Non-human Actors in Their “Strongly Possible Worlds”. Constructions of Alternative Universes in Bio Art Projects

Ewelina  Twardoch-Raś

Tytuły

Abstrakt

The article is an introduction that examines certain perspectives of new-materialist research on the ontological status of alternative universes in bio art projects with reference to the narratological concepts of possible worlds and the storyworld. In this context, it introduces the concept of “strongly possible worlds”, which is a complementary concept to the Jan Alber’s theory of impossible worlds. This methodological proposal is also presented in the article in reference to the latest study by Francesca Ferrando, in which the idea of “posthuman multiverse” was presented.

The author also considers the role of non-human actors in the process of constructing such “in the world stories” (Bruno Latour). As non-human actors bacteria and living cells are understood, which have their own intentionality (goal-oriented behavior) and which are responsible for causal changes to the project; moreover, non-human actors are considered to be a force that aff ects the physical shape of storyworlds—with reference to Timothy Morton’s category of hyperobjects.

The article presents two types of experiments involving the process of creation of possible worlds in bio art. The fi rst one is conducted by the artists working with living materials, mostly tissues and cells, as the duo Tissue Culture and Art Project, Alicia King and Guy Ben-Ary and Kirsten Hudson; the other one is so called bacterial art with Sonja Bäumel’s “Expanded body”, Pinar Yoldas “Speculative biologies” and “Ecosystem of Excess”, as well as Anna Dumitriu’s artistic vision “The Romantic Disease: An Artistic Investigation of Tuberculosis” and “ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” as special case studies.

This article is the result of the research project No. 2014/15/N/HS2/03926 which has been funded

by the National Science Centre (Preludium 8) for the years 2015–2019.

The article is an introduction that examines certain perspectives of new-materialist research on the ontological status of alternative universes in bio art projects with reference to the narratological concepts of possible worlds and the storyworld. In this context, it introduces the concept of “strongly possible worlds”, which is a complementary concept to the Jan Alber’s theory of impossible worlds. This methodological proposal is also presented in the article in reference to the latest study by Francesca Ferrando, in which the idea of “posthuman multiverse” was presented.

The author also considers the role of non-human actors in the process of constructing such “in the world stories” (Bruno Latour). As non-human actors bacteria and living cells are understood, which have their own intentionality (goal-oriented behavior) and which are responsible for causal changes to the project; moreover, non-human actors are considered to be a force that aff ects the physical shape of storyworlds—with reference to Timothy Morton’s category of hyperobjects.

The article presents two types of experiments involving the process of creation of possible worlds in bio art. The fi rst one is conducted by the artists working with living materials, mostly tissues and cells, as the duo Tissue Culture and Art Project, Alicia King and Guy Ben-Ary and Kirsten Hudson; the other one is so called bacterial art with Sonja Bäumel’s “Expanded body”, Pinar Yoldas “Speculative biologies” and “Ecosystem of Excess”, as well as Anna Dumitriu’s artistic vision “The Romantic Disease: An Artistic Investigation of Tuberculosis” and “ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” as special case studies.

This article is the result of the research project No. 2014/15/N/HS2/03926 which has been funded

by the National Science Centre (Preludium 8) for the years 2015–2019.

Słowa kluczowe

matter, narrativity, strongly possible worlds, storyworld, bio art, non-human actors, intentionality

Bibliografia

Alber J., Unnatural Narratives: Impossible Worlds in Fiction and Drama, Lincoln–London: University of Nebraska Press, 2016.

Alexenberg L., The Future of Art in a Postdigital Age: From Hellenistic to Hebraic Con- sciousness, Bristol: Intellect Books, 2011.

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Bryant L.R., The Democracy of Objects, Ann Arbor: Open Humanities Press, 2011.

Burii R.V., Dumit J. (eds.), Biomedicine as Culture: Instrumental Practices, Technoscientific Knowledge, and New Modes of Life, New York: Routledge, 2007.

Catts O., Zurr I., “Growing Semi-Living Sculptures: The Tissue Culture & Art Project”, Leo- nardo 2002, vol. 35, no. 4.

Coole D., Frost S. (eds.), New Materialism: Ontology, Agency, and Politics, Durham: Duke University Press, 2010.

da Costa B., Kavita P. (eds.), Tactical Biopolitics: Art, Activism, and Technoscience, Cam- bridge–London: The MIT Press, 2008.

Dzidowski A., “New and Speculative Organisational Aesthetics”, Organisational Aesthetics 2015, vol. 4, no. 1.

Ferrando F., Philosophical Posthumanism, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019. Fludernik M., Towards a Natural Narratology, London: Routledge, 1996.

