The Body in Contemporary Art: From Body Art to Hyper-Exposure
Since 2020, contemporary art has seen a resurgence of interest in the body, particularly in painting, photography, performance, and installation. This transformation, hastened by the pandemic, positions the body as a medium for technological change, blending image with physicality. In the 1970s, body art, exemplified by Marina Abramović, focused on firsthand experiences. In contrast, today's actions are inherently linked to digital documentation and reproduction. The evolution of contemporary figurative painting, as seen in the works of Jenny Saville and Cindy Sherman, illustrates this shift, with identity and gender shaped by media. Additionally, hybrid methods utilizing CGI and biometric tools expand this idea, as Donna Haraway characterizes the body as a space for negotiating the organic and informational within networks of sharing and archiving.
Key facts
- The body has returned to the center of contemporary art after years of post-internet aesthetics.
- Since 2020, the body is seen as a plane of technological conversion.
- Marina Abramović's 1970s body art focused on direct experience, conflict, and resistance.
- Contemporary performance is predisposed to digital inscription and diffusion.
- The pandemic accelerated the shift towards hyper-exposure and documentation.
- Jenny Saville's paintings show deformed, expanded, and compressed flesh.
- Cindy Sherman's work explores identity and gender as media constructions.
- Donna Haraway describes the body as a zone of negotiation between organic and informational.
Entities
Artists
Institutions
- Gropius Bau
- exibart.com
- exibart Italia
- exibart.es
Sources
- Exibart.es —
- Exibart —