Tamar Tembeck, Ph.D.

Künstlerin und Kunsthistorikerin - www.tembeck.org

Unconventional Treatments - Illness and Self-Representation in Contemporary Western Art

Vortrag in Englisch am Samstag, 10. Oktober 2009, 12:00

Beschreibung des Vortrags

The late twentieth century saw the rise of autopathographic practices in the visual and performing arts: well-established professional artists began to address the subject matter of illness in their works when diagnosed with acute conditions such as cancer. In the case studies of contemporary arts practices to be discussed here (notably by Jo Spence, Hannah Wilke, Bob Flanagan and others), we find that the sophisticated aesthetic treatment of sickness as a subject matter of representation is often joined to an informed critique of the biomedical and/or social “cultures” that are associated with a given disease. We regard autopathographic practices as “unconventional treatments” in this paper, since they generally aim to thwart the negative stigma that is projected onto sick bodies, by visibly affirming the self-representations of diseased subjects in a critically informed manner. In this context, the practice of self-representation involves an ongoing negotiation of changing subjecthood in the face of disease, notably through the artist’s struggle to maintain a sense of identity beyond that of the patient role.

Curriculum Vitae

Tamar Tembeck is a performing artist and art historian, whose current research interests focus on how diverse cultural practices are tied to the medical field. She recently completed a PhD at McGill University on the subject of physical illness and self-representation in contemporary art, and has been working as a therapeutic artist with Dr Clown in Montreal hospitals and rehabilitation centres since 2003. From February to June 2009, she was in residence at Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen (Innsbruck), where she curated the group exhibition “Auto/Pathographies” (Kunstpavillon, July-August 2009). Tamar presently sits on the steering committee for the Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowning.

www.tembeck.org