Unit 6: BioTech + Art

With recent innovations to medical technologies and genetic manipulation, animal and plant life has become a new medium for art. SymbioticA is an artistic laboratory in the University of Western Australia that uses a hands on approach with life science. One exhibit is called semipermeable (+), where one specific piece involves differentiating iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells into neutrons, which then results in a man-made neural network. The exhibit converts the neural activity into an "unsettling soundscape" ("SymbioticA").

The "man-made" neural network in a petri dish.

Using in-vitro cells as a medium for art used to be controversial and is becoming less so. However, using in-vivo cells in the human body as a medium for art is still controversial. Stelios Arcadious is an artist who implanted a third ear underneath his forearm (Associated Newspapers). He is a performance artist and did this for shock value, and I think this is a little strange. It makes me feel that there should be limits as to what the human body should be used for when it comes to art.

Stelios Arcadious and his third ear.

However, it is interesting that something that seemed so frivolous was actually used for a woman who lost her left ear, and was able to regrow it under her forearm (Jennings). The video below briefly explains the woman's situation.



I think that scientists who manipulate cells and genes should be given more leniency than artists who do this. For example, a rabbit's genetic code was modified so that it would glow in the dark (The Guardian). This was done for medical reasons so that the scientists can test the success of altering an animal's genetic code. This has potential for many other medical applications. However, this has also been done by a man named Eduardo Kac purely for artistic reasons ("GFP Bunny"), and I think that this is unethical. It was highly possible for the bunny to experience negative side effects from genetic alteration, and there were not any positive benefits to performing this experiment. I think using life science as a medium for art is fine, but when it is possible to endanger animals without there being any medical benefits to the experiment, then I don't think the endeavour should be performed.

Alba, the glow in the dark bunny.

References

"SymbioticA." Semipermeable (+). The University of Western Australia, 2012. Web. 10 May 2015.

"Artist Implants 'third Ear' on His Own Arm." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 10 Oct. 2007. Web. 10 May 2015.

Jennings, Ashley. "Doctors Grow New Ear on Cancer Victim's Arm." ABC News. ABC News Network, 29 Sept. 2012. Web. 10 May 2015.

"Scientists Breed Glow-in-the-Dark Rabbits." The Guardian. The Guardian, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 May 2015.

"GFP Bunny." Kac Web. Web. 10 May 2015.