Amy Karle Explained

Amy Karle
Birth Place:New York, U.S.
Movement:Ultra-contemporary art, contemporary art, conceptual art, new media art, bioart, hybrid arts, digital art, computational art, performance art
Notable Works:Regenerative Reliquary, Internal Collection, Heart of Evolution?, Biofeedback, Cyborg Couture

Amy Karle (born 1980) is an American artist, bioartist, and futurist whose work focuses on the relationship between technology and humanity, specifically how technology and biotechnology impact health, humanity, society, evolution, and the future.[1] [2] [3] Karle combines science and technology with art and is known for using living tissue in her work.

In 2018, Karle was an Artist Diplomat[4] [5] sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, for a cultural exchange initiative in conjunction with the Copernicus Science Center in Poland where she led workshops focusing on women's empowerment in STEAM fields. In 2019, she was named one of the BBC's 100 women.

Personal life

Karle was born in New York in 1980 and grew up in Endicott, outside the upstate city of Binghamton. Her mother was a biochemist and her father was a pharmacist and Karle has said she "grew up in the lab and in the pharmacy".[6] Karle is an alumnus of the School of Art and Design at Alfred University and Cornell University where she received degrees in Art and Design and Philosophy.[7]

Karle was born with a rare condition, aplasia cutis congenita, missing a large region of skin on her scalp and also missing bone in her skull. She underwent a series of experimental surgical procedures as a child. The skin was repaired by tissue expansion surgery that was considered dangerous and experimental at the time that it was performed.[8] This experience impacted her work and desire to heal and enhance the human body and human condition.[9] This early experience also inspired her interest in the links between biology, medical futuring and art.

Work

Karle researches and explores the impact of technology on bodily enhancement through her artwork.[10] Her work is often classified as bioart; she describes her intentions for this work:

Karle has created a number of artworks and performances using biofeedback and neurofeedback including: A work from 2011, Biofeedback Art, was a durational performance where Karle's body was connected to a Sandin Image Processor that detected the changes that occur while she meditated over periods of 5–8 hours. Video art was created in the form of projections during the process. In the same year, Resonation involved an EEG neuroheadset connected to a Chladni plate to generate bio-signals into visuals and sounds. Her 2018 Performance in Salt Mine was conducted in the Bochnia Salt Mine and Wieliczka Salt Mine using an EEG neuroheadset to translate her brainwaves into digital music and projected visualizations, which were later used in a planetarium film she made. [11] [12] [13]

Karle was named as one of the BBC's 100 women in 2019.

Selected works

Regenerative Reliquary (2016) is a sculpture that features a 3D-printed bioprinted hydrogel scaffold shaped like the bones of a human hand placed inside a glass vessel. Human Mesenchymal stem cells from a living donor were placed on the scaffold which over time grew into bone.[14] [15] [16] It has been exhibited internationally.[17] [18]

Internal Collection (2016–2017) is a series of garments based on human anatomy. The fabrication consists of 3D body scanning, computer-aided design, laser cutting, and hand-sewing techniques to create representations of internal body systems.[19] [20]

The Body and Technology: A Conversational Metamorphosis (2017) is a collection of 2D artworks by Amy Karle made by hand and with artificial neural networking, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. In this body of work, Karle coupled artificial intelligence in healthcare with generative design to devise a system for leveraging AI in the diagnosis of disease, with generative CAD designing replacement parts, and 3D bioprinting to create implants.[21]

Morphologies of Resurrection (2020) is a series of 6 sculptures created as part of a Smithsonian residency, and exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution.[22] Karle's process examined the possibilities of reconstructive technologies and future evolution through biotechnological advancements.[23] [24] The artworks are novel evolutionary forms based upon extinct species to explore “hypothetical evolutions through technological regeneration”, 3D printed in biocompatible material.[25]

Artificial intelligence

Her AI and bio-AI hybrid artworks have been in museum exhibitions including: Artificial Intelligence: AI / The Other I Ars Electronica Linz, Austria, La Fabrique Du Vivant Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, and Future and the Arts: How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan.[26]

