Incredibles : an artistic investigation into the embodiment of material culture

This paper reports on an ongoing practice-led enquiry into the constructed world of objects, bodies and identities. It critically reflects on body modification through plastic surgery and other forms of body customisation. The paper poses questions around how these developments may affect people’s perceptions of identity and in which way the experience of the sensible world is altered or extended. The paper does not aim to provide answers on these questions but it describes tangible, body-related objects responding to factual, fictional and ethical dimensions of the subject. The works of three recent exhibitions are presented, where artistic strategies with an affinity to Critical Design have been combined with surgical techniques in order to create discursive objects. The investigation suggests a possible “Corporal Design”-practice and sees the emerging field as the ultimate embodiment of material culture. Through the making of critical, artistic objects and fictional products it assesses relevant cultural, social and political metamorphosis happening skin deep.