Offering the Body (2020-)
In the space of a former anatomy laboratory in a city historically associated with stealing human bodies for medical research, Offering the Body challenges historical and anthropocentric assumptions in biotechnology by questioning how relationships of authority impose their will on the bodies of others.
Driven by an interest in the complex and competing relationship between the human drive for progress and the need for sustainable planetary practices, Mackenzie considers the cells within her body as creative material. Through live performance and discussion, artist Louise Mackenzie offers (parts of) her body to both scientific and artistic research, whilst discussing with the recipients of her donation(s) how we might reimagine relationships of care through creative practice.
Contrasting Edinburgh’s historical rogue trade in cadavers with contemporary uses of bodily materials in the work of biotechnologists and artists, this live performance traces the ethics of past and present body donation practices and suggests that offering Mackenzie’s body (parts) to art may be as significant as donating them to science.
University of Applied Arts, Vienna, November 26-28 2020
Offering the Body - video lecture
Round table discussion with artists Tarsh Bates, Isabel Burr-Raty, WhiteFeather Hunter, Charlotte Jarvis, Theresa Schubert, Miriam Simun, Hege Tapio and Adam Zaretsky moderated by artist Louise Mackenzie and bio-ethicist, Ilke Turkmendag.
Working Together, The Cultural Negotiation of Science, 2021