Atlas der Datenkörper 1 ›

“What fascinates Karle, especially with regards to the human body, is the contradictory potential of technology… In art, it is possible to negotiate inescapable questions as well as utopian and dystopian future scenarios. But how does the convergence, mixing and reconfiguration of organic and artificial bodies affect our definition of what it means to be human? In relation to the significance of illness, healing, and technology within her biography, Karle exposes philosophical lines and nodes around the human body and its fragility. Her works are hybrids that embrace artistic as well as scientific methodologies. As such, she can be described as one of the most relevant representatives of Bioart.”

Digital technologies and social media are changing the way we perceive ourselves and our bodies, distorting, amplifying or producing specific body images. Those featured in this volume map these phenomena, ask about their mode of existence in the media and about the possibilities of their critique. They counter their novelty with a transdisciplinary approach. The landscape of recent body images and techniques of a digital corporeality is examined from the perspective of artistic and design research as well as art, cultural and media studies as well as psychology and neuroscience.

Amy Karle’s exploration of the human body breaks with conventional conceptions of corporeality. She confronts us with hidden rhizomorphic connections beneath our skin, aspects of spirituality, and the ever-advancing technical progress in human medicine and our environment. She questions our personal relationship to our bodies and lets us wonder if the way we connect to our own physicality has changed in the 21st century. The human body is Karle’s investigative starting. From there, numerous parallels can be drawn to the basic concept of the Atlas of Databodies and this volume’s fundamental thoughts.