Stelarc's Impact On The Art World

World events can have a significant impact in various ways on the artist, the art world and its audience. This is particularly evident within Feminist art, which emerged in the late 1960s, Feminist art was sought to not objectively be an object for aesthetic admiration, but to incite the viewer to question the social and political landscape, and through this questioning, possibly affect the world and incite change toward equality, Barbara Kruger are examples of these ideals. Similarly, Modern technology is having a huge impact on recent art. Modern artists are using new materials and techniques to produce their artworks. An example of this is in the practice of Australian artist Stelarc who attempts to discover the psychological and physical
Stelarc can be considered an artist who uses his body as medium and exhibition space. Stelarc’s works focus heavily on futurism as well as extending the capabilities of the human body and most of his works are centered on his concept that the human body is obsolete. Stelarc’s computer generated work entitled, ‘Prosthetic head’, is an interactive, technology-generated artwork created by Stelarc to explore the narrowing divide between human and intellectual intelligence. This work is reflective the way humans in the future will converse with computerized systems. The three-dimensional animation of the head has been programmed to ‘answer’ audiences questions typed on a keyboard, replying with synchronised facial expressions and lip-sync. ‘Prosthetic head’ can hold conversation on various topics with the audience and according to the artist “increases its database, it will be more autonomous in its responses”. Stelarc intends to refine
Barbara Kruger was concerned with equality for females and pursued for recognition of rights, Kruger achieves this through attacking the power of the media, consumerism, stereotypes of women and the role of power in a male-controlled society. In one of Kruger’s work “Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground)” from 1989, a black and white photograph of a woman is displayed, but half of it is displayed like a photography negative. The woman is facing the viewer, showing a perhaps oppositional gaze. The text declares, “Your body is a battleground.” This work was created in support of birth control rights, with abortion being a topical issue. Kruger is showing, through this work, that a woman’s body is vulnerable and can be taken, unless there is the fight for the rights of women so they to do what they want with their own