Unit 6 - BioTech + Art

This week’s topic focuses on the combination of biology and technology to create art and the controversy that may erupt from the results and the experiments. Life itself should be considered as a medium of art and from my Unit 4 post, we know that people already use their bodies as canvases for their art. In nature as well, there is a sort of beauty in the purity of it and as mentioned in Unit 2, there are many artistic phenomenon that occurs naturally in nature. We also know that technology is used to create art as well. In the same way, using technology to manipulate nature is a type of art form as well. There are many instances in which technology or experiments are used to change or manipulate objects.
The controversy sometimes relates to the genetic mutation of plants or animals in which debates come up about whether the products of these experiments are art. This stems from the idea that art and technology are valued differently. The lecture this week mentioned Alba, the “GFP Bunny,” that is able to glow a fluorescent green under specific conditions. This is the transgenic creation of Eduardo Kac. Of course, making a rabbit glow has little use and it’s shown through the lecture that scientist did not think highly of this experiment but Kac did not call it an experiment or “project”, he called it “artwork” and a “social event.” He mentions in his article about the GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) Bunny that, “Transgenic art, by contrast [to a scientific breeding project], offers a concept of aesthetics that emphasizes the social rather than the formal aspects of life and biodiversity, that challenges notions of genetic purity, that incorporates precise work at the genomic level, and that reveals the fluidity of the concept of species in an ever increasingly transgenic social context.” 

Alba

GFP Mice

This project would contrast projects involving transgenic foods in which people are trying to have certain fruits or vegetables gain certain traits that is beneficial to the needs of and conditions of different societies (“Transgenic Plants”). Transgenic livestock is another example as they genetically engineer cows to produce more helpful components for humans upon consumption of their milk (Transgenic Cows).

The reason Kac can call Alba art is because of the conversation it creates among his viewers, which is an important aspect of art, which I have mentioned before. It is not purely dominated by the aesthetic view of the product. 

You can't even tell she is special under normal circumstances

There is another reason he calls his work art. In another article written by Kac, he stresses the importance of a relationship between the creature and the artist which is not something I had thought about (“Transgenic Art”). Because your artwork is a living being, taking care of it becomes an important parameter in the art process. It becomes more of an art project that must be maintained over time instead of an art piece that is made and then displayed. This gives Kac’s art more depth than your standard art pieces like a painting or a photograph. Maybe biotech artist needs to be measured on a much different standard.




Citation
Kac, Eduardo. "GFP BUNNY." GFP BUNNY. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html#gfpbunnyanchor>.
"Transgenic Plants." Organic Gardening. N.p., 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://organic-gardening.site27.com/transgenic-plants/>.
"Transgenic Cows." Biotechnology Learning Hub RSS. N.p., 17 Mar. 2010. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://biotechlearn.org.nz/focus_stories/transgenic_cows>.
Kac, Eduardo. "TRANSGENIC ART." N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://www.ekac.org/transgenic.html>.
"Green Fluorescent Protein." Little Microbiology Blog. N.p., 19 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://littlemicrobiologyblog.tumblr.com/post/33896372913/green-fluorescent-protein>.