Affect as Contamination

Embodiment in Bioart and Biotechnology

Agnieszka Wolodzko (ArtEZ University of the Arts, the Netherlands)

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
20 February 2025

Philosophy: aesthetics; Ethics & moral philosophy; Bio-ethics; Biotechnology

Bringing the concept of contamination into dialogue with affect theory and bioart, Agnieszka Wolodzko urges us to rethink our relationship with ourselves, each other and other organisms. Thinking through the lens of contamination, this book provides an innovative approach to understanding the leaky, porous and visceral nature of our bodies and their endless interrelationships and, in doing so, uncovers new ways for thinking about embodiment.

Affect theory has long been interested in transmission or contagion but, inspired by Spinoza and Deleuze, Affect as Contamination goes further, as contamination is concerned with the materiality of bodies and their affective encounter with other matter. This brings urgency to the notion of affect, not only for bioart that works with risky bodies but also for understanding how to practise our bodies in the age of biotechnological manipulation and governance.

Using challenging and transgressive bioart projects as provocative case studies for rethinking affect and bodily practice, Wolodzko follows various ‘contaminants’ from blood, hormones and viruses to food, glitter and plants. This takes the form of both personal accounts of encounters with the contaminations of bioart and critical analyses of aesthetic, material and technical objects, with each one highlighting in different ways the risky and uncertain nature of contamination.

Affect as Contamination is an urgent and original meditation on just what it means to be living, and practising our bodies, in an era where biotechnology contaminates all aspects of our lives.

By: Agnieszka Wolodzko (ArtEZ University of the Arts the Netherlands)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781350333048
ISBN 10: 1350333042
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 20 February 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements Foreword 1. Affect as Contamination 2. Contaminant B like the Blood of a Horse 3. Contaminant T like a Taste of Smog 4. Contaminant O like Organs of Multibody 5. Contaminant V like a Vastal Bibliography Index

Agnieszka Wolodzko is Lecturer and Researcher at AKI Academy of Art and Design/ArtEZ University of the Arts, the Netherlands, and is founder of the artistic research program, BIO MATTERs.