Bio art

In 1997, I introduced the concept and the phrase “bio art”, originally in relation to my artwork “Time Capsule” (1997) (Patricia Decia, “Artista põe a vida em risco” and “Bioarte,” Folha de São Paulo, October 10, 1997.). This work approached the problem of wet interfaces and human hosting of digital memory through the implantation of a microchip. The work consisted of a microchip implant, seven sepia-toned photographs, a live television broadcast, a webcast, interactive telerobotic webscanning of the implant, a remote database intervention, and additional display elements, including an X-ray of the implant. While “bio art” is applicable to a large gamut of in vivo works that employ biological media, made by myself and others, in 1998, I started to employ the more focused term “transgenic art” (Eduardo Kac. “Transgenic Art”, Leonardo Electronic Almanac 6, no. 11 (1998). Republished in Ars Electronica ‘99—Life Science, ed. Gerfried Stocker and Christine Schopf (Vienna, New York: Springer, 1999), 289–296.) to describe a new art form based on the use of genetic engineering to create unique living beings. Art that manipulates or creates life must be pursued with great care, with acknowledgment of the complex issues it raises and, above all, with a commitment to respect, nurture, and love the life created. I have been creating and exhibiting a series of transgenic artworks since 1999. I have also been creating bio art that is not transgenic. The implications of this ongoing body of work have particular esthetic and social ramifications, crossing several disciplines and providing material for further reflection and dialog. What follows is an overview of theses works, the issues they evoke, and the debates they have elicited.

1. See: Eduardo Kac. Luz & Letra. Ensaios de arte, literatura e comunicação [Light & Letter. Essays in art, literature and communication] (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Contra Capa, 2004); Eduardo Kac. Telepresence and Bio Art -- Networking Humans, Rabbits and Robots (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005).

2. Robert Atkins, "State of the (On-Line) Art", Art in America, April 1999, 89–95; Carvalho, Mario Cesar, "Artista implanta hoje chip no corpo," Folha de São Paulo, Cotidiano, 11 November 1997, p. 3; "Art at the Biological Frontier," Reframing Consciousness: Art, Mind and Technology, ed. Roy Ascott (Exeter: Intellect, 1999), 90-94.; Arlindo Machado, "A Microchip inside the Body," Performance Research 4, no. 2, ("On Line" special issue, London, 1999), 8–12; Christiane Paul, "Time Capsule," Intelligent Agent 2, no. 2, (1998), 4–13.; Julia Scheeres, "New Body Art: Chip Implants," Wired News, March 11, 2002.; Steve Tomasula, "Time Capsule: Self-Capsule," CIRCA [Ireland], no. 89 (Autumn 1999), 23–25.

3. Gisele Beiguelman, "Artista discute o pós-humano," Folha de São Paulo, October 10, 1997; Eduardo Kac, "A-positive," in ISEA '97—The Eighth International Symposium on Electronic Art, September 22–27, 1997 (Chicago: The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1997), p. 62; Eduardo Kac, "A-positive: Art at the Biobotic Frontier," Flyer distributed on the occasion of ISEA '97; Eduardo Kac, "Art at the Biologic Frontier," in Reframing Consciousness, ed. Roy Ascott (Exeter: Intellect, 1999), 90-94; Arlindo Machado, "Expanded Bodies and Minds," in Eduardo Kac: Teleporting An Unkown State, ed. Peter Tomaz Dobrila and Aleksandra Kostic (Maribor, Slovenia: KIBLA, 1998), 39-63; Matthew Mirapaul, "An Electronic Artist and His Body of Work," The New York Times, October 02, 1997; Simone Osthoff, "From Stable Object to Participating Subject: content, meaning, and social context at ISEA97," New Art Examiner (February 1998), 18–23.

