Week 6: Biotech and Art
As a psychobiology major at UCLA, I have already had some exposure to the subject of biotechnology. As a matter of fact, I took a course as a freshman titled Biotechnology and Society which spanned the length of three quarters. Because of this previous experience, the artists Joe Davis and Eduardo Kac stand out to me as doing a great job in bridging biotechnology and art.
Eduardo Kac is famous for his work done with GFP (green fluorescent protein), a technology which has helped to advance the field of biotech through applications such as fluorescent labeling. While it has facilitated many other important discoveries, Kac used it to create a fluorescent rabbit as an art piece. While some may argue that this was a useless exercise, I see it as an expression of art through a canvas no one has been able to use before. It is somewhat similar in this sense to brainbow, a form of art where fluorescent tags are used to color neurons in a brain to produce colorful images.
Joe Davis, similarly to Eduardo Kac, has used new tech in order to create art which no one has seen before. For example, he has used the technology for rewriting genetic code, which has allowed for huge strides in the field of recombinant DNA, to produce an apple tree containing all of the information from Wikipedia. While this, once again, may seem like a frivolous exercise, I see it as an expression of Davis's desire to push boundaries and create new things which have never been seen before.
House, Patrick. “Object of Interest: The Twice-Forbidden Fruit.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 20 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/object-of-interest-the-twice-forbidden-fruit.
Kac, Eduardo. “GFP BUNNY.” GFP Bunny, www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html#gfpbunnyanchor.
McKenna, Phil. “Joe Davis: The Mad Scientist of MIT?” New Scientist, New Scientist, 23 Mar. 2012, www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/03/the-mad-scientist-of-mit.html.
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| Example of Brainbow |
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| Kac holding his GFP Bunny |
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| Joe Davis |
References
House, Patrick. “Object of Interest: The Twice-Forbidden Fruit.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 20 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/object-of-interest-the-twice-forbidden-fruit.
Kac, Eduardo. “GFP BUNNY.” GFP Bunny, www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html#gfpbunnyanchor.
McKenna, Phil. “Joe Davis: The Mad Scientist of MIT?” New Scientist, New Scientist, 23 Mar. 2012, www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/03/the-mad-scientist-of-mit.html.
Rose, Frank. “A Space Odyssey: Making Art Up There.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/arts/design/eduardo-kac-inner-telescope-space.html.
Than, Ker. "Brain Cells Colored To Create 'Brainbow'" Live Science, Purch, 31 Oct. 2007, https://www.livescience.com/1977-brain-cells-colored-create-brainbow.html
House, Patrick. “Object of Interest: The Twice-Forbidden Fruit.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 20 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/object-of-interest-the-twice-forbidden-fruit.
Kac, Eduardo. “GFP BUNNY.” GFP Bunny, www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html#gfpbunnyanchor.
McKenna, Phil. “Joe Davis: The Mad Scientist of MIT?” New Scientist, New Scientist, 23 Mar. 2012, www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/03/the-mad-scientist-of-mit.html.
House, Patrick. “Object of Interest: The Twice-Forbidden Fruit.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 20 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/object-of-interest-the-twice-forbidden-fruit.
Kac, Eduardo. “GFP BUNNY.” GFP Bunny, www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html#gfpbunnyanchor.
McKenna, Phil. “Joe Davis: The Mad Scientist of MIT?” New Scientist, New Scientist, 23 Mar. 2012, www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/03/the-mad-scientist-of-mit.html.
I really enjoyed how you talked about Kac and his GFP bunny because that is something I also found very interesting. I think you engaged in this weeks blog assignment greatly and the use of your personal life relating to the topic this week was perfect. Good Work.
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