Week 6 Bio-Art

I've been a Michael Crichton fan all of my life, and so I would say that I have more than a passing familiarity with the idea of using biological manipulation for strange purposes. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, he was the original author of a story called Jurassic Park.  Some of you may have heard of it.

Scene from Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, from Engadget

 He’s written a number of fairly famous works, most of which deal with the changing nature of genetics. One of his more modern works, a book called NExT, deals with genetically ‘elevating’ a chimpanzee to where it could speak and converse intelligently.

One of the things that he touched on in a number of his different works is the morality of manipulating and creating animals specifically for more frivolous uses. The latest incarnation of Jurassic Park notwithstanding, one could imagine any number of questionable uses for genetic manipulation.

 One of several others that Crichton proposed were engineering sea turtles to better ward off predators, while also displaying advertising.

Image of Alba from Marc Zimmer

I love the example that Professor V mentioned in lecture, that of Alba, because it demonstrates the almost totally subjective nature of what defines art. To the scientist its simply an application of an already in use technique, to artist its groundbreaking, and to animal rights activists  it is a travesty. If they can agree on anything, it’s that it was unnecessary, that is, not medically required or useful.

 If nothing else, bio art seems to make people more nervous than any form of art, as Steven Kurtz found out, perhaps because of its potential for catastrophic problems.(NBC) Joe Davis’s very interesting work with E-coli has certainly proved benign, but as anyone in the meat industry will tell you, E-coli could be incredibly dangerous bacteria if mistreated.(Scienctific American). I quite appreciate his efforts to send something he made into space however.

Crichton, Michael. Next: A Novel. New York: Harper, 2007. Print.

Gibbs, Wayt. "Art as a Form of Life." Scientific American. Scientific American, n.d. Web. 11 May 2015.

"Jurassic World - Official Global Trailer (HD)." YouTube. Universal Pictures, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

O'Brien, Terrence. "A Look at How 'Jurassic Park' and Its CGI Dinosaurs Changed Cinema." Engadget. Engadget, 11 June 2014. Web. 11 May 2015.

Pasko, Jessica M. "Bio-artists Bridge Gap between Arts, Sciences." Msnbc.com. NBC, 04 Mar. 2007. Web. 11 May 2015.

Vesna, V. "5 Bioart Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 May 2015.

Zimmer, Marc. "Green Fluorescent Protein - Cool Uses - Alba." Green Fluorescent Protein. Cool Uses - Alba, n.d. Web. 11 May 2015.