4. Kac, E. "Genesis", Ars Electronica '99—Life Science, ed. Gerfried Stocker and Christine Schopf (Vienna, New York: Springer, 1999), 310-313. Also: http://www.ekac.org/geninfo.html. "Genesis" was carried out with the assistance of Dr. Charles Strom, formerly Director of Medical Genetics, Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Chicago. Dr. Strom is now Medical Director, Biochemical and Molecular Genetics Laboratories Nichols Institute/Quest Diagnostics, San Juan Capistrano, CA. Original DNA music for Genesis was composed by Peter Gena.

5. Charles Mudede, "The End of Art", The Stranger [Seattle] 9, no. 15, (Dec. 30, 1999–Jan. 05, 2000).

6. Eduardo Kac, "GFP Bunny," in Eduardo Kac: Telepresence, Biotelematics, and Transgenic Art, ed. Peter Tomaz Dobrila and Aleksandra Kostic (Maribor, Slovenia: KIBLA, 2000), 101-131. Also: http://www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html.

7. I had proposed to live for 1 week with Alba in the Grenier à Sel, in Avignon, where Louis Bec directed the art festival "Avignon Numérique". In an email broadcast in Europe on June 16, 2000, Bec wrote: "Contre notre volonté, le programme concernant « Artransgénique » , qui devait se dérouler du 19 au 25 juin, se trouve modifié. Une décision injustifiable nous prive de la présence de Bunny GFP, le lapin transgénique fluorescent que nous comptions présenter aux Avignonnais et à l'ensemble des personnes intéressées par les évolutions actuelles des pratiques artistiques. Malgré cette censure déguisée, l'artiste Eduardo Kac, auteur de ce projet, sera parmi nous et présentera sa démarche ainsi que l'ensemble de ses travaux. Un débat public permettra d'ouvrir une large réflexion sur les transformations du vivant opérées par les biotechnologies, tant dans les domaines artistiques et juridiques, qu'éthiques et économiques. Nous nous élevons de toute évidence contre le fait qu'il soit interdit aux citoyens d avoir accès aux développements scientifiques et culturels qui les concernent si directement.".

8. Gareth Cross. "Cross hare: hop and glow", Boston Globe, September 17, 2000, A01. The article states: "Kac and Alba remain apart while Kac tries to persuade the French government laboratory, called the National Institute of Agronomic Research, to grant him custody of the bunny. The scientist who created her for Kac, Louis-Marie Houdebine, said he doesn't know when, or if, Alba will be allowed to join Kac, but said that she is healthy, and even noted that she has a ''particularly mellow and sweet dispostion.''.

9. For a bibliography on transgenic art, see: http://www.ekac.org/transartbiblio.html .

10. http://www.ekac.org/bunnybook.2000_2004.html.

11. Lisa Stein, "New Kac Show Takes a Look at Ethics, Rabbit," Chicago Tribune, May 10, 2002, 21.

12. I developed "The Eighth Day" through a two-year residency at the Institute of Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe. The exhibition dates: October 25 to November 2, 2001. Exhibition location: Computer Commons Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe (with the support of the Institute of Studies in the Arts). Documentation can be found at: http://www.ekac.org/8thday.html . See: The Eighth Day: The Transgenic Art of Eduardo Kac, ed. Sheilah Britton and Dan Collins (New York: ASU/Distributed by DAP, 2003).

13. In 2008, the scientists who developed GFP into a harmless and useful scientific tool received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. One of the recipient scientists featured “GFP Bunny” in his Nobel lecture, also published in the 2008 Nobel Prize book. See: Chalfie, Martin. "GFP: Lighting Up Life", in: The Nobel Prizes 2008 (Stockholm: Nobel Foundation, 2009), p. 162.

14. See: Elena Giulia Rossi. Eduardo Kac: Move 36 (Paris: Filigranes Éditions, 2005).

15. “Specimen of Secrecy About Marvelous Discoveries” premiered at the Singapore Biennale (4 September–12 November 2006).

