BioArt
Encyclopedia
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
practice
Practice
Practice may refer to:* Practice , a method of learning by repetition* Practice , a theoretical term for human action in society* Spiritual practice...
where humans work with live tissues, bacteria, living organisms, and life processes. Using scientific processes such as biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
(including technologies such as genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
, tissue culture, and cloning
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
) the artworks are produced in laboratories, galleries, or artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s' studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
s. The scope of BioArt is considered by some artists to be strictly limited to “living forms”, while other artists would include art that uses the imagery of contemporary medicine and biological research, or require that it address a controversy or blind spot posed by the very character of the life sciences.
Although BioArtists work with living matter, there is some debate as to the stages at which matter can be considered to be alive or living. Creating living beings and practicing in the life sciences brings about ethical, social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
, and aesthetic inquiry. The phrase "BioArt" was coined by Eduardo Kac
Eduardo Kac
Eduardo Kac is an American contemporary artist internationally recognized for his interactive net installations and his bio-art. Kac was born in 1962, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He lives and works in Chicago....
in 1997 in relation to his artwork Time Capsule. Although it originated at the end of the 20th century through the works of pioneers like Joe Davis (artist)
Joe Davis (artist)
Joe Davis is a research affiliate in the Department of Biology at MIT and in the George Church Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. His research and art includes work in the fields of molecular biology, bioinformatics, "space art", and sculpture, using media including but not limited to...
and artists at SymbioticA
Symbiotica
' is an artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning and critique of life sciences. Located within the at The University of Western Australia, it is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in wet biology practices in a biological science...
, BioArt started to be more widely practiced in the beginning of the 21st century.
Overview
BioArt is often intended to be shocking or humorous. One survey of the field in Isotope: A Journal of Literary Science and Nature Writing puts it this way: "BioArt is often ludicrous. It can be lumpy, gross, unsanitary, sometimes invisible, and tricky to keep still on the auction block. But at the same time, it does something very traditional that art is supposed to do: draw attention to the beautiful and grotesque details of nature that we might otherwise never see."While raising questions about the role of science in society, "most of these works tend toward social reflection, conveying political and societal criticism through the combination of artistic and scientific processes."
While most people who practice BioArt are categorized as artists in this new media, they can also be seen as scientists, since the actual medium within a work pertains to molecular structures, and so forth. Because of this dual-acceptance, the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard University invites anyone to submit works based on scientific or artistic value. This can encourage anyone to submit work they strongly respond to.
Eduardo Kac stated that this art medium fulfils a need to branch out of the bordering confines of what traditional art (such as painting, etc.) dictates. In Natasha Vita-More's Brave BioArt 2: Shredding the Bio, Amassing the Nano, and Cultivating Posthuman Life, artists thrive on challenges in learning how to master new tools. Vita-More also states that there exists a sense of detachment from the plastic arts and opted for the tools of computers and electronic media.
Exposing artists to laboratories
Artists visiting laboratories can be a trying experience, since it requires artists to engage an environment that is initially foreign. Eventually, artists use formations pertaining to science, such as working with bacteria or live-tissue.Much of the art involves tissue-culturing and transgenics, a term for a variety of genetic engineering processes through which genetic material from one organism is altered by the addition of synthesized or transplanted genetic material from another organism.
In 2000, Eduardo Kac commissioned the creation of a transgenic GFP
Green fluorescent protein
The green fluorescent protein is a protein composed of 238 amino acid residues that exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to blue light. Although many other marine organisms have similar green fluorescent proteins, GFP traditionally refers to the protein first isolated from the...
bunny as part of a piece called GFP Bunny. "The PR campaign included a picture of Kac holding a white rabbit and another, iconic image of a rabbit photographically enhanced to appear green."
The Tissue Culture & Art Project in collaboration with Stelarc
Stelarc
Stelarc is a Cypriot-Australian performance artist whose works focuses heavily on extending the capabilities of the human body. As such, most of his pieces are centred around his concept that the human body is obsolete...
grew a 1/4 scale replica of an ear using human cells. The project was carried out at SymbioticA
Symbiotica
' is an artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning and critique of life sciences. Located within the at The University of Western Australia, it is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in wet biology practices in a biological science...
: the Art & Science Collaborative Research Laboratory, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
.
Controversy
BioArt has been scrutinized for its apparent lack of ethics. USA Today reported that animal rights groups accused Kac and others of using animals unfairly for their own personal gain, and conservative groups question the use of transgenic technologies and tissue-culturing from a moral standpoint.Alka Chandna, a senior researcher with PETA in Norfolk, Virginia, has stated that using animals for the sake of art is no different than using animal fur for clothing material. "Transgenic manipulation of animals is just a continuum of using animals for human end, regardless of whether it is done to make some sort of sociopolitical critique. The suffering and exacerbation of stress on the animals is very problematic."
