Week 6: Life as Medium - Biotechnology in Art

    This week’s exploration of biotechnology as artistic media challenged my assumptions about what qualifies as "art" and who has the authority to create with life. The reading and artworks pushed me to consider how transgenics, mutation, and selective breeding blur the line between ethical inquiry and artistic expression. Eduardo Kac’s GFP Bunny was particularly provocative. By inserting a jellyfish gene into a rabbit to make it glow green, Kac ignites debate around the boundaries of consent, spectacle, and bioethics (Kac). While the bunny is aesthetically fascinating, there are major ethical implications—are we celebrating innovation or objectifying life?

Figure 1: Eduardo Kac’s GFP Bunny (2000). Image source: ekac.org.

    Kac’s Edunia, a hybrid between his DNA and a petunia, offered a softer, more poetic approach. The flower's red veins express a human gene, turning the plant into a living self-portrait. This poetic use of biology moved me more than the glowing bunny; it demonstrates how life can carry personal and symbolic meaning beyond scientific utility.

Figure 2: Eduardo Kac’s Edunia (2009). Image source: ekac.org.

    Marta de Menezes’s butterfly work also resonated with me. Her non-heritable modifications of wing patterns complicate ideas of permanence and natural beauty (Menezes). Similarly, Mel Chin’s Revival Field uses hyperaccumulator plants to cleanse toxic soil, transforming ecological healing into an act of land-based performance art (Mel Chin). These works aren't just aesthetic; they are interventions and conversations with living systems.

Figure 3: Mel Chin, Revival Field (1991-present). Image source: melchin.org.

    Ultimately, these artists reveal that life is not just a subject of art but a material. This raises difficult questions: Should artists face the same restrictions as scientists? Is poetic license enough to justify living manipulation? While I don't have definitive answers, I now understand that biotechnology in art is not about solutions but about surfacing the questions we’ve avoided.


References

Kac, Eduardo. “GFP Bunny.” ekac.org, https://www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html#gfpbunnyanchor. Accessed 9 May 2025.

Kac, Eduardo. “Edunia.” ekac.org, https://www.ekac.org/nat.hist.enig.html. Accessed 9 May 2025.

“Biotechnology.” Biotechnology - Art, Science & Technology, uploaded by user. Accessed 9 May 2025.

De Menezes, Marta. Marta de Menezes, https://martademenezes.com/. Accessed 9 May 202

Chin, Mel. Revival Field, https://melchin.org/oeuvre/revival-field/. Accessed 9 May 2025.

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