16. The exhibition was comprised of the actual Edunias, the complete "Edunia Seed Pack" set of six lithographs, and a limited edition of Edunia seed packs with actual Edunia seeds.

17. The gene of mine I used is an IgG fragment. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) is a kind of protein that functions as an antibody. IgG is found in blood and other bodily fluids, and is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign antigens. An antigen is a toxin or other foreign substance that provokes an immune response in the body, such as viruses, bacteria and allergens). In "Natural History of the Enigma", the fusion protein, produced exclusively in the red veins, is a fusion of my IgG fragment with GUS (an enzyme that allowed me to confirm the vascular expression of the gene).

18. In actuality, genes do not “produce” proteins. As Richard Lewontin clearly explains: “A DNA sequence does not specify protein, but only the amino acid sequence. The protein is one of a number of minimum free-energy foldings of the same amino acid chain, and the cellular milieu together with the translation process influences which of these foldings occurs.” See: R. C. Lewontin, “In the Beginning Was the Word,” Science 291, no. 16 (February 2001), 1264.

19. For her assistance in drawing my blood, isolating my IgG and cloning it, I owe a debt of gratitude to Bonita L. Baskin, who was, at the time I carried out this work, the CEO of Apptec Laboratory Services, St. Paul, MN. The blood was drawn for "Natural History of the Enigma" on May 13th, 2004 in the premises of Apptec Laboratory Services.

20. With the assistance of Professor Neil Olszewski, I obtained positive confirmation that my IgG protein was produced only in the edunia veins by detecting the activity of the enzyme GUS (beta glucuronidase), which is fused to the IgG sequence. The detection was achieved through a staining technique. This was further confirmed through PCR.

21. The sculpture's form is an invented protein composed of human and plant parts. The human part is a fragment of my Immunoglobulin (IgG) light chain (variable region). The plant component is from the Petunia's ANTHOCYANIN1 (AN1), responsible for red pigmentation in the flower. More precisely, AN1 is a transcription factor that controls genes encoding the enzymes that produce the red pigments.

22. This natural ability has made a genetically engineered version of the agrobacterium a favorite tool of molecular biology. See: L. Herrera-Estrella, Transfer and expression of foreign genes in plants. PhD thesis. (Laboratory of Genetics, Gent University, Belgium, 1983); P.J.J. Hooykaas and R.A. Shilperoort, “Agrobacterium and plant genetic engineering,” Plant Molecular Biology 19 (1992), 15–38; J.R. Zupan and P.C. Zambryski, “Transfer of T-DNA from Agrobacterium to the plant cell,” Plant Physiology 107 (1995), 1041–1047.

23. See T. A. Brown, Genomes (Oxford, UK: Bios Scientific Publishers, 1999), 138; and David Baltimore, "Our genome unveiled", Nature 409, no. 15 (February 2001), 814-816. In private email correspondence (28 January 2002), and as a follow-up to our previous conversation on the topic, Dr. Jens Reich, Division of Genomic Informatics of the Max Delbruck Center in Berlin-Buch, stated: "The explanation for these massive [viral] inserts into our genome (which, incidentally, looks like a garbage bin anyway) is usually that these elements were acquired into germ cells by retrovirus infection and subsequent dispersion over the genome some 10–40 millions ago (as we still were early apes)." The HGP also suggests that humans have hundreds of bacterial genes in the genome. See: "Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome," International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium v. 409, no. 6822 (February 15, 2001), 860. Of the 223 genes coding for proteins that are also present in bacteria and in vertebrates, 113 cases are believed to be confirmed. See p. 903 of the same issue. In the same correspondence mentioned above, Dr. Reich concluded: "It appears that it is not man, but all vertebrates who are transgenic in the sense that they acquired a gene from a microorganism."

Authors and Affiliations

1. School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 112 S. Michigan Avenue, Room 408, Chicago, IL, USA

   Eduardo Kac

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eduardo Kac.

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