Week 4: BioTech + Art

What exactly is biotechnology? At its simplest, biotechnology is technology that harnesses biological processes to acquire new skills that better our lives. But what happens when biotechnology steps out of the laboratories and ventures into the field of art and becomes the subject of artistic practices? “Bioart” happens. This emerging field is the practice in which artists use living matter combined with scientific to simulate and reconstruct life. The many eccentric and oftentimes bizarre experiments that we hear of in the news prove once again that art and science are two interconnected fields of study. Both originate from the same will and desire of understanding something new and of communicating this understanding and pleasure to others.

This new breed of avant-garde artists are progressively infiltrating scientific laboratories and changing our way of seeing the world. With biology replacing the original medium of watercolors, photography, and film, bioart no longer derives solely from our post-genomic era, but foregrounds what comes next. However, in envisioning new forms of biological transformation, bioartists scrutinize contemporary bioethical issues to the point of controversy. Although driven by creativity and curiosity, these artworks are explicitly provocative and raise ethical concerns regarding the border between living and nonliving mediums.

To what extent is it acceptable to use life to define and value art? More importantly, how does one determine a standard when such a fine line exists between acceptable and unacceptable? Australian performance artist Stelarc uses his body as an art canvas, from wiring himself to the Internet (literally – attaching electrodes to muscles) to ingesting a deathly stomach sculpture. One of the longest running sagas of his career, the “Ear on Arm” project was one that used a skin expander and a biocompatible scaffold to surgically create a third year on his left forearm. Stelarc continues to use his adult stem cells to make the third ear more prominent. French artist Orlan created the Harlequin Coat, an installation of living, co-culturing cells from different species—some even from the artist’s own body. Using a custom-made bioreactor, Orlan patched together an assemblage of skin pieces, provoking discussion on cultural crossbreeding and species hybridization.

[Ear on Arm by Stelarc] 

[Harlequin Coat Installation at Sheldon Museum, by Orlan]

These artists undertake these uncanny projects to address the breakdown of boundaries about what they perceive as an arbitrary division between living and nonliving, but the difficulty in defining life lies in the many implications for legal rights and property biomedia and artificial life have. As Levy claims in her essay, “The intersection of biology and robotics with legal issues concerning copyrights and patents highlights how fluid our categories are becoming and how arbitrary it is to make distinctions between nature and culture on a legal basis” (14). Ultimately, our cultural understanding of life is incompatible with what we see in the lab and what we are taught to believe.

This uncertainty seems to perpetuate the spiral out of control of many of these artists. As brought up in meanings of participation: Outlaw Biology?  “Creativity breeds creativity…the more innovation there is, the more innovation there is” (8). In other words, this process is not a linear form of accumulation, but potentially one that is exponential and able to grow rampant. Kelty poses an interesting question that instills in us a sort of fear and eerie imminence, “Are we in control of any of this innovation, or does it control us?”

While doing some research on the topic of Bioart being potentially "bad", I came across two interesting websites/articles. Below are the links for the two websites.

Radioactive Biohazard 

This first website shows a controversial reinterpretation of art by Hunter Cole. She confronts many issues regarding the pros and cons of biotechnology. Her abstractions and interpretations are extensive and interesting to see.

ArtNEWS - Biotechnology as an Art Form

This second website is an online magazine article touches on the Australian art duo Tissue Culture & Art Project (TC&A). They produced multiple controversial works of art, such as Victimless Leather and Semi-Living Steak. Although these works of art are very disturbing and unusual, it is also fascinating to peer into their perspectives and perceptions of art in the domain of biology.

Radioactive Biohazard is a controversial art installation by Hunter Cole, artist and geneticist. Radioactive Biohazard reinterprets science as art, through imagery drawn from and inspired by her extensive experience in biotechnology. Cole confronts issues related to human cloning, stem cell research, the big brother aspect of the human genome project, DNA testing in criminology and the potential to create the genetic children of gay and lesbian couples.

Undoubtedly, a good deal of bioart explores the tangled, grotesque image between biology and technology. These unusual projects are under-appreciated and frequent targets of ethical debate, but for the time being, these artists continue to research bioart regardless of its social/political implications; to them, what matters is making something that holds an idea. Their passion and drive ride on the possibility that their important discoveries can have a ripple effect in the world of art and science. The perceptions of promise motivate artists to break the boundaries and redefine the definition of art.

Works Cited

"Ear on Arm." Stelarc. Web. <http://stelarc.org/>.

Harlequin Coat Installation. N.d. Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska. Sheldon Art Museum. Web. <http://www.sheldonartmuseum.org/exhibitions/current_exhibitions.html?topic=detail&exb_id=135&category_sent=Sheldon+Exhibitions>.

Levy, Ellen K. “Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications.” 2010, February 11. Essay.

Kelty, Christopher M. "Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology?" Outlaws, Hackers, Victorian Gentlemen (2010): Kelty. Journal of Science Communication. Web. <http://kelty.org/or/papers/essays/Kelty_Jcom_Outlawas.pdf>.

Miranda, Carolina A. "Weird Science: Biotechnology as Art Form."ARTnews. N.p., 18 Mar. 2013. Web. <http://www.artnews.com/2013/03/18/biotechnology-as-art-form/>.

Cole, Hunter. "Radioactive Biohazard: Reinterpreting Biotechnology as Art Exhibit." Huntercole. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.huntercole.org/artgallery/radbio.html>.