Week 6 - Biotech + Art

 Biotech and Art

        I think when we are looking at things like Bio-technology, there are so many different standpoints that we can take. I think when we are looking at the work of people like Kathy High, there are parts and ideas of her work that can be super intriguing and helpful to the science community, but also important to the art community. I think that there are the portions like this work below, Rat Laughter, that are a part of science that are good to observe in both a science perspective as well as an art perspective. It is important to see how this is something that is similar in humans and animals. 

                                                           

        When working through this unit, I believe that there is value in expressive mediums like this, however I also believe that there should be limits as to how far we can go with this creativity. This line should be drawn when it comes to ethics of projects that could potentially harm the animals in any way. I think that we can look at different examples and pull ideas as to what is crossing an ethical line versus not crossing that line. I think that Kathy High's "Rat Laughter" project was not crossing a line, but I think that there are other artists out there who definitely have taken it too far with the animals for their art.


        I think that it is important to have separate standards for the art and artists due to the fact that sometimes these things could be looked at as inhumane. I think that like the photo above, this is taking the life of another living organism too far for the purpose of art. The artist was trying to make a statement about the animals we put on display at museums and galleries, but there is also value in the living thing that is being "manipulated" or messed with. I think that there can be so much more to bio-tech and art. I have seen bio-tech in art through the use of flowers and how flowers can be changed genetically and put on display for art purposes. This use of nature and the overlap into art is something that we can take a look into instead of always sacrificing the lives of other living things. 



Works Cited

Derks, Jeroen. “Superplants Adam Zaretsky.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 Mar. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LrJ2UBxM6E.

Dumitriu, Anna, and Alex May. “Biotechnology from the Blue Flower.” Anna Dumitriu, 8 Jan. 2024, annadumitriu.co.uk/portfolio/biotechnology-from-the-blue-flower/.

Miranda, Carolina A. “Weird Science: Biotechnology as Art Form.” ARTnews.Com, ARTnews.com, 18 Nov. 2019, www.artnews.com/art-news/news/biotechnology-as-art-form-2184/. 

Treadwell, Frances. “Biotechnology & Art : A Bridge between Two Cultures – Science, Technology, and Society.” Biotechnology & Art : A Bridge Between Two Cultures, 21 Nov. 2021, web.colby.edu/st112a-fall20/2020/11/21/biotechnology-art-a-bridge-between-two-cultures/.

Vesna, Victoria. “5 Bioart PT2.” YouTube, YouTube, 17 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdSt-Hjyi2I&list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&t=1s.

Image Citations

Dumitriu, Anna, and Alex May. “Biotechnology from the Blue Flower.” Anna Dumitriu, 8 Jan. 2024, annadumitriu.co.uk/portfolio/biotechnology-from-the-blue-flower/.

High, Kathy. “Rat Laughter.” Kathy High, www.kathyhigh.com/projects/rat-laughter/. Accessed 8 May 2024.

Regine. “This Is Not an Artifact.” We Make Money Not Art, 26 Apr. 2024, we-make-money-not-art.com/this-is-not-an-artifact/.


Comments

  1. VasilisaMay 9, 2024 at 1:07 PM

    Hi Ciena, I really enjoyed reading your blog and definitely resonated with the idea of us paying closer attention to ethics when we intersect art and bio-tech. I though about food engineering and how we have strayed from using technology for good and instead use it to chemically manipulate what we put into our bodies, causing a cascade of health problems in society. I also agree that harming animals is awful and they should never come as a cost for producing good art.

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  2. JuliesenJaimeDESMA9May 9, 2024 at 2:43 PM

    Hi Ciena, I enjoyed reading your posts and agree with your stance on using animals in art. I think that art and science can be extremely beneficial in understanding animals and there relationship to humans such as in the Rat Laughter project described. I also wrote about the glow-in-the-dark animals that were mutated for cancer research. In cases like these, animals are not being harmed. Over, the use of animals and the ethnics behind it can be pushed in art. I believe strict guidelines and consequences should be given to those that kill, harm, or mistreat animals to create their art. Good work!!

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  3. Cheridyn LeveretteMay 9, 2024 at 3:27 PM

    Hi Ciena, the concepts that we went over this week were very interesting and controversial, and I really enjoyed reading your take on it. In my blog post this week, I delved deeper into bio artists involvement with animals, and how we genetically modify them to fit our own personal needs and desires. Similarly, I see that in your blog post you gave a deep analysis on another animal that Professor Vesna talked about in this weeks material, rats. I think that it is important to note the ethical validity that is often times overlooked when we are experimenting on animals, and the importance of when we see a label on a product that says "no animal testing". Rats are usually the most experimented on animal, and I love how you made the point of how it is important to know whether or not you are "crossing a line" in animal testing. Great ideas this week!

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