Week 6: BioTech and Art

 BioTech is short for biotechnology, which is using cellular and bimolecular processes to create technologies and products that look to improve our lives. BioArt is when science and technology is evolving results to ideas for artists to evolve. BioArt acts as a bridge between art and science, where the focus is on genetics and medicine in an art form (ARTDEX). Scientists are able to find art in biotech, such as Joe Davis and Eduardo Kac. 

Ou, Xiawei. Ars Technica, “BioArt: An Introduction.” EurekAlert!, https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/99cd73d0-0996-48a5-bab2-6a564cc38c4d/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public. .

Davis is considered to be the pioneer of BioArt. Not only did he work with painting, but he workds with genes and bacteria (CellPressNews). His ideas were viewed by other scientists as dangerous, like his idea of synthesizing DNA and inserting them into living bacteria's genomes. He also created the audio microscope project. This project allowed light information to be transformed into sound where Davis could hear living cells. He was able to look at how E-Coli responded to jazz and other types of music. Further into his research, he looked into producing sound waves that would be stressful to bacteria, hopeful that they would abandon the space that they were on. 

“BioArt: An Introduction.” EurekAlert!, https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/99cd73d0-0996-48a5-bab2-6a564cc38c4d/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public.

Eduardo Kac was the fist person to use the term 'bioart'. He is also famous for injecting an Albino bunny with a microinjection fluorescent jellyfish's zygote, also known as the GFP Bunny. Kac altered the gene so that the glowing properties of the microinjection were twice as powerful. This is what Kac considered to be artwork. This type of work is called transgenic art, which is the act of transferring natural/synthetic genes to another organism so that it has unique and eccentric qualities. 

Alba. “Eduardo Kac Bunny.” Dazed Digital, 2000, https://dazedimg-dazedgroup.netdna-ssl.com/2400/azure/dazed-prod/1250/4/1254463.jpg.







CellPressNews. “Bioart: An Introduction.” EurekAlert!, https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/666865.

UC Online, director. 5 bioart pt1. 2012, https://youtu.be/PaThVnA1kyg. Accessed 2022.

UC Online, director. 5 BioArt pt2. 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&v=MdSt-Hjyi2I&feature=youtu.be. Accessed 2022.

“What Is Bio Art?” ARTDEX, 3 May 2021, https://www.artdex.com/what-is-bio-art/.

“What Is Biotechnology?” BIO, https://www.bio.org/what-biotechnology.

Comments

  1. Danielie RamirezMay 8, 2022 at 9:20 PM

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading your input on the relationship between biotechnology and art. I particularly found interest in your commentary on Eduardo Kac. Your choice of highlighting his famous injecting of the Albino bunny perfectly captivated the relationship between the two disciplines. Looking at the glowing green “artwork,” I was intrigued to research his work and the ethical boundaries of transgenic art.

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