Cyborgs and body design: Art and technology, a view from félix duque

Abstract

In this article we analyze the relationships between art, technology and body, taking as a framework for the analysis Spanish philosopher Felix Duque's ideas. In the first place, we consider the conception of the body as a machine and its current derivation in the notion of cyborg. Secondly, we show how the conception of the body-machine becomes part of Stelarc's body art and Orlan's carnal art, who propose the design of the body because of its obsolescence. In the third place, we expose Duque's criticisms of these cyber-artists and, in general, of the transhumanist and posthumanist approaches. Finally, we compare the metaphor of the «cyborg» in Broncano with Duque's «philosophy of the technique of nature», highlighting the need to raise and make explicit the political issue implicit in the design of the body and the «free creation».