Spectacle or critique? Reconsidering the meaning of reproduction in the work of Patricia Piccinini

This paper considers the role of the rhetoric of the lens and mechanical reproduction underlying the strategy of appropriation and collaboration in contemporary art. The recent work of the Australian artist Patricia Piccinini is discussed in the context of conservative currents in international art, the legacy of appropriation in late twentieth century Australian art, and the critical reception of her recent work in Australia. While it has been claimed that this recent work forms an effective critique of techno-science, and of genetic engineering in particular, it is my opinion that her work is popular for other reasons that effectively inhibit rather than stimulate serious debate on such issues. The work is also discussed in relation to the question of how much contemporary art is complicit with the cult of celebrity and the art market--an economy of effects conducive to the general marginalisation of art as an agent of critique.