A genome is the organism's whole set of DNAs, including all of its genes and information. Each genome comprises of all the needed information to not only crate the organism but to keep it alive. A copy of genome is gather by every cell, which holds close to 3 billion DNA base pairs. When combined with technology advancement, the potential for the genome is substantial. Joe Davis was the pioneer of Bio Art as he had come up with the idea of putting sounds to light information. He called this technology The Audio Microscope. This device enables you to “hear” the cells, as each cell has their own personal sound. He then continued this idea to see how E. coli react to jazz music, in attempt to create the sound waves that would be worrisome to the bacteria. Davis later used E. coli as the leader to send human intelligence along with “a message in a bottle” (Davis) to extra-terrestrials.
Similar to Davis, Eduardo Kac was another artist that featured genomes in their artwork. Kac invented a living artwork that he named “plantimal” (Kac). How he invented this was genetically alternating a petunia flower with the combination of DNA and his own blood cells which he called “Edunia” (Kac). The flower grew red veins and pinkish skin, which Kac explained was a representation of the combination of himself and the petunia. The flower was the main artwork on his collection that he named “Natural History of Enigma”.
I personally find the combination of biology. technology, and art fascinating! As advancements of all three fields increase, so will the ideas of the combinations that can be made and the inventions that come from it.
Sources
"Joe Davis: Genetics and Culture." Joe Davis: Genetics and Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2015. http://viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w03/davis_joe.htm
Kac, Eduardo. “Natural History of the Enigma.” Ekac. 2009. Web. 11 May 2017. http://www.ekac.org/nat.hist.enig.html
National Institutes of Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. Web. 14 May 2017.
Susannah Schouweiler. "Art World Today Will Meet 'Edunia,' Eduardo Kac's Genetically Engineered 'plantimal'." MinnPost. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2017.
https://www.minnpost.com/arts-arena/2009/04/art-world-today-will-meet-edunia-eduardo-kacs-genetically-engineered-plantimal
Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. DESMA 9. Web.
Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. DESMA 9. Web.
Your explanation of how genomes work was very clear and concise and made the concept very easy to understand for someone who is not as strong in the sciences :) I also found your description of another work of Kac's (aside from his GFP bunny) to be very interesting. It's refreshing to read about your positive outlook on the future of BioArt, simply because I have a more negative one - so reading your opinions provided a good balance.
ReplyDeleteI found your description of Joe Davis intriguing because he opened the world to unknown possibilities in the bioart field. This goes to show how we are just tapping into technological resources when experimenting with art, and technology will only get more advanced as time goes by. I believe Bio-art allows humans to experience art from a new perspective, and this is a beautiful thing because art is all about perspective.
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