ABSTRACT
Furthermore, this contemporary skin is being challenged by its relationship to modern technology, as it is evident in the work of Orlan, Stelarc and many other contemporary artists focused on the body. The increasingly common use of surgical interventions to alter skin, as well as the implant of artificial organs, sophisticated prosthetics and skin grafts is a move towards an abolition of the traditional limits of our congenital corporeal space. It indicates a change in our conception of what is natural and artificial, and what it means to be or to have a body altogether. Contemporary skin seems more than ever vulnerable and at risk. Maybe that is the reason why Claudia Benthien, early on in her book on skin, asks whether ‘we, in the age of cyberspace and genetic technology, [are] now in the process of finally shedding our old skins? Or will the epidermis remain the last bastion of authentic being, our only shelter, our hide?’36
