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Lucy McRae is famous for her experiments that cross the borders between art and science and combines them in order to discover new ways of manipulating the human body.
A recurring element in her projects is the possibility of transforming the human body, the way in which it relates to the environment and the changes it goes through (both psychological as well as psychical). All these changes are determined by the environment where we live in.
McRae is an artist who likes to create alternative worlds, mixing technology with art, showing that art can find new means of expression. She is interested less in the result, and more on the experiment itself, thus concentrating on the process and on the way in which art can be put in a context where it would meet technology, science, biology. This is a way of starting a debate on issues regarding the limits of art.
Naming herself a body architect is not the most interesting thing about McRae (although this started large debates on social media channels like TED and Youtube), but the fact that due to her experiments that are on the edge of technology and fashion McRae explores more than one area. Although we might not consider that her discoveries are really important for science, her presence on the art scene is important for questioning difficult issues related to the body and the way in which an artist can cross over its imaginary borders. Her experiments may be used later in means we don’t even imagine today.
“I just invent, then wait until man comes around to needing what I’ve invented.”
(Quote by R. Buckminster Fuller, an American inventor.)
Projects
Swallowable Parfum
Though it might sound as a taboo subject and thought are many skeptics, we should think about the utility such a pill could have (for eg. it could keep at a distance the bugs, it could work as a perfume etc.). For this project she worked with Harvard Biologist Sheref Mansy.
- Make Your Maker (2012) Short Film: we are what we eat, and we eat what we are. The project presents the interconnection between the body and the food it receives.
MAKE YOUR MAKER Short Film from Lucy McRae on Vimeo.
Art is subjective and always open to different interpretations, it is an ever changing process. Sometimes the effects and the results are seen later, and this is the case with Lucy McRae, since she is an artist ahead of her time.
by Alexandra Ivașcu
Alexandra Ivașcu is a fashion designer living and working in Cluj. She is pursuing her PhD at the University of Arts and Design, Cluj, studying the representation of the couple in contemporary art
For more information visit http://ivascualexandra.com/.