Chimera : The Expanded Body for a New Ecosophy of the Arts

Analyzes, through the lens of posthuman philosophy, the practices of artists and designers who explore the potentialities of bio-mechanical, sensory, and cognitive techno-scientific extensions of our bodies, to define the 'Expanded Body' and its new ethic and entangled relationship with the human and not-human elements that surround us. 25b&w illus

Reimagines the human relationship with technoscience and environment, offering fresh, non-hierarchical and ethical perspectives beyond dystopian futures. Exploring the evolving relationship between the human body, technoscience, and the environment, Chimera introduces the concept of the “expanded body” as a transdisciplinary meeting point between art, design, technology, and science. Through a critical examination of developments such as biomechanics, prosthetics, body hacking, and biotechnology, the book investigates how these innovations alter our bodily, sensory, and cognitive capacities. Providing a unique methodological systematization of the main ecological and posthuman philosophy theories, it argues for a new framework in which the human is deeply entangled with both human and nonhuman elements in a shared environment. Building on ideas from both past and present—ranging from twentieth-century research to current discussions in neuroscience, design, and media theory—Chimera offers a thoughtful response to common fears about futures driven by technology and science. Instead of imagining a world dominated by machines or centered only on human needs, the book imagines fluid, queer, and nonhierarchical relational models between human bodies and the environment. Essential reading for scholars and students in contemporary art, new media, science and technology studies, and environmental and posthuman studies, Chimera also speaks to a wider audience interested in how technology and science is reshaping our understanding of life, identity, and ethical coexistence.