EVENT 3 - Mary Maggic 4/22

 Event Post - Mary Maggic 4/22

I had the privilege of attending Mary Maggic’s talk, “We’re All Living in the Estroworld” on April 22, 2022. Her talk illuminated a different way of combining bio and art, especially for political communication. She discusses heteronormative structures, the alienation of bodies, and the symbolic representation of molecules. For example, she illustrates the estrogen receptor and how it is currently vulnerable to toxins and chemicals from capitalistic institutions.

Maggic, Mary. We’re All Living in the Estroworld. Screenshot. 2022.

Mary goes further to discuss how institutions and capitalism, impact our bodies. One phrase she uses to describe the impact of toxins in our bodies was “molecular colonization”. We do not know where these toxins or plastics come from which is similar to the idea of colonization where we do not know the exact origins of how certain things came to be due the complexity of tracing it back. This phrase also helps promote the idea of “decolonization”. Mary tries to promote the idea that we need to rethink just “cleaning up,” and she does this through biohacking. She believes biohacking can help demystify the lines molecular biopower (Mary Maggic). 

Maggic, Mary. Estrofem! Lab 2016. Screenshot 2022.

Attending Mary Maggic’s talk made me interested in exploring other forms of bioart in relation to biopolitics. I came across Heather Dewey-Hagborg’s art, and most specifically, her piece “Stranger Vision”. In this piece, she collects gum, cigarette butts, hair, etc. from the street and uses the DNA to generate 3D portraits of what the individual looks like from the collected DNA (“Stranger Visions”). She does this to communicate the limitations and bias of possible phenotyping technology used by scientists and even police in their investigations. Beyond being an example of biotech art, it voices a political message as well, similar to Mary Maggic’s work.

I would recommend others to look into Mary Maggic’s work as it does well of combining biology, art, and politics. I think we rarely consider bioart as a method of political communication, but many artists have begun to use it just as that. Bio artists reach their audience by making them view themselves as molecular beings first, and provoke further critique or thought about the processes that impact their molecular self (Meydi). These art pieces then force us to question the politics surrounding biology and the institutions impacting it. Overall, Mary Maggic’s work is illuminating in that respect, and should be considered when discussing biopolitics.

Event Registration 4/22

Sources:

Dewey-Hagborg, Heather. “Stranger Visions.” Hagborg, https://deweyhagborg.com/projects/stranger-visions.

Maggic, Mary. “About.” Mary Maggic Official, https://maggic.ooo/About.

Meydi, Karina. “EXPLORING THE POLITICAL FUNCTION OF AESTHETICS THROUGH BIOART.” 2020.

Images:

Maggic, Mary. We’re All Living in the Estroworld. Screenshot. 2022.

Maggic, Mary. Estrofem! Lab 2016. Screenshot 2022.