Moving Toward a Cyborg Consciousness

 
Cyborg MockUp.jpg

Since the inception of the term “cyborg” in the 1960s by Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline, these part organic, part technological figures have entered our imaginations across popular culture, particularly within the science fiction genre, from Inspector Gadget and and Roy Batty, to Terminator and Darth Vader. Though the term cyborg is now a half-century-old, it still manages to evade concrete explanation when applied to critical theory, from strictly scientific, to more open ended interpretations. As I completed research and analyzed the artistic endeavors of myself and others, the cyborg evolved into less of a concrete figure, and more as a symbol for a concept of the “both/and.” In this approach, the cyborg becomes more than an organic and technological fusion, and comes to represent the possibility for mixture, blurring, disruption, and transgressing boundaries. As such, the cyborg creates an opportunity for new approaches to feminist considerations and art making as they intersect with our identities.