Gallery
Genesis by Eduardo Kac, 1999
Bio Atelier at Mori Art Museum exhibiting bioart
Regenerative Reliquary, Amy Karle, 2016
BioArt is an art practice where artists work with biology, live tissues, bacteria, living organisms, and life processes. Using scientific processes and practices such as biology and life science practices, microscopy, and biotechnology (including technologies such as genetic engineering, tissue culture, and cloning) the artworks are produced in laboratories, galleries, or artists' studios. The scope of BioArt is a range considered by some artists to be strictly limited to "living forms", while other artists include art that uses the imagery of contemporary medicine and biological research, or require that it address a controversy or blind spot posed by the very character of the life sciences. [1]
Bioart originated at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century. Although BioArtists work with living matter, there is some debate as to the stages at which matter can be considered to be alive or living. Creating living beings and practicing in the life sciences brings about ethical, social, and aesthetic inquiry. [2] With his essay “Biotechnology and Art” from 1981, Peter Weibel introduced the term Bioart, and defined an art movement that uses biological systems as a means of artistic expression. [3]
The creation of living beings and the study of the biological sciences bring with them ethical, social and aesthetic questions. Within Bio Art there is a debate about whether any form of artistic engagement with the biosciences and their social consequences (e.g. in the form of images from medicine) should be viewed as part of the art movement, or whether only such works of art, that were created in the laboratory are classified as organic art. [4] [5]
BioArt is often intended to highlight themes and beauty in biological subjects, address or question philosophical notions or trends in science, and can at times be shocking or humorous. One survey of the field, Isotope: A Journal of Literary Science and Nature Writing, puts it this way: "BioArt is often ludicrous. It can be lumpy, gross, unsanitary, sometimes invisible, and tricky to keep still on the auction block. But at the same time, it does something very traditional that art is supposed to do: draw attention to the beautiful and grotesque details of nature that we might otherwise never see." [6] While raising questions about the role of science in society, "most of these works tend toward social reflection, conveying political and societal criticism through the combination of artistic and scientific processes." [7] Works of bioart are most often seen as a contribution to the social, political and economic questions that arise from scientific research, however at times contribute and make advancements in research. [8]
While most people who practice BioArt are categorized as artists in this new media, they can also be seen as scientists. In Bio Art, artists often work with scientists, and in some cases they are scientists themselves. While some artists have prior scientific training, others must be trained to perform the procedures or work in tandem with scientists who can perform the tasks that are required. [9]
In previous centuries artists dealt more critically with the images from the life sciences and understand them not only as a mere illustration of biological findings, but as a process linked to the time and the respective style vocabulary. Leonardo da Vinci born 1452, renowned for masterpieces like the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, was deeply invested in the intersection of science and art. To produce accurate and realistic art, he conducted firsthand, extensive studies of anatomy by dissecting around 30 human cadavers, sometimes dissecting multiple bodies in a single day. [10] [11] His pursuit of knowledge across the sciences, including detailed studies of plants, optics, and light, was driven by Da Vinci's goal to enhance his artistic representations. [10] [11] Leonardo da Vinci's deep exploration of human anatomy and movement anticipated modern robotics, as he connected anatomy to engineering and designed automata that mimicked human motion. [12] [13]
Ernst Haeckel was a German biologist, zoologist, and artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who used art to illustrate his scientific findings before macrophotography and photographic microscopy. He meticulously recorded the hidden intricacies of natural forms through his vibrant and stylized drawings. His celebrated publication "Kunstformen Der Natur" (Artforms in Nature) from 1904 is regarded as a "visual encyclopedia" of living organisms even to this day. His work fusing biology and art, not only promoted Darwinism in Germany but also deeply influenced art, design, and architecture of the early 20th century. [14] [15]
The concept of transgenic art (transgenic art) was coined in 1998 by Eduardo Kac [16] and refers to an art form “which works with genetic methods to transplant synthetic genes into one organism or natural genetic material from one species into another and thus to create unique living beings.” [17] Already before this definition, Reiner Maria Matysik presented an art project in 1986 named Rekombination [4] The goal of transgenic art is to create organisms that carry foreign DNA within them. In Kac's vision, art can continue evolution and make an actual creation of new living beings. Eduardo Kac's best-known works include Genesis (1998/99), The Eight Day (2000/2001) and GFP Bunny (2000) which he commissioned in 2000 as the creation of a transgenic GFP rabbit. "The PR campaign included a picture of Kac holding a white rabbit and another rabbit photographically enhanced to appear green." [18]
Symbiotica developed one of the earlier art/science laboratories for artists interested in working with BioArt methods and technologies. [2] Some of the founders of SymbioticA,Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr also founded The Tissue Culture & Art Project. [19] [20] Since the early 1990s, The Tissue Culture & Art Project has been working with the artificial production of biological tissue whereas the cell culture serves as an artistic medium. The works of TC&A deal, among other things, with foods bred foods, tissue-growing clothing, sculptural forms from fabric culture and the changing relationship between the living and non-living company, among other things. Within the framework of their artistic research, the artists have developed the term “Semi-Living” to describe a new category of life that was created in the laboratory. [21] [22]
