Week 6: BioTech+Art

As we have seen until Week 6, nature has been an interesting field for the artists and Joe Davis is considered as the pioneer of the Bio-Art, art of natural biology. His idea is that the genomes can be a new palette for an artist. He started to convince molecular biologist to synthesize DNA and then inserted into genomes of bacteria. There are some ethical issues on the animals examined or treated for the art work, and technical issue that scientist should be involved to perform the art. One of the most iconic Bio-Arts is the fluorescent bunny, by Eduardo Kac. The fluorescent bunny is created by French scientists inserting fluorescent jellyfish's gene into a bunny using micro injection. Obviously, it is vivid that this art work has the two issues that we discussed earlier. On the other hand artist like Eduardo Kac and Joe Davis question us on what is life and what does it mean. Joe Davis said "All of our dreams are going to come true. So we will have to have the right kinds of dreams. That is why science needs artists like me."






Symbiotica is the group of Biologists and Artists. They enter the science lab and experimenting living cells and tissues. One of their artworks is the Fish and Chips, a robotic arm generated by a activity of goldfish neurons.










Adam Zeretsky is the first international resident of Symbiotica and introduced Bio-Art in his collaboration with Joe Davis. His art work is kind of focused in humor. However he really tried to understand the biology and genetic. Adam Zeretsky said "Scientific and industrial organisms created for specific utilization for the furtherance of comprehension are also expressions of aesthetic choices."







I have never thought that kind of art that is involving biological technologies, however during the lectures I have seen some examples of artwork that require and involve scientists and biologists. The nature of biology is valid for the expressive medium for the artists. From Week 1 to Week 6, we have learned that the science and art are evolving simultaneously. Therefore, I think it is contradict to say that this kind of artwork should be limited or banned. The Bio-Art could also have practical effects to the science. 


Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications:
http://nanobioart.artscicenter.com/hybrid/sites/default/files/Ellen_Levy_BioArt.pdf

 “ELECTRONIC MUTAGENESIS.” BioArtLab, emutagen.com/index.html.

 “GFP BUNNY.” NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ENIGMA, www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html#gfpbunnyanchor.

 Kelty, Chris. “Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology?”. web. 13 May. 2018.

 Levy, Ellen. “Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications.”Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. Eds. Margot Lovejoy, Christiane Paul, and Victoria Vesna. University of Chicago Press: 2011.

 Vesna, Victoria, narr. “BioTech Art Lectures I-V.” N.p., . web. 13 May 2018.

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