Week 6 Art and Biotech

This week's topic of art and biotech was a bit of a curveball for me because for the most part, I had a hard time seeing the artistic value of many of the ideas and exhibitions covered. As professor said in part four of the week 6 lectures, I feel the same that biotechnologic art seems to rely on the shock value more than anything else. My personal beliefs tend to align more with the side that questions where we draw the line. At the same time, however, this does not mean that I am entirely discounting the value of the usage of biotech in art. I just think that I am not ready yet to accept an ear grown on an arm as a form of art.

ear on arm = art?

With this week’s material, the one sector that I found the most interesting was the idea of transgenics and genetic modification in relation to art. The way that the artists in residence at laboratories presented their practices seemed, to me, to blur the lines between groundbreaking art and pure scientific experimentation. The artists’ usage of biological means as a new “canvas” of sorts, as shown through the examples of the bioluminescent bunny and the altered butterfly patterns, may bring about questions of ethical practice.

biological beings as a canvas

As the progression of scientific and artistic inquiry grows, the definition of the intersection between the two will change as the people in question continue to push the boundaries of what they can and should do. In order to ensure that artists do not overstep the lines of what is morally right when it comes to scientific experimentation, I think that there should be regulations and limitations put in place in order to avoid the chances of accidents with catastrophic consequences.

what could go wrong?




Vesna, Victoria. “5 BioArt pt2.” Uconlineprogram, YouTube, 17 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&v=MdSt-Hjyi2I.

Vesna, Victoria. “5 BioArt pt4.” Uconlineprogram, YouTube, 17 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&v=2qSc72u9KhI.

Levy, Ellen K. Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications.

Levy, Ellen K. (2006), “Art enters the biotechnology debate: Questions of ethics,” in Ethics and the Visual Arts, New York: Allworth Press, pp. 199–216.

Kac, Eduardo. GFP Bunny: Tales of a Rabbit Gone Viral. 2018, www.ekac.org/talesofarabbitgoneviral.html.


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