Medicine in Contemporary Art: Pharmacy, Laboratory, Lancet, and Pills. On the Example of Works by Damien Hirst and Valeria Abendroth
Keywords:
Contemporary art; Damien Hirst; Valeria Abendroth; medicine; pills; ready-made; appropriation; science art; bio-art; memento mori; installation.Abstract
The author studied the representation of the clinical environment and medical equipment in contemporary art. The author analysed the works by Damien Hirst (UK) and Valeria Abendroth (Russia). These artists are the representatives of different generations and countries but their art reflects a common trend of contemporary culture towards medicine, which is reflected in TV series House, M.D., The Queen’s Gambit etc. In the article, the author studied the artists’ strategies, which help recreate the clinical environment of a pharmacy or medical laboratory in the context of art; and work with objects associated with the diagnostics and treatment, such as specimen, organ models, special tools etc. The analysis of works by Damien Hirst (from series: Medicine Cabinets, Pill Cabinets, Spot Paintings, Instrument Cabinets, and Pharmacy) and Valeria Abendroth (Laboratorium Suggerere) showed their appeal to the formal aspect of clinic and its equipment. They pay attention to aesthetics, colours, design and colour balance. Following this logic, the artists create a pseudo-clinical environment, building the potential field of new meanings. This approach leads to the re-evaluation of the settled ideas about clinical space as utopian and perfect or scary and obscure.
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