Overview

The French performance artist Orlan has acquired both fame and infamy for her performances. A multimedia artist since the 1960s, she embarked at the beginning of the 1990s on a project of body modification through plastic surgery, the basic premise of which was to transform herself into a digitally designed pastiche of the greatest icons of female beauty in Western art. Orlan's project has sparked intense debate in the visual arts, among feminists, and among those concerned with medical ethics, as it raises complex questions about sexuality, beauty, subjectivity, gender and technology. This book addresses all these issues, and focuses on the interrelations of dress, body and culture in Orlan's work since the 1960s. Surgical performances represent the most extreme phase of Orlan's artistic practice, but she has made extensive and varied use of costume throughout her career.Using the ‘body theory' and theories of monstrosity developed by feminist, gender and film theorists, and the work of philosophers Luce Irigaray and Gilles Deleuze, the author examines the challenges Orlan's performance art poses to its viewers. Anyone working in the fields of gender, the visual arts or cultural studies will find this book and the questions it raises provocative and enlightening.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kate Ince
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Berg Publishers
Volume:   v. 20
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.311kg
ISBN:  

9781859733394

ISBN 10:   1859733395
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   01 November 2000
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   In Print  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Fascinating and informative.' Modern and Contemporary France 'By the end of this book many readers with a strong stomach will be keeping an eye out for [Orlan's] future performance dates.' Feminist Theory

'Fascinating and informative.'Modern and Contemporary France'By the end of this book many readers with a strong stomach will be keeping an eye out for [Orlan's] future performance dates.' Feminist Theory

Author Information

Kate Ince Lecturer in French Studies,University of Birmingham

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