Week 6 | BioTech + Art
This
week, I learned about BioArt and how extremely controversial its projects are
in regards to ethics. However, I found everything particularly interesting
because I currently work in a Synthetic Biology lab on campus. The
controversies of Synthetic Biology work overlap with BioArt immensely – Is it
right to transfer a gene from a jellyfish into mice to make it glow in a
way that nature never intended? (Vesna).
Herper, Matthew. "Biotech's Glowing Breakthrough." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 26 July 2001. Web. 14 May 2017.
Ho, William. Maldives. Digital image. www.flickr.com/photos/78546112@N00/11269034823. N.p., 7 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 May 2017.
Jobson, Christopher. "A Maldives Beach Awash in Bioluminescent Phytoplankton Looks Like an Ocean of Stars." Colossal. N.p., 18 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 May 2017.
Kac, Eduardo. “Natural History of the Enigma.” Ekac. 2009. Web. 3 Nov
Kruschewsky, Gabriela. "There's A Glow-In-The-Dark Beach In The Maldives. Yes, Really." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 May 2014. Web. 14 May 2017.
Levy, Ellen. “Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications.”Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. Eds. Margot Lovejoy, Christiane Paul, and Victoria Vesna. University of Chicago Press: 2011.
PBS. "Biotech's Brave New Beasts." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, n.d. Web. 14 May 2017.
Vesna, Victoria, narr. “BioTech Art Lectures I-V.” N.p., . web. 5 Nov 2012.
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| Transgenic mice glowing due to "foreign" GFP gene (Herper) |
In my lab, I encounter these ethical issues at a milder
level because I work with “mindless” bacteria (E.Coli) genomes instead of mice
when inserting genes. While my perspective may be controversial, I believe that
genome editing and lab-grown life/tissue (Atala) are relatively harmless and can
even be applied to human gene therapy in the future when regulated carefully. However, I definitely agree that for BioTech +
Art to continue advancing, it must have one of the strictest ethics and
regulation boards in science due to the nature of its industry.
Ethical
issues aside, I find fluorescent BioArt to be my favorite “Third Culture” art
that we have learned so far throughout the course because it beautifully
connects art and Synthetic biology. Eduardo Kac, for
instance, identifies himself as a transgenic artist for his project in editing
the genome of Alba the albino bunny with GFP (Kac). This concept eventually
extended into a commercial endeavor, where fluorescent genes were edited into
zebrafish so that pet stores could sell “Glo-Fish” (Levy).
 |
| Controversial Glo-Fish sold in pet stores (PBS.org) |
Both of these projects
reminded me of the bioluminescent phytoplankton in the Maldives and their role in one of my
favorite photography projects (). William Ho is a famous Taiwanese photographer known for his work with this blue biofluorescence, a style that can be seen in
both his natural and street photography (Jobson). A gene in the phytoplankton
causes them to fluoresce bright blue, creating an amazing coast scene when it’s
“phytoplankton season”.
 |
| Glowing Blue Sand (WilliamHo) |
 |
| Street photography inspired by Maldives (WilliamHo) |
Overall, I find BioTech + Art to be one of my favorite fields, but artists and scientists alike must tread this area carefully.
Sources:
Anthony Atala: Growing New Organs. Dir. Anthony Atala. Growing New Organs. TED Talks, Oct. 2009. Web. 14May 2017.Herper, Matthew. "Biotech's Glowing Breakthrough." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 26 July 2001. Web. 14 May 2017.
Ho, William. Maldives. Digital image. www.flickr.com/photos/78546112@N00/11269034823. N.p., 7 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 May 2017.
Jobson, Christopher. "A Maldives Beach Awash in Bioluminescent Phytoplankton Looks Like an Ocean of Stars." Colossal. N.p., 18 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 May 2017.
Kac, Eduardo. “Natural History of the Enigma.” Ekac. 2009. Web. 3 Nov
Kruschewsky, Gabriela. "There's A Glow-In-The-Dark Beach In The Maldives. Yes, Really." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 May 2014. Web. 14 May 2017.
Levy, Ellen. “Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications.”Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. Eds. Margot Lovejoy, Christiane Paul, and Victoria Vesna. University of Chicago Press: 2011.
PBS. "Biotech's Brave New Beasts." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, n.d. Web. 14 May 2017.
Vesna, Victoria, narr. “BioTech Art Lectures I-V.” N.p., . web. 5 Nov 2012.
Hi! I found your blog post extremely intriguing! I really enjoyed how you incorporated your personal experience regarding working in a synthetic biology lab and your photography passion with what's we've learned. I also agree that bioartists should have to abide by strict regulations. Scientists must undergo a grueling process and bioartists who deal with the same material should be bound by the same regulations. This said, I do have to question whether it would be possible to regulate every art piece produced. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to see how you approached this week's topic from both the ethics debate side, as well as from its aesthetic side. You bring up Eduardo Kac's GFP Bunny project, and I think it's interesting to point out that in an article Eduardo wrote describing his inspiration and motivation behind creating the project, he makes it a point to say that his goal in creating the project was to spur an interdisciplinary discussion/dialogue addressing things such as the very ethics debate we've been exploring this week. Thus, I find that even in projects such as the GFP Bunny which may appear to have only had a purely artistic purpose, we can actually find that they do serve rather meaningful roles in advancing the biotechnology area. Great post!
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