Week 6: BioTech and Art

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Biotechnology is an incredibly broad field: encompassing all of humans' manipulations of biology. Since it is so broad, much of it stems from human creativity, the often artistic visions of what humans have for other organisms. This is often brought out in the form of genetic modifications in plants and animals. As Professor Vesna discussed, GMOs are a highly controversial topic since they can be potentially harmful, but beyond this, it is also questionable whether or not humans should be playing the role of modifying animals to their will.

[5]

Joe Davis is a perfect example of art in biotechnology, and unsurprisingly, his art is rather controversial. He attained the position of research affiliate in MIT's Department of Biology as wells as Harvard's George Church Laboratory, and frequently gives talks around the US. In my opinion, some of his work pushes moral bounds. He has inserted a map of the Milky Way into the ear of a transgenic mouse through 3,867 DNA base pairs. Davis has also performed experiments seeing if E.coli become stressed when exposed to jazz music. I am personally against unnecessary animal experimentation, but the experiments should technically be harmless.

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Another somewhat more controversial experiment is a project titled Victimless Leather - A Prototype of Stich-less Jacket grown in a Technoscientific "Body", created by the Tissue Culture & Art Project. The piece consists of cultivated cells from mouse tissue in the form of a jacket inside of a glass ball, supplied with nutrients. While the project itself seems like an unnecessary manipulation of live forms, it raises questions of human exploitation of animals in a tangible form.

Ultimately, art's role in biotechnology often brings light to moral issues within human medical technology. While not the most direct way of criticizing an industry, it brings more attention to an issue than a paper ever could.

References:

1. Weir, Kirsten. "Biotechnology on Display." The Scientist. N.p., 9 Mar. 2007. Web. 14 May 2017.
2. Vesna, Victoria. "Bioart." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 May 2017.
3. "Biotechnology." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 May 2017. Web. 14 May 2017.
4. "Joe Davis: Genetics and Culture." Genetics and Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2017.
5. Guangyan, Gao. "Galaxy: Earth Sphere." Greater Boston: Home of Revolutionaries. N.p., Dec. 2012. Web. 14 May 2017.
6. "Victimless Leather- A Prototype of Stitch-less Jacket grown in a Technoscientific 'Body'" Tissue Culture & Art Project. UWA, n.d. Web. 14 May 2017.
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