"Twentieth century artists have attempted to redefine, challenge, shock and change the world.

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Discuss this statement with particular reference to an artist or artists you have studied. Twntieth century artists search to re-define, challenge, shock and change the world through its creativity and use of new-aged technology. Opposed to the past use of paint and canvas many new artists re-define the meaning of art. Twentieth Century art seeks to communicate to the worlds audience, a message that may be physically observed through the artwork or mentally through the hidden meaning behind why the artist is creating this art piece. This is successfully shown through the works of genetic engeneering artist, Patricia Piccinini, and Performance artist, Stelarc. These Australian artists are two contemporary artists who have embraced twentieth century technologies and the human body and contorted these two together in a radical way to create unusual and different artworks that redefine the way we think of art. Piccinini's artworks are her response to our changing world with her ecouragment we recognise that "technology and technological intervention now play a huge part in our lives". With Piccinini's work we see a mixture of all human, animal and technological elements displayed through genetic engerneering. In 2002-3 Piccinini created 'The Young Family' which is essentually

a family of transgenic creatures that includes a mother and her children, with this Piccinini wants to courage compassion towards the offspring of technology, her works suggesting acceptance rather than a conflict between humans and machines. This shocks her audience by superimposing human features onto the creature including human skin with human hair and texture and a protective and caring stance towards her young into the hybrid, this is ment to show a very beautiful image of motherhood forcing the audience to relate and understand even if it is grotesque. Exploring the role of technology in her artworks Patricia Piccinini challenges the audience to contemplate the consequences of scientific intervention in a natural world. In Protein Lattice Subset Red from 1997, Piccinini has placed a professional fashion model posing with a digitally generated rat with a life-size human ear growing on its back. The rat refers to a real laboratory experiment during the time, where the rat was used as a host for injecting it with human stem cells later an ear grew on the rats back. The idea behind this artwork is to question the ethics of modern science by creating an artificial human ear on a rat. In contrast it is also representing how the model has everything to be perfect about, yet we as human dont find this unusual. It is making a point that human beings can be experimented on just like the lab rat, as the model might have been digitally enhanced by Photoshop or has been genetically perfected. Stelarc uses a unique art form to communicate to his audience the message of Mind over pain and The human body is obsolete. He successfully

communicates this message through the use of technology and even as far as body amputation being performed in front of a horrified audience. Stelarc has sort to re-define the world by using his technique of withstanding pain by entering a state of mind where he can successfully be physically hauled up, off the ground, by hooks amputated through his skin and flesh and being located all around his body from his back, to his arms, even as far as his legs. Rocks serve as weights to complete his artwork, Suspension (1970 1980). His other famous artwork heavily focuses on technology where he physically connects himself to a metal construction and included a synthetic ear to his arm in which he connected to his nerves in his arm to make the ear a functional ear. Along with this artwork he connected a robotic arm to his person, added laser lights glasses. This was all connected to an interactive online database where selected users can log in, using a personalised log in, in which each user can control a selected part of the overall construction, causing him both physical pain and personal pleasure knowing his artwork has been a success Exoskeleton (1999). His experiments with new technology art aim to shock people, confronting them with the post evolutionary developments of the human body that may arise from technological advancements. Therefore I believe Patricia Piccinini's artworks are her personal response to the ethical issues in the twentieth century world and once confronted with these issues and unusual aspects of the world that can leave her audience having to challenge and reconsider their view on the world, while Stelarc's has used technology to shock his audience into considering their and his own limits. Their

art has therefore redefined, shocked, challenged there audiences world perspective in some way. Year 12 Ert Essay by Brianna Learmonth