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What does it mean to take Animals, Plants, and Machines seriously when engaging in hybrid natures such as bioart, plant-art, taxidermy art and cyborgs in contemporary art?  Traditionally within art history the focus has been on human culture as the fundamental underpinning for cultural behaviour and productions, consequently rendering animal and plant histories invisible from the analysis of artworks. In this thesis I attend to the bodies of animals, plants, and machines put in the context of the zooësis (places/contact zones) of these bodies as biopolitical aesthetics (aesthetic bodies/objects) in contemporary art. Followingly, also attending to the histories of animals, plants, and machines in human societies and culture.  Situated within the interdisciplinary field of Human-Nonhuman-Animal Studies, or Anthrozoology, the aim in this thesis is to examine the meaning of animals, plants, and machines beyond representation, symbolism and mythology in contemporary art. In other words, this thesis analyses the representations of animal, plant, and cyborg bodies as actant aesthetic (organic and mechanical) objects, in art, literature, and media. Particular focus is payed to the hybrid natures founded in the taxidermy art of Berlinde De Bruyckere; in the bioart and transgenic plant-art of Špela Petrič; in the hybrid hyperrealist sculptures and bioethics of Patricia Piccinini; and in the hybrid artifacts, or “technoanimalism” of Tove Kjellmark.

Donna J. Haraway ist eine US-amerikanische Biologin, Wissenschaftsphilosophin und Literaturwissenschaftlerin, die an den Departments History of Consciousness und Feminist Studies der University of California lehrte. In dieser Position hatte sie die erste explizit der Feministischen Theorie gewidmete Professur in den USA inne. Haraways Arbeiten bewegen sich in einem thematischen Schnittfeld von feministischer Erkenntniskritik, Cultural Studies, politischer Theorie und Biowissenschaften.

The works of Erik Beckman (1935-1995) are quite unique within the Swedish literary scene. His texts convert the experimental language of the concretists of the sixties into a new form of fabulation that undermines our understanding of what literature can be, ranging from novels and poetry to theatre pieces and radio theatre. His literary style has been discussed by critics, but the depths of it are yet to be fully explored. There is a lot to gain from combining contemporary theories of materiality and corporeality with his self-proclaimed materialistic poetics. The novel Inlandsbanan (1967) is a fragmentary account of an inland train going through Sweden, with characters coming and going in a frustrating tempo. The text is filled with word games, narrative constructs and a language that brings forth the material aspects of communication that push the boundaries of literary interpretation. This thesis examines Beckman’s novel through the lens of theoretical concepts of thingliness and corporeality developed by the likes of Judith Butler, Karen Barad, and Andrew Pickering in order to elaborate an analysis that goes beyond the surface of its experimental and materialistic use of literary language. Using bodily themes, I analyze specific passages in the novel in order to find a new understanding of its semantic functions. By doing this through the concept of performativity, not only can I identify a thematized corporeality, but beyond that a literary form and a language that problematizes the very notion of the written text as a body and highlights a material agency in literature. This method enables an interpretation of the novel that can illuminates important aspects at play that previously have not been explored.

