The paper sets out to explore the intricate concept of the incompleteness of the human body, tracing connections between earlier radical experiments of body art artists (from the 1970s to 1990s) and more contemporary explorations in posthumanism. Whereas the former set of experiments interrogated the physical and psychological points of resistance of the body, the latter are currently redefining bodily limits as sites of transformation, extension and empowerment. By way of this comparative study between early and more contemporary formations of body art, we explore the complex interplay between the perception and felt experience of finitude and transcendence for artists and audiences alike.
Abbiatici et al. (Sun,) studied this question.