2013-07-23 (Krakow) RayFish Footwear, or the age of the biotechnological sublime

Jos de Mul, RayFish Footwear, or the age of the biotechnological sublime.  Invited lecture at the 19th International Congress of Aesthetics. Krakow: Jagiellonian University, July 23, 2013.

The notion of the sublime, which since the nineteenth century is one of the dominant aesthetic categories, is strongly connected with (the artistic representation of) overwhelming nature. In my talk I will argue that in the course of the 20th century the sublime increasingly becomes entangled with the experience of technology. However, in the age of biotechnologies, such as genetic modification and synthetic biology, the sublime regains a natural dimension. Illustrated by RayFish Footware and some other striking examples of recent 'bio-art' it will be argued that in the age of biotechnology the difference between nature, technology and art will gradually vanish, and new dimensions of the sublime will become manifest.