In 2003, The Tissue Culture & Art Project in collaboration with Stelarc grew a 1/4 scale replica of an ear using human cells to create the Extra Ear project. The project was carried out at Symbiotica: the Art & Science Collaborative Research Laboratory, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia. [23] In 2006, Marc Stelarc had the first of two experimental surgeries to have his “Ear On Arm” implanted. The second surgery was to implant a microphone in the implanted ear so it could hear. The implanted ear then projects the sound to other parts of the world, so people could listen into what the ear on arm was hearing. He has connected it to the internet, which further connects his bio to technology but also opens the possibility of being hacked. The project took over 12 years. [24] [25] [26]
In 2004, Suzanne Anker and Dorothy Nelkin's The Molecular Gaze also helped establish the integration of molecular biology with artistic practice. [27] [28]
In 2015-2016 Amy Karle created Regenerative Reliquary, a sculpture of bio-printed scaffolds for human MSC stem cell culture into bone, in the shape of a human hand form installed in a vessel. [29] [30] [31] [32] In 2019, Karle made The Heart Of Evolution, a 3D printed heart featuring a redesigned vascular system to potentially improve the heart's functionality and mitigate the impact of embolism. [33] [28] In 2024 she created an interactive artwork Echoes From the Valley of Existence, which sends DNA samples converted into powder and encased in a polymer into space. [34]
Bioart continues to evolve into the 2020s to address issues of environmental sustainability and social justice.
The scope of the term BioArt is a subject of ongoing debate. The primary point of debate centers around whether BioArt must necessarily involve manipulation of biological material, as is the case in microbial art which by definition is made of microbes. A broader definition of the term would include work that addresses the social and ethical considerations of the biological sciences. [35] Under these terms BioArt as a genre has many crossovers with fields such as critical or speculative design. [36] This type of work often reaches a much broader general audience, and is focused on starting discussions in this space, rather than pioneering or even using specific biological practices. Examples in this space include Ray Fish shoes, which advertised shoes made and patterned with genetically engineered stingray skin, [37] BiteLabs, a biotech startup that attempted to make salami out of meat cultured from celebrity tissue samples, [38] and Ken Rinaldo's Augmented Fish Reality, an installation of five rolling robotic fish-bowl sculptures controlled by Siamese Fighting Fish. [39]
Artworks that use living materials created with scientific processes and biotechnology in itself brings up many ethical questions and concerns. [40] [41] Wired magazine has reported that the "emerging field of "bioart" can be extremely provocative, and brings with it a range of technical, logistical and ethical issues." [2] Bioart practitioners can and have at times aided the advancement of scientific research and researchers in the process of creating their work; however, bioart and bioartists can also cross into controversy by challenging scientific thinking, by working with controversial human or animal material, or by releasing invasive species, as they are not regulated to adhere to standards, including biosafety or biosecurity. [42] [43] [44]
Another big issue are the dangers that come from errors and fringe activities that could occur through creating in non-regulated or not completely safe lab spaces, DIYbio, biohacking, and bioterrorism. One of the most publicized instances of a non-scientist being arrested for suspected “bioterrorism” was the case of artist Steve Kurtz, a founding member of Critical Art Ensemble (arrest in 2004, bioterrorism charges never brought). [45] He was investigated by the FBI for four years and culminated with him being indicated for mail and wire fraud for obtaining a strain of bacteria commonly used in school lab experiments. He was planning on using that bacteria in a project critiquing the United States. His bioart work was considered pioneering in politically engaged art, biotechnology and ecological struggle. [46] [47] [48] The ordeal became the subject of a book and a film. [49] [50]
BioArt has been scrutinized and criticized as it may lack ethical oversight. USA Today reported that animal rights groups accused Kac and others of using animals unfairly for their own personal gain, and conservative groups question the use of transgenic technologies and tissue-culturing from a moral standpoint. [7]
Alka Chandna, a senior researcher with PETA in Norfolk, Virginia, has stated that using animals for the sake of art is no different from using animal fur for clothing material. "Transgenic manipulation of animals is just a continuum of using animals for human end, regardless of whether it is done to make some sort of sociopolitical critique. The suffering and exacerbation of stress on the animals is very problematic." [7]
Many BioArt projects deal with the manipulation of cells and not whole organisms, such as Victimless Leather by the Tissue Culture & Art Project. [51] "An actualized possibility of wearing 'leather' without killing an animal is offered as a starting point for cultural discussion. Our intention is not to provide yet another consumer product, but rather to raise questions about our exploitation of other living beings." [52] However, due to rapid cell growth, the exhibit was eventually "killed" by cutting off its nutrients, aligning with the creators' intent to remind viewers of the responsibility towards manipulated life. [53]
Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria and the Ars Electronica Festival was an early adaptor of exhibiting and promoting bioart, and continues to be a pioneer of sharing and promoting bioart, life projects, and bioartists. [54] Their long-standing Prix Ars Electronica award which exhibits and honors artists in various media categories [55] includes categories of hybrid arts and life art encompassing bioart.
