This paper introduces an idea for emerging practices of “citizen surgery” in which individuals without surgical training engage with techniques, instruments and language of professional surgery. These activities may take place as participatory events as well as gallery or online performances, typically involving food or craft-based simulators and revolving around skills acquisition and dissection of surgical culture.

©2021 ISAST
2021
ISAST

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DermaBread®: Citizen Surgery Collective is an interdisciplinary practice-based research group consisting of artists, critical posthumanists and anthropologists, founded by Kaisu Koski in 2020. Their work concerns surgical literacy, sensory skills acquisition, simulation, and the relationship between (non)human animal bodies and food. DermaBread was first introduced in the 4S Making&Doing session in October 2021. Copyright credit: Kaisu Koski, Noémie Soula, Anne van Veen, Anna Harris

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Lunchtime Surgery Class: The class is connected remotely in this simultaneous surgical lesson. The teacher calls for the instruments needed: “the blade!”. Four multicoloured gloves in four different screens pick up sharp instruments – wait, are they kitchen knives? “Tweezers!” Are they eyelash curlers? The surgery continues, virtually, synchronically, the screens focus on the body part being operated on. Copyright credit: Kaisu Koski, Noémie Soula, Anne van Veen, Anna Harris

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United Care Salon: This performance is a tribute to medieval barber-surgeons, who conducted both haircutting and surgical procedures such as teeth extractions and bloodletting. The speculative barber-surgeon (re)enactment portrays a very real future scenario in which citizens necessarily acquire skillsets to conduct various operations on themselves and others in the absence of accessible healthcare. Copyright credit: Kaisu Koski, Noémie Soula

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