For my first article, I decided to share a part of something I have written about the most over the last 7 years, and have never had the chance to share before: my thesis work.
Since we are also at the beginning of Pride Month, I thought this would be the perfect timing to talk a bit about art that breaks gender and sex boundaries and old hierarchical perceptions.
ENJOY!
This dissertation examines how Donna Haraway’s concept of the cyborg, as it is presented in A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century (1985), is reflected in feminist art. The cyborg in feminist art between 1990-2022 is explored as a transgressive image representing blurred gender boundaries and an opportunity for a new self-representation for women.[1]
Haraway’s feminist cyborg metaphor, as expressed in art and culture, is discussed in the context of the different waves of feminism, from first-wave feminism to the current era, known as the fourth wave. This dissertation explores the visual representation of the cyborg as a cultural and feminist symbol and the transformation this image has undergone due to the technological developments of the last decades. It compares early cyberfeminism artworks (from the early 1990s) and contemporary works, focusing on two main themes: the blurring of gender boundaries and the monstrous feminine cyborg.
Haraway post-modern feminist politics is rooted in technology’s impact on society. She draws on the concept and image of the cyborg, which represents partiality, perversity, and blurring of boundaries, as an alternative to Western humanist tradition. Haraway’s cyborg world disrupts the boundaries between human and animal, organism and machine, as well as physical and non-physical. The cyborg allows partial identities, contradictory standpoints, and a bodily and social reality in which humans, animals, and machines are intertwined.
Haraway is considered part of the third wave of feminism. In contrast to earlier waves of feminism, which were grounded in humanist traditions and based on generalizations and appropriation, third-wave feminism sought to deconstruct the binary perception, emphasize the need for diversity, and give room for marginalized positions and differences among women.[2] As such, Haraway’s feminist proposal explores partial explanations, intersections, coalitions, and diversity instead of universal feminist identity. According to Haraway, the technological culture challenges the dualistic perceptions of Western tradition, particularly the perception of woman-as-other.
Haraway is also considered a forerunner of fourth-wave feminism (from the 1990s onwards). This wave of feminist discourse and action, primarily in popular media, utilizes the internet and digital technologies as its principal means and conveys the absolute blurring of boundaries and the presence of cyborgs in everything. The Cyber-Feminist Movement, born in the 1990s following Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto, is part of this wave. Art was one of this movement’s most essential components, emphasizing the pleasure and joy of the cyborg’s blurring of boundaries. Early cyberfeminism had a utopian perception of cyberspace, which was shattered by the development of the internet. Contrary to expectations, the internet turned out to be neither autonomic nor egalitarian; moreover, it reinforced images of gender and racial stereotypes.[3]
The artworks analyzed in this study reflect the transformation of feminism over the last three decades. Early cyberfeminism was characterized by a utopian approach, optimism, and enthusiasm, apparent in the early artworks' imaginary and fantastical cyborg depictions. The cyborg connections in these works are salient and bold, reflecting enthusiasm and joy. With the disillusion from the utopian hopes, the understanding of cyberspace and the possibility it affords became more realistic. While humor and irony remained essential means in the artworks of the 2000s, the social critique articulated in these works has broadened, gaining more prominence.
The contemporary artworks express the significant technological changes and complete blurring of the boundaries between cyberspace and the real world. These cyborgs are hybrid, fluid creatures whose human-machine connections are simpler and more realistic. They represent technology as an inseparable aspect of life while continuing to expand their social critique by integrating intersectionality with other realms. This integration reflects feminist thought, which has become more networked and circular instead of linear and dichotomic.
The first main theme explored in this study is the blurring of gender boundaries. Cyborg art embodies the zeitgeist, encapsulating the fears and desires permeating the culture of its era.[4] Historically, cyborg representations in visual art mirrored traditional gender dynamics. Throughout time, the female body has symbolized the fear of technological dominance and simultaneously served as a sexual object designed for the male gaze. Similarly, cyborg representation in popular culture also reflects these traditional gender dynamics. In science-fiction films, comics, and video games, these characters bear exaggerated gender traits, with female cyborg characters serving mainly as visual and sexual objects for the male heroes.
