Miško Šuvaković, Polona Tratnik, Mojca Puncer / Surplus Life: The Philosophy of Contemporary Transitional Art and Form of Life : with Regards to the Artistic Productions of Polona Tratnik

"In the book, Miško Šuvaković reflects on the very topical question of so-called 'surplus life and forms of life', through the lens of groundbreaking theoretical and artistic articulations, including the artistic productions of the Slovenian bio-artist Polona Tratnik. With his concise analyses of relations between art, politics, and (mainly biotechnological) science, the author shows how forms of life can be visualised or ‘spectacularised’ in contemporaneity throughout the mediation of art. As Šuvaković demonstrates, by means of intersecting with complex trans-disciplinary research projects, art is able to produce transitional situations in which highly specialised scientific knowledge about life is elevated onto the level of sensory, affective, and bodily experiences. The author compellingly identifies the effects of collapsing the barriers that used to demarcate separate spheres and disciplines under the conditions of globalised culture. The book thus encourages us to keep re-examining the concepts of life that the tradition of Western thought has bequeathed to us, in the light of discontinuities, turning points, and potentialities of forms of life, with which and through which we must live and co-exist."

- Mojca Puncer

Editor: Polona Tratnik
Language: English
Size: 16,5 x 23,5 cm, 112 pages
Binding: softcover
Publisher: Horizonti, 2011