Esta pesquisa busca contribuir para o desenvolvimento de relações entre corpo e tecnologia, ao compreender esse dialogo como um sistema alterador de percepção. Ao partir da experiência do corpo junto a dispositivos que permitem a transgressão do organismo natural, inicio com essa dissertação a formulação do conceito de \"acoplamento\", espécie de extensão que não invalida o corpo natural, mas que trabalham em conjunto para formar um novo corpo propositor de distintas perspectivas. Compreendo que \"acoplamento\" seja em consonância ao que chamo \"poética do risco\", onde encaro a berlinda não como um abismo, mas como um desconhecido que me permite sair da zona de conforto para alcançar a potência do sistema em que me encontro. Ao apresentar alguns trabalhos desenvolvidos nos últimos anos, pretendo tatear noções de corpo, tecnologia, presença, órtese e prótese que possam apontar caminhos para a formulação do que venho até então chamando de \"acoplamento\". Serão apontados os trabalhos: \"adaMachine Experimento #1 Máquina de Criar Presenças\", performance telemática que investiga possibilidades de presença, tecnologias e afetos através de formas de comunicação mediadas, ruidosas e suscetíveis as limitações dessa mediação; \"La Grand Pelea\" investiga sensores biofísicos buscando ultrapassar a fronteira da pele através da criação de wearables, com capacidade para potencializar as relações entre a tecnologia e o corpo que a veste, propondo interfaces assistivas e para performance; e \"Monomito\", objeto performático vestível, no qual as dimensões da tecnologia e do corpo ocupam o mesmo lugar de importância, trata da jornada humana modificada pelas relações que cria com o outro, ainda que em tempos distintos. Encerro esta dissertação com um relato sobre o Projeto Híbrida, que promoveu de forma técnica, teórica e sensível, conexões que nos mostram as potências do atuar coletivamente na contemporaneidade. O projeto revela implicações que extrapolaram os conceitos de arte e o laboratório acadêmico ao vivenciar a cultura do compartilhamento e da prototipagem para apresentar questões estéticas que emergiram de proposições sensíveis, oferecerendo ferramentas de empoderamento social. / This research aims to contribute to the development of relations between body and technology, as understanding this dialogue as perception changing system. From the physical experience of connection with devices that allow the transgression of the natural organism, I discuss, with this dissertation, what I\'ve been calling the \"coupling\" concept. A sort of body extension that does not invalidate the natural body, but instead works mutually to form a new body that proposes different perspectives. In my understanding, \"coupling\" is in consonance to what I call \"poetics of risk,\" in which I see the line before the void, the exit point; not as an abyss, but as an unknown space that allows me to get out of the comfort zone to achieve the power of the system in which I find myself in. By presenting some work done in recent years, I want to grope for notions of body, technology, presence, orthotics and prosthesis that indicate the principles for what I\'ve been calling so far as \"coupling\". The works that will be discussed are: \"adaMachine Experiment # 1 Presence Creator Machine\", a telematic performance that investigates the possibilities of presence, technologies and affections through mediated, noisy and limited communication; \"La Grand Pelea\" investigates biophysical sensors seeking to cross the border of the skin by creating wearables, able to enhance the relationship between technology and the body that wears it, proposing interfaces for assistive purposes and performative art experiments; and \"Monomyth\", wearable performative object, in which the dimensions of technology and body occupy the same place of importance, deals with the human journey that is modified by establishing peculiar relations provoked by the apparatus and the performer. I conclude this dissertation with a report about Hibrida Project, which promoted technical, theoretical and sensitive connections that show us the power of acting collectively in contemporary times. The implications of this project revealed that it went beyond the concepts of art and the academic laboratory, as its participants experienced the culture of sharing and prototyping, and were able to present aesthetic issues that emerge from these sensitive propositions, offering social empowerment tools.

Esta pesquisa busca contribuir para o desenvolvimento de relações entre corpo e tecnologia, ao compreender esse dialogo como um sistema alterador de percepção. Ao partir da experiência do corpo junto a dispositivos que permitem a transgressão do organismo natural, inicio com essa dissertação a formulação do conceito de \"acoplamento\", espécie de extensão que não invalida o corpo natural, mas que trabalham em conjunto para formar um novo corpo propositor de distintas perspectivas. Compreendo que \"acoplamento\" seja em consonância ao que chamo \"poética do risco\", onde encaro a berlinda não como um abismo, mas como um desconhecido que me permite sair da zona de conforto para alcançar a potência do sistema em que me encontro. Ao apresentar alguns trabalhos desenvolvidos nos últimos anos, pretendo tatear noções de corpo, tecnologia, presença, órtese e prótese que possam apontar caminhos para a formulação do que venho até então chamando de \"acoplamento\". Serão apontados os trabalhos: \"adaMachine Experimento #1 Máquina de Criar Presenças\", performance telemática que investiga possibilidades de presença, tecnologias e afetos através de formas de comunicação mediadas, ruidosas e suscetíveis as limitações dessa mediação; \"La Grand Pelea\" investiga sensores biofísicos buscando ultrapassar a fronteira da pele através da criação de wearables, com capacidade para potencializar as relações entre a tecnologia e o corpo que a veste, propondo interfaces assistivas e para performance; e \"Monomito\", objeto performático vestível, no qual as dimensões da tecnologia e do corpo ocupam o mesmo lugar de importância, trata da jornada humana modificada pelas relações que cria com o outro, ainda que em tempos distintos. Encerro esta dissertação com um relato sobre o Projeto Híbrida, que promoveu de forma técnica, teórica e sensível, conexões que nos mostram as potências do atuar coletivamente na contemporaneidade. O projeto revela implicações que extrapolaram os conceitos de arte e o laboratório acadêmico ao vivenciar a cultura do compartilhamento e da prototipagem para apresentar questões estéticas que emergiram de proposições sensíveis, oferecerendo ferramentas de empoderamento social. / This research aims to contribute to the development of relations between body and technology, as understanding this dialogue as perception changing system. From the physical experience of connection with devices that allow the transgression of the natural organism, I discuss, with this dissertation, what I\'ve been calling the \"coupling\" concept. A sort of body extension that does not invalidate the natural body, but instead works mutually to form a new body that proposes different perspectives. In my understanding, \"coupling\" is in consonance to what I call \"poetics of risk,\" in which I see the line before the void, the exit point; not as an abyss, but as an unknown space that allows me to get out of the comfort zone to achieve the power of the system in which I find myself in. By presenting some work done in recent years, I want to grope for notions of body, technology, presence, orthotics and prosthesis that indicate the principles for what I\'ve been calling so far as \"coupling\". The works that will be discussed are: \"adaMachine Experiment # 1 Presence Creator Machine\", a telematic performance that investigates the possibilities of presence, technologies and affections through mediated, noisy and limited communication; \"La Grand Pelea\" investigates biophysical sensors seeking to cross the border of the skin by creating wearables, able to enhance the relationship between technology and the body that wears it, proposing interfaces for assistive purposes and performative art experiments; and \"Monomyth\", wearable performative object, in which the dimensions of technology and body occupy the same place of importance, deals with the human journey that is modified by establishing peculiar relations provoked by the apparatus and the performer. I conclude this dissertation with a report about Hibrida Project, which promoted technical, theoretical and sensitive connections that show us the power of acting collectively in contemporary times. The implications of this project revealed that it went beyond the concepts of art and the academic laboratory, as its participants experienced the culture of sharing and prototyping, and were able to present aesthetic issues that emerge from these sensitive propositions, offering social empowerment tools.