In 2016, The Beijing Media Art Biennale's Theme was "Ethics of Technology" [56] and in 2018 it was "<Post-Life>". The Biennale is held at the CAFA Museum in Beijing, China and includes major works in biological arts, with thematic exhibitions. The 2018 Bienalle included international artworks relevant to the thematic topics of “Data Life”, “Mechanical Life” and “Synthesized Life” and a Lab Space exhibition area that focused on showcasing international laboratory practice in art and technology. [57] [58] [59]
The Centre Pompidou in Paris, France presented La Fabrique Du Vivant, "The Fabric of the Living" in 2019, a group exhibition of living and artificial life with recent work of artists, designers, and research from scientific laboratories. The artworks question the links between the living and the artificial, as well as the processes of artificial recreation of life; the manipulation of chemical procedures on living matter; self-generating works with ever-changing forms; hybrid works of organic matter and industrial material, or the hybridization of human and plant cells. In this era of digital technologies, artists draw on the world of biology, developing new social and political environments based on issues of those living in this era. [60]
The Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Japan Future and the Arts: AI, Robotics, Cities, Life - How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow in 2019-2020 [61] This was a group exhibition that included a "bio atelier" with bioartworks from prominent bioartists across the world. One of the curatorial goals was to evoke the contemplation – through the latest scientific and technological developments in fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robotics and augmented reality used in art, design, and architecture – of how human beings, their lives, and the environmental issues may look in the imminent future because of these developments. [62] [63]
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works comprise a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.
Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to organs, cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechanics. Biomechanics is a branch of biophysics.
Eduardo Kac is a Brazilian and American contemporary artist whose portfolio encompasses various forms of art including performance art, poetry, holography, interactive art, digital and online art, and BioArt. Recognized for his space art and transgenic works, Kac works with biotechnology to create organisms with new genetic attributes. His interdisciplinary approach has seen the use of diverse mediums, from fax and photocopying to fractals, RFID implants, virtual reality, networks, robotics, satellites, telerobotics, virtual reality and DNA synthesis.
Biorobotics is an interdisciplinary science that combines the fields of biomedical engineering, cybernetics, and robotics to develop new technologies that integrate biology with mechanical systems to develop more efficient communication, alter genetic information, and create machines that imitate biological systems.
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize in a particular branch of biology and have a specific research focus.
A biomedical scientist is a scientist trained in biology, particularly in the context of medical laboratory sciences or laboratory medicine. These scientists work to gain knowledge on the main principles of how the human body works and to find new ways to cure or treat disease by developing advanced diagnostic tools or new therapeutic strategies. The research of biomedical scientists is referred to as biomedical research.
Hunter Cole is an artist and geneticist. She reinterprets science as art through the creation of living artworks, abstractions, digital art and installations confronting issues related to biotechnology in our culture.
Joe Davis is a research affiliate in the Department of Biology at MIT, and in the George Church Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. His research and art includes work in the fields of BioArt, "space art", and sculpture, using media including centrifuges, radios, prosthetics, magnetic fields, and genetic material. Davis' teaching positions have been at MIT, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and the University of Kentucky.
Do-it-yourself biology is a biotechnological social movement in which individuals, communities, and small organizations study biology and life science using the same methods as traditional research institutions. DIY biology is primarily undertaken by individuals with limited research training from academia or corporations, who then mentor and oversee other DIY biologists with little or no formal training. This may be done as a hobby, as a not-for-profit endeavor for community learning and open-science innovation, or for profit, to start a business.
