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Resisting the Body Invasion.pdf (2.42 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Resisting the Body Invasion: Critical Art Ensemble, Tactical Media, and the Audience

Brewster, Shelby Elizabeth
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437149634

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Theatre.
“BioCom: building a better organic platform;” “BioCom: growing to meet your needs;” “BioCom: creating superior labor one worker at a time.” Though these catchy advertising slogans seem genuine, the company they advertise does not exist. BioCom is a fictional construct created by Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) as a part of their performance Flesh Machine (1998). CAE, a semi-anonymous group of five tactical media practitioners, have focused on the exploration of the intersections between art, critical theory, technology, and political activism since the collective’s creation in 1986. In response to the increasing impact of the biotechnology industry, from 1998 to 2004 CAE created seven projects focusing on issues ranging from reproductive technologies to genetically modified organisms. Through audience participation, the disruption of the traditional relationship between audience and performer, the use of actual scientific knowledge and processes, and digital performance techniques, CAE strove to create a space for critical dialogue surrounding these issues. Drawing on CAE’s own published material and scholarly analysis of their work, this thesis explores the specific performance strategies employed by CAE, places CAE’s work in the theatrical legacy of the avant-garde, and contextualizes it in its own historical moment, marked by debate surrounding the possibilities of biotechnologies.
Jennifer Schlueter (Advisor)
Shilarna Stokes (Committee Member)
Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Brewster, S. E. (2015). Resisting the Body Invasion: Critical Art Ensemble, Tactical Media, and the Audience [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437149634

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Brewster, Shelby. Resisting the Body Invasion: Critical Art Ensemble, Tactical Media, and the Audience . 2015. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437149634.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Brewster, Shelby. "Resisting the Body Invasion: Critical Art Ensemble, Tactical Media, and the Audience ." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437149634

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1437149634
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© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.