However, many BioArt projects deal with the manipulation of cells and not whole organisms, such as Victimless Leather
Victimless Leather
Victimless Leather – a prototype of a stitch-less jacket, grown in a technoscientific "body".This is a sub-project of the Tissue Culture & Art Project where the artists are growing a leather jacket without killing any animals. Growing the victimless leather problematizes the concept of garment by...
by SymbioticA
Symbiotica
' is an artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning and critique of life sciences. Located within the at The University of Western Australia, it is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in wet biology practices in a biological science...
. "An actualized possibility of wearing ‘leather' without killing an animal is offered as a starting point for cultural discussion. Our intention is not to provide yet another consumer product, but rather to raise questions about our exploitation of other living beings." These projects were developed precisely to highlight and problematise our relationship to non-human
Non-human
Non-human is a term used to refer to non-human actors. Its use marks a shift in how the role of humans is perceived and discussed...
animals and the use of animal products in scientific processes.
BioArt practitioners
- Critical Art EnsembleCritical Art EnsembleCritical Art Ensemble is an award-winning collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations including computer graphics and web design, film/video, photography, text art, book art, and performance. For CAE, tactical media is situational, ephemeral, and self-terminating...
- Eduardo KacEduardo KacEduardo Kac is an American contemporary artist internationally recognized for his interactive net installations and his bio-art. Kac was born in 1962, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He lives and works in Chicago....
- Francesco MonicoFrancesco MonicoFrancesco Monico is an artist, educator, broadcaster, and writer in Italy.-Previous activities:Monico worked for ten years as a director, screenwriter and program chief in Italian broadcast, sperimentale and interactive TV, is both a Technoetic researcher and artist...
- George GessertGeorge GessertGeorge Gessert is one of the best-known artists in the contemporary art movement known as bio-art a/k/a BioArt. Initially Gessert began his career as a painter and printmaker, and began breeding plants as an art form in the late 1970s...
- Hunter Cole
- Joe DavisJoe Davis (artist)Joe Davis is a research affiliate in the Department of Biology at MIT and in the George Church Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. His research and art includes work in the fields of molecular biology, bioinformatics, "space art", and sculpture, using media including but not limited to...
- Marc QuinnMarc QuinnMarc Quinn is a British artist and part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs . He is known for Alison Lapper Pregnant , Self , and Garden .He is one of the Young British...
- OrlanOrlanORLAN is a French artist, born May 30, 1947 in Saint-Étienne, Loire. She lives and works in Los Angeles, New York, and Paris. She was invited to be a scholar in residence at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, for the 2006-2007 academic year...
- Robert B. LisekRobert B. LisekRobert B. Lisek is a Polish artist and mathematician who focuses on systems and processes, draws upon conceptual art, radical art strategies, hacktivism, bioart, software art and artificial intelligence his work defies categorization.- Works :...
- StelarcStelarcStelarc is a Cypriot-Australian performance artist whose works focuses heavily on extending the capabilities of the human body. As such, most of his pieces are centred around his concept that the human body is obsolete...
- SymbioticaSymbiotica' is an artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning and critique of life sciences. Located within the at The University of Western Australia, it is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in wet biology practices in a biological science...
See also
- Computer artComputer artComputer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, videogame, web site, algorithm, performance or gallery installation...
- CyberartsCyberartsCyberarts or cyberart refers to the class of art produced with the help of computer software and hardware; often with an interactive or multimedia aspect...
- Digital artDigital artDigital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...
- Electronic artElectronic artElectronic art is a form of art that makes use of electronic media or, more broadly, refers to technology and/or electronic media. It is related to information art, new media art, video art, digital art, interactive art, internet art, and electronic music...
- Internet artInternet artInternet art is a form of digital artwork distributed via the Internet. This form of art has circumvented the traditional dominance of the gallery and museum system, delivering aesthetic experiences via the Internet. In many cases, the viewer is drawn into some kind of interaction with the work...
- New Media artNew media artNew media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
- Transhumanist artTranshumanist ArtTranshumanist art is an art movement which focuses on the concept of transhumanity, a transitional stage in a perceived progression from human to transhuman to posthuman...
- Hybrid artsHybrid artsHybrid arts is a contemporary art movement in which artists work with frontier areas of science and emerging technologies. Artists work with fields such as biology, robotics, physical sciences, experimental interface technologies , artificial intelligence, and information visualization...