This week we explored the topic of biotechnology and
art. This has turned out to be a very
controversial field with some artists believing that they must work directly
with live tissues in order to create art.
The ethical debate continues as the artists are pushing the limits of
human creativity by creating new organisms by ways of highly modifying existing
organisms. In her essay “Defining
Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications,” Ellen Levy writes, “life
forms produced through genetic engineering are necessarily a mix of nature and
culture.” Thus, biotech art falls in a
realm between what we consider natural and what our culture produces. Despite many controversies, biotech is still
very popular.
In his TED Talk,
Barry Schuler suggests that we have always modified genomes and that we
wouldn’t even have wine if we did not do so.
Schuler also quoted James Watson’s famous line, “If we don’t play God,
who will?” Modifying genomes was alos
the topic of Jurassic Park, where the
scientists bring dinosaurs back to life.
So along these lines, why not also modify biology for the sake of art?
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| Jurassic Park |
Using
biotechnology for the sake of art is the goal of the group SymbioticA. SymbioticA was established in 2000 and based
out of the University of Western Australia.
It is a wet laboratory for art in the life sciences. Kathy High was a resident at SymbioticA, and
she has had many notable works in the biotech art field. One of which is entitled Blood Wars. This project
consisted of taking human red blood cells and having them fight pathogens in
petri dishes. Another one of High’s
notable pieces is her photo series on transgenic rats, HLA-B27.
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| HLA-B27 |
Ultimately, from
this look at biotech and art, there seems to be no limit to human creativity;
however, the ethical debate on the topic may never cease.
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| Blood Wars. |
References:
"Barry Schuler: Genomics
101." TED. 1 June 2008. Web. 11 May 2015.
High, Kathy.
"Embracinganimal.com." Embracing Animal. Web. 11 May 2015.
"Jurassic Park." Swank Motion
Pictures, Inc. Web. 11 May 2015.
"Kathy High: Visual/media Artist,
Independent Curator, Educator." Kathy High. Web. 11 May 2015.
"SymbioticA." The University
of Western Australia. Web. 11 May 2015.
I liked how you gave examples of why a few of the notable scientists (such as James Watson) are in favor of using biotechnology to manipulate life. It would be interesting to also hear what Kathy High's thoughts/justifications are on using biotech in art.
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