Module 6: BioTech + Art

 I think that life itself is definitely a valid expressive medium. The text by Ellen K. Levy supports this notion, stating examples such as Eduardo Kac, Oron Catts, and Ionat Zurr as artists who use living or semi-living materials in their artistic media. Eduardo Kac’s “Specimen of Secrecy about Marvelous Discoveries” features “biotopes” that change due to their environment and metabolism (Kac)

(Kac)

The use of transgenics and other biotechnology in art offers a scientific critique of the future of the world. For example, Joel Ong created “Terra et Venti” to explore “the role synthetic biology may play in planetary scale geoengineering and weather modification practices in the near future,” (Ong). 

(Ong)

Artistic media and technologies are interdisciplinary and inclusive of anything that can come from human creativity. It can also be used as a tool to further questions on politics, science, philosophy, and technology. Artistic technology has progressed alongside technology throughout history, and recently “Digital tools have become essential for many artists' creative process,” (ArtHelper). Artistic technology is a tool that enables artists to create more, and biotechnology can do the same.

The ethics of biotechnology in art is widely critiqued. New questions arise such as “how the moral value of an artwork affects its artistic value,” (Vaage). While the devaluation of immoral artwork would encourage ethical practices, allowing more ethical freedoms to artists opens the door for unethical treatment of biological specimens. 

Biotechnology in art can also be used to maintain or improve upon processes with questionable ethics today. “Victimless Leather”, produced by Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, grows leather cells in a glass ball. However, this calls into question whether it is truly victimless. Is it ethical to create life with the intent to take that life so that a naturally occuring life can remain?

(Miranda)


Works Cited

ArtHelper. “Medium and Media in Art: A Complete Guide to Modern Artistic Expression.” ArtHelper.Ai, 19 Feb. 2025, https://www.arthelper.ai/blog/medium-and-media-in-art.

Kac, Eduardo. “Bio Art.” KAC, 2025, https://www.ekac.org/transgenicindex.html.

Levy, Ellen K. “Defining Life:” Context Providers, Intellect Books, 2014, pp. 275–98, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv36xvqqx.16.

Miranda, Carolina A. “ARTnews.Com.” ARTnews.Com, 18 Mar. 2013, https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/biotechnology-as-art-form-2184/.

Ong, Joel. “Artwork.” Genetic Engineering and Society Center, 11 Mar. 2019, https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/arts-work-in-biotech/artwork/.

Vaage, Nora S. “What Ethics for Bioart?” NanoEthics, vol. 10, no. 1, Mar. 2016, pp. 87–104, doi:10.1007/s11569-016-0253-6.

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