the medical community.

Sources:

"The Cremaster Cycle." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 Apr. 2017. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.

TEDxTalks. "TEDxAmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty." YouTube. YouTube, 07 Dec. 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.

MutleeIsTheAntiGod. "Orlan - Carnal Art (2001) Documentary." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Mar. 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.

Good, Carl, and Good, Mary-Jo, Delvecchio. Teaching Collection (Anthropology / ANTH3036). N.p.: n.p., 1993. Print.