The Posthuman Body in the Works of Andy Warhol, David Cronenberg and Matthew Barney [abstract]

Abstract

Today, it has been assumed that in the mixed reality of virtual and physical realms, the body is not perceived as a whole. The instances of how the unity and homogeneity of the body is challenged by technology come in a great variety: application of cosmetics, pilling off dead skin, erasing the wrinkles, fighting with cellulite (on a micro-level), as well as plastic and cosmetic surgery, reshaping the body and/or its parts (on a macrolevel). Due to our interaction with technology, the imaginary wholeness of the body despoils. The body is perceived as open to modification. This traumatic acknowledgement concerns the realization of fragmentary nature of the body, the issue that has been always in focus of Lacanian psychoanalysis.