This study investigates artworks that do the opposite: they use the cyborg to undermine traditional gender roles. The works by art collective VNS Matrix represent the subversion and utopic approach of early cyberfeminism while critiquing traditional gender perceptions. Irony, parody, humor, and pleasure, some of early cyberfeminism’s primary tools, are also found in their later works. Marina Zurkow’s animated series Braingirl (2003) and Lyn Hershman Leeson’s film Teknolust (2005) feature post-human boundary-blurring characters who challenge social hierarchies and undermine gender power relations whimsically and playfully.
The cyborg representations in contemporary artworks can be divided into two main trends: a subtle and incidental body-technology connection and a complete and utter blurring of boundaries such that there is no distinction between body and technology. Artist Chiara Girimonti is a representative of the subtle connection trend. Her sketches (2017-2019) feature androgynous or genderless characters whose cyborg connection are more delicate than in the earlier artworks. In contrast, Paula Pin’s project, Trans Organs on a Chip (2016), conveys an absolute blurring of boundaries. This radical laboratory project uses human-plant cells, human hormones, and a hybrid chip. It challenges the deterministic perception of biology, dilutes the lines of sexual differentiation, and represents a hybrid understanding of gender.[5]
The second theme explored in this study is that of the monstrous feminine cyborg. The social role of the monster is to represent the other and define boundaries. It exemplifies the abject, simultaneously invoking the subject’s attraction and repulsion while undermining their perception.[6] Both women and monsters constitute symbols of the other and are historically linked. Faith Wilding takes the image of the woman-monster to the extreme in the genderless and boundaryless cyborg figures she collages, mirroring this image of the women-monster by utilizing the power of the taboo. Lee Bull’s sculpture series, Cyborgs W (1999), is another example of utilizing taboos. By portraying cyborg warriors who are also disabled, she shatters the image of the ideal woman, critiquing the traditional portrayal of women. She represents Haraway’s ironic, cyborg feminist subject while exploring the portrayal of women in Western art history and Japanese Manga.
In contemporary work depicting the monstrous feminine cyborg, we can identify the two trends of cyborg representation found in blurred-gender-binaries-themed artworks: subtle cyborg connection and complete blurring of boundaries. The latter can be seen in the works of Wangechi Mutu, which depict utterly genderless monsters; The former can be found in Joanna Grochowska’s work, particularly in her exhibition “Opening the Future” (2021), which displays faceless and genderless figures, whose cyborg connection is delicate and elusive. The contemporary works demonstrate how Haraway’s cyborg has become inseparable from the feminist and artistic DNA.
Through contextualization of the discourse and its applications, this study is not only based on Haraway’s concept and image of the cyborg but also demonstrates its significance for feminist thought, as well as its application and influence on art and popular culture. The cyborgs in artworks of the past three decades form an alternative to the traditional cyborg representations and, as such, embody Haraway’s vision. They encapsulate contradictions and opposing aspects, demonstrating multiplicity, ambiguity, and polyphony as tools for conveying feminist critique. Their power is expressed through irony and their pleasure in transgressing boundaries. The feminist artists continue the feminist tradition of utilizing the abject and taboo for creating cyborg monsters that manifest the big significant social and cultural change of the last decades.
Tel Aviv University - The Interdisciplinary Program in the Arts. May 2024.
Supervisors: Dr. Yael Eylat Van-Essen & Dr. Daphna Ben-Shaul
English translation: Noa Shoval
[1] Donna Haraway. A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology and Socialist Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century
[2] Ealasaid Munro, “Feminism: A Fourth Wave?” Political Insight 4, no. 2 (2013): 22.
[3] Nina Wakeford, "Gender and The Landscapes of Computing in an Internet Café," in. The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader, ed. Gill Kirkup and others (London: Routledge in association with the Open University, 2000), 291-292.
[4] Gonzalez, Jennifer, "Envisioning Cyborg Bodies: Notes from Current Research," The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader, ed. Gill Kirkup and others (London: Routledge in association with the Open University, 2000), 58.
[5] “TransOrgansOnAchip,” paulapin.net, accessed July 2, 2019, http://paulapin.net/transorgansonachip/.
[6] Margrit Shildrick, "Monstrous Reflection on the Mirror," in Belief, Bodies & Being: Feminist Reflections on Embodiment, ed. Deborah Orr, (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers inc, 2006), 37-38.