Hybrid art is a contemporary art movement in which artists work with frontier areas of science and emerging technologies. Artists work with fields such as biology, robotics, physical sciences, experimental interface technologies, artificial intelligence, and information visualization. They address the research in many ways such as undertaking new research agendas, visualizing results in new ways, or critiquing the social implications of the research. The worldwide community has developed new kinds of art festivals, information sources, organizations, and university programs to explore these new arts.
Anna Dumitriu is a pioneering visual artist based in Brighton, England, specialising in BioArt. Her installations, interventions and performances use digital, biological and traditional media including bacteria, digital technology and craft techniques, working with diverse audiences.
Yiannis Melanitis is a Greek conceptual artist, sculptor, painter, installation artist and digital artist born in Athens in 1967. In 2016, he was elected assistant professor at the Sculpture Department of the Athens School of Fine Arts. Melanitis' work uses hybrid art forms initially with concepts from philosophy and the sciences. His research focuses on the role of information on the arts considering "Information as the New Conceptualisation".
Victimless Leather (2004) is an art piece that represents a leather jacket without killing any animals. It is a prototype of a stitch-less jacket, grown from cell cultures into a layer of tissue supported by a coat shaped polymer layer. "Victimless Leather" was created created as a sub-project of the Tissue Culture & Art Project, from the University of Western Australia and showcased at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The artwork, a miniature jacket made from living mouse stem cells in an incubator, was designed to challenge perceptions of life and human responsibility toward manipulated living systems. This artistic grown garment is intended to confront people with the moral implications of wearing parts of dead animals for protective and aesthetic reasons and confronts notions of relationships with manipulated living systems. However, due to rapid cell growth, the exhibit was eventually "killed" by cutting off its nutrients, aligning with the creators' intent to remind viewers of the responsibility towards manipulated life.
SymbioticA is an artistic research lab at the University of Western Australia's School of Anatomy and Human Biology. The lab looks at biology and the life sciences from an artistic point of view and has been used to research, develop and execute a number of contemporary art & science and bioart projects.
Media art history is an interdisciplinary field of research that explores the current developments as well as the history and genealogy of new media art, digital art, and electronic art. On the one hand, media art histories addresses the contemporary interplay of art, technology, and science. On the other, it aims to reveal the historical relationships and aspects of the ‘afterlife’ in new media art by means of a historical comparative approach. This strand of research encompasses questions of the history of media and perception, of so-called archetypes, as well as those of iconography and the history of ideas. Moreover, one of the main agendas of media art histories is to point out the role of digital technologies for contemporary, post-industrial societies and to counteract the marginalization of according art practices and art objects: ″Digital technology has fundamentally changed the way art is made. Over the last forty years, media art has become a significant part of our networked information society. Although there are well-attended international festivals, collaborative research projects, exhibitions and database documentation resources, media art research is still marginal in universities, museums and archives. It remains largely under-resourced in our core cultural institutions.″
Suzanne Anker is an American visual artist and theorist. Considered a pioneer in Bio Art., she has been working on the relationship of art and the biological sciences for more than twenty five years. Her practice investigates the ways in which nature is being altered in the 21st century. Concerned with genetics, climate change, species extinction and toxic degradation, her work calls attention to the beauty of life and the "necessity for enlightened thinking about nature's 'tangled bank'." Anker frequently assembles with "pre-defined and found materials" botanical specimens, medical museum artifacts, laboratory apparatus, microscopic images and geological specimens.
Maja Smrekar is a Slovenian intermedia artist. In 2005 she graduated at the Department for Sculpture of Fine Art and Design Academy in Ljubljana. She also holds Master's degree in Video and New Media that she obtained at the same institution. She has exhibited in numerous institutions across the world. In 2017 she received the Golden Nica award at the Ars Electronica festival for her K-9_topology series. In this opus, which consist of four projects she addressed the topics of parallel evolution of human and dog. From 2008 she is a featured artist and production partner of Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana.
The Center for Genomic Gastronomy is an independent research group that examines the biotechnology and biodiversity of human food systems. The Center was founded in 2010 in Portland, Oregon and currently has research nodes in Bergen; Santa Cruz, CA; Porto; Dublin and Chennai. They are sometimes described as an artist-led think tank.
Amy Karle is an American artist, bioartist, and futurist whose work focuses on the relationship between technology and humanity, specifically how technology and biotechnology impact health, humanity, society, evolution, and the future. Karle combines science and technology with art and is known for using living tissue in her work.
Jennifer S. Willet is a Canadian artist, researcher, and curator. She is a professor in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Windsor and a Canada Research Chair in Art, Science and Ecology. Since 2009, Willet has served as the founder and director of the Incubator Art Lab.
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