Herman D., “Narratology beyond the Human”, Diegesis 3. Interdisziplinäres E-Journal für Erzählforschung 2014, no. 2, https://www.diegesis.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php/diegesis/ article/view/165/218, accessed 25.05.2019.

Howell R., “Fictional Objects: How They Are and How They Aren’t”, Poetics 1979, no. 8. Hui Y., On the Existence of Digital Objects, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2016.

Hui Y., On a Possible Passing from the Digital to the Symbolic, https://www.hkw.de/media/texte/pdf/2017_2/2o3tiger/170530_2o3Tiger_PDFs_Yuk_Hui_press_new.pdf, accessed 28.05.2019.

Ioannou C.C., Singh M., Couzin I.D., “Potential Leaders Trade Oﬀ Goal-Oriented and Social Behavior in Mobile Animal Groups”, The American Naturalist 2015, no. 186 (2).

Jenkins H., “Transmedia Storytelling”, MIT Technology Review 2003, January 15, https://www.technologyreview.com/s/401760/transmedia-storytelling/, accessed 20.10.2016.

Kekou E., “Interview with Anna Dumitriu”, 4Humanities International Correspondent 2013, January 18, http://4humanities.org/2013/01/dumitriu-interview/, accessed 26.05.2019.

Latour B., Pandora’s Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies, Cambridge–London: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Latour B., Splatając na nowo to, co społeczne. Wprowadzenie do teorii aktora-sieci, Kraków: Universitas, 2010.

Lewis D.K., On the Plurality of Worlds, Oxford: Blackwell, 1986.

Łebkowska A., “Fictional Worlds”, Thomas G. Pavel, Cambridge, MA and London 1986 [re- view], Pamiętnik Literacki 1989, no. 3 (80).

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Mitchell R.E., Bioart and the Vitality of Media (In Vivo), Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010.

Morton T., Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World, Minneapolis– London: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.

Reichle I., “Speculative Biology in the Practices of Bioart”, Artlink 2014 (September), vol. 34, no. 3.

Rembowska-Płuciennik M., Poetyka intersubiektywności. Kognitywistyczna teoria narracji a proza XX wieku, Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2012.

Reschner N., G.W. Leibniz’s Monadology, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 1991.

Ronen R., Possible Worlds in Literary Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Ryan M.-L., “Cognitive Maps and the Construction of Narrative Space”, in: Narrative Theory and the Cognitive Sciences, ed. by D. Herman, New York: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 2003.

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Ryan M.-L., “Possible-Worlds Theory”, in: Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory, ed. by D. Herman, M. Jahn, M.-L. Ryan, London: Routledge, 2005.

Ryan M.-L., “Story/Worlds/Media: Tuning the Instruments of a Media-Conscious Narratology”, in: Storyworlds across Media: Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology, ed. by M.-L. Ryan, J.-N. Thon, Lincoln–London: University of Nebraska Press, 2014.

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Artists’ Websites

http://la-cura.it, accessed 22.05.2019. http://www.lozano-hemmer.com, accessed 22.05.2019.

http://annadumitriu.tumblr.com/RomanticDisease, accessed 22.05.2019.

https://annadumitriu.tumblr.com/ArchaeaBot, accessed 24.05.2019. https://pinaryoldas.info/Ecosystem-of-Excess-2014, accessed 20.05.2019. https://aliciaking.net/artwork/912636-The-Vision-Splendid.html, accessed 20.05.2019. http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/research/postgraduate/tarsh-bates, accessed 26.05.2019. http://guybenary.com/work/in-potentia/, accessed 26.05.2019.

http://www.sonjabaeumel.at/work/bacteria/expanded-self, accessed 26.05. 26.05.2019.

https://www.vaughnbell.net/one-big-house.html, accessed 26.05.2019.

Informacje

Informacje: Przegląd Kulturoznawczy, 2019, Numer 2 (40), s. 151 - 180

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/20843860PK.19.009.10904

Typ artykułu: Oryginalny artykuł naukowy

Tytuły:

Polski:

Non-human Actors in Their “Strongly Possible Worlds”. Constructions of Alternative Universes in Bio Art Projects

Angielski:

Non-human Actors in Their “Strongly Possible Worlds”. Constructions of Alternative Universes in Bio Art Projects

Autorzy

Ewelina Twardoch-Raś

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2497-8463

Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie, Instytut Sztuk Audiowizualnych, Kraków
Polska

Publikacja: 20.11.2019

Status artykułu: Otwarte

Licencja: CC BY-NC-ND

Udział procentowy autorów:

Ewelina Twardoch-Raś (Autor) - 100%

Korekty artykułu:

-

Języki publikacji:

Angielski

Liczba wyświetleń: 1979

Liczba pobrań: 1508

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