Notes and References

  1. News: 'How I create art with human cells' . BBC News.
  2. Book: Schnugg . Claudia . Creating ArtScience Collaboration: Bringing Value to Organizations . Springer . en . 28 February 2019. 9783030045494 .
  3. Web site: U.S. Department of State . American Arts Incubator Exchange Artist Amy Karle . American Arts Incubator, initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs developed in partnership with ZERO1.
  4. Web site: Atlas of Databodies . 2024-05-14 . transcript publishing . en-GB.
  5. Web site: Imagining Life: Amy Karle's Artistic Research Practice . 2024-05-14 . Transcript.open.
  6. Web site: Mendoza. Hannah Rose. 2017-11-27. 3D Printing Spotlight On: Amy Karle, Award Winning BioArtist. 3DPrint.com The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. en-US. 2021-03-06.
  7. Web site: Amy Karle American Arts Incubator. 2022-02-15. en-US.
  8. Web site: 2021-02-05 . Regenerating the human body with art: Amy Karle's bio-artistic proposal . . en . 2021-03-06.
  9. News: 'How I create art with human cells'. BBC News.
  10. Book: Marlene . Bart . Johannes . Breuer . Alex Leo . Freier . Atlas of Data Bodies 1: Body images in art, design and science in the age of digital media.Imagining Life: Amy Karle's Artistic Research Practice . 22–33 . 2022 . Transcript . 978-3-8376-6178-1 .
  11. Web site: What is Life in the Bio-Tech Era? Creating a More Resilient Future . Americanartsincubator.org. Amy. Karle. 10 December 2021.
  12. Web site: Arts Incubator Program Successfully Concludes with Exhibition at Copernicus Science Center. 21 May 2018. Pl.usembassy.gov. 10 December 2021.
  13. Pętle neurofeedbacku : elektroencefalografia jako strategia artystyczna w wybranych projektach z zakresu art & science. Ewelina. Twardoch-Raś. 10 December 2019. Kultura Współczesna. 4. 107. 10 December 2021. 10.26112/kw.2019.107.11.
  14. Web site: Callaghan . Meaghan Lee . 2016-10-12 . An Artist Is Growing A Skeleton Human Hand In A Lab . 2023-08-12 . Popular Science . en-US.
  15. Web site: Pangburn. D. J.. 2016-07-06 . This Artist Is Biohacking The Body To 3D-Print Fantastical Human Bones. 2021-03-31. Fast Company. en-US.
  16. Web site: 2021-02-17 . Awareness in physical and mental changes in the bioart of Roy Ascott . 2023-06-21 . Fahrenheit Magazine . en.
  17. Web site: Sina Contemporary Art . 8 Sep 2018 . 新浪当代艺术丨【干货】第二届北京媒体艺术双年展(BMAB)论坛 [The 2nd Beijing Media Art Biennale (BMAB) Forum] ]. 2021-03-31 . Weixin Official Accounts Platform (Contemporary Art Channel).
  18. Web site: Design: Expo "La Fabrique du vivant", le biodesign au Centre Pompidou . Paris-art.com . 17 March 2019.
  19. Web site: FILE FESTIVAL . 2023-06-21 . file.org.br.
  20. Book: Twardoch-Raś, Ewelina . Sztuka biometryczna w perspektywie filozofii post- i transhumanizmu: w stronę estetyki postafektywnej . 2021-11-02 . Wydawnictwo UJ . 978-83-233-7212-7 . pl.
  21. Web site: MacDonald . Amanda . Amy Karle BioArtist Invites Exponential Technologist To Collaborate . Ideaxme . 17 February 2021 . (Podcast) . 2 December 2023.
  22. Web site: Smithsonian Releases 2.8 Million Images Into Public Domain. Smithsonian Magazine. 10 December 2021.
  23. Web site: Open Access Remix. Smithsonian Institution. 10 December 2021.
  24. Web site: 21st-Century Diffusion with Smithsonian Open Access. Smithsonian Institution. 10 December 2021.
  25. Web site: Futurist Amy Karle Unlocks the Potential of Humanity's Future. 6 April 2020. Design-milk.com. 10 December 2021.
  26. Web site: Joffrin . Laurent . 2018-11-28 . LIBERATION . A new special issue: AI, at the heart of the human . 2023-06-22 . amykarle.com . en-US.