This thesis explores the notion of ‘experimental voice’ in avant-garde performance, in the way it transgresses conventional forms of vocal expression as a means of both extending and enhancing the expressive capabilities of the voice, and reframing the social and political contexts in which these voices are heard. I examine these avant-garde voices in relation to three different liminal contexts in which the voice plays a central role: in ritual vocal expressions, such as Greek lament and Māori karanga, where the voice forms a bridge between the living and the dead; in electroacoustic music and film, where the voice is dissociated from its source body and can be heard to resound somewhere between human and machine; and from a psychoanalytic perspective, where the voice may bring to consciousness the repressed fears and desires of the unconscious. The liminal phase of ritual performance is a time of inherent possibility, where the usual social structures are inverted or subverted, but the liminal is ultimately temporary and conservative. Victor Turner suggests the concept of the ‘liminoid’ as a more transgressive alternative to the liminal, allowing for permanent and lasting social change. It may be in the liminoid realm of avant-garde performance that voices can be reimagined inside the frame of performance, as a means of exploring new forms of expression in life. This thesis comes out of my own experience as a performer and is informed both by theoretical discourse and practical experimentation in the theatre. Exploring the voice as a liminal, transgressive force requires analysis from an experiential perspective.

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This thesis will be focused on the analysis of the basic types of the female artificial movie characters - the beings connecting "femininity" (humanity) and technology. These characters holds the external female sexual signs or the characteristics stereotypically perceived as female (e.g. cyborg/cyborg woman, android woman, robotess). My issue will be examinated from the perspective of postmodern approach to the process of shaping their bodies and identities in relation to the narrative movie structure. The characters will be divided into categories based on their dominating physical and "social" function in the story. The subsequent identification and interpretation of physicality, identity and relations with other characters of the narrative will be based not only on principles of semiotic analysis, but will take into account especially the approach of postmodernism. The main theoretical basis for this paper will be the theory of poststructuralism and so called post theories - a theory of posthumanism, transhumanism and cyberfeminism.

The thesis focuses on the analysis of the basic types of the film characters portraying artificial women: creatures who combine "femininity" (humanity) and technology, and who show female sexual characteristics or features that are stereotypically perceived as female-like (e.g. female cyborgs, female androids, female robots). The characters are analyzed and approached from the perspective of postmodern philosophy and post-theory studies; the forming of their body and identity is analyzed on the account of the narrative. The aim of the thesis is to explore whether the film representations of female cyborgs are similar to real cyborgs in the sense that they bring liberalization from the point if view of posthumanism and cyberfeminism, or whether they can only be perceived as the prime form of the Foucaltian body-as-machine, i.e. perfectly controllable precise technicist bodies which are created by the current power dispositions. The characters are divided into four categories, based on their predominant physical and "social" functions: a sexbot, a domesticated artificial woman, a destructive artificial woman and an emotional/intelligent artificial woman. The following identification and interpretation of the body, identity, relationships and the narrative structures are based on the theoretical...