Synopsis
Skin represents a place where art, science, philosophy and social culture intersect. With a growing number of bodily extensions and the continuous discovery of new areas – physical, virtual and psychological – the clear distinctive lines between individuals, countries and even species are beginning to blur.Advances in bio-medical research together with deconstructivist theories in philosophy are reflected in the work of many artists using skin, materially or metaphorically, as an interface, whose work goes beyond the descriptive surface of the skin, to explore issues of xeno-transplants, trans-species and trans-racial exchanges. In recent years, a trend towards the analysis of skin, its functions and meanings, has emerged in the practice of many artists using wet biology, bio-architecture and self-experimentation.
Jens Hauser has been involved in much of the development in this area and this book provides an engaging, critical and thought-provoking approach to how current technologies are changing our perceptions of the body, the self and the interactions between bodies. Hauser’s book will accompany the landmark exhibition (of the same name) at FACT in Liverpool (1 February - 30 March 2008 www.fact.co.uk). Hauser’s curatorial concept for the exhibition reflects that of the book, involving a multidisciplinary approach to the topic, involving art, science, politics, philosophy and architecture.
sk-interfaces will be a milestone not just for the development of the specific new artists’ work but also in the history of biotechnological art.
'And what a book it is! Liverpool University Press has taken academic publishing into the next phase with this book in its integration of various modes for representing knowledge production.'
Richard Cavell
'... this book reacts to the body heat of the reader, [the cover]changing colour on contact, fading from bright orange to reveal a whitesurface with a texture not that far from some kind of skin...the book endpapers also reveal printed skin patterns...If the complexity of these external and internal surfaces intrigues you, then so will the ideas contained within them.' Times Higher Education Supplement
70 colour illustrations
160pp, 297 x 200mm, hardback
Published February 2008
