Week Six: Biotech + Art

This week’s lecture and readings further highlighted the salient points found in the intersection of biology, technology, and art, and further brought these points beyond the medical threshold to explore how technology can be used to augment biological functions from the cellular level to the animal kingdom to our own very human structure and function. While questions of bio-ethics pose deep challenges to the frontiers of human creativity, and many artists (including those listed below) push these frontiers in their expressive works, I will not entirely focus my blog post on bio-ethics. For my blog post this week, I will highlight the work of two artists that have influenced my feelings toward this subject the most: Stelarc and Kathy High.

Stelarc posing with his "Ear on Arm". While Stelarc managed to
install a microphone apparatus successfully, the first two trials resulted
in emergency surgeries following major infections, causing me to question
the risks involved in this form of artistic expression.
(http://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/stelarc.jpg#geekosystem) 

Stelarc’s work stands out the most to me as that of the close integration of vastly complicated ideas of biological structure and function, technology, and art. In his “Ear on Arm” project (found at http://stelarc.org/?catID=20242), Stelarc seeks to extend the functionality of his ears to his arm, and make this ear accessible via the Internet to the public at large. In changing the location and function of a biological organ, Stelarc is pushing the boundaries of how we conceptualize the biological purpose of parts of our own bodies. By further inlaying microphones within the ear and connecting this project to others via the internet, he is expanding such a project beyond the immediate, and inviting the interplay of biotechnology to his own personalized biological art arena.

Kathy High interacts with Rose, one of her retired rat test subjects.
(http://kathyhigh.com/video-embracing-animal.html)

In a vastly different way than Stelarc, Kathy High provoked my sense of ethical conscience through her exploration of the problems facing retired lab rats. In her project “Embracing Animal” (found at http://www.embracinganimal.com/), Kathy High tackles tough questions of empathy and ethical care for animals frequently demonized and discarded by juxtaposing these tropes with those of biological similarity to humans. In exhibiting the ways that rats have impacted human health and wellness for the better through collective sacrifices in the lab, Kathy High brings attention to the divisive politics of empathy, going as far as to draft a “Rat Love Manifesto” highlighting her efforts to provide car to creatures so frequently cast aside despite their contributions to the advancement of the biotech industry. Her project really made me question whether animal life is an appropriate medium for testing of any variety, especially for non-vital, non-life saving products. A video documenting how the rats interact with humans and each other under Kathy's unique care can be found here: https://vimeo.com/93039672. 

These two artists proved to be the most impacting to me this week, and have granted me a perspective on biotechnology through art that I deeply value. I hope to explore these issues further as I continue to expand my artistic awareness in the weeks to come.

Works Cited

"For Extreme Artist Stelarc, Body Mods Hint at Humans’ Possible Future." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, n.d. Web. 10 May 2015.

High, Kathy. "Embracing Animal :: Rat's Home Movies." Embracing Animal :: Rat's Home Movies. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2015.

High, Kathy. "The Politics of Empathy." Embracing Animal. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2015.

Stelarc. "Stelarc // Ear on Arm." Stelarc // Ear on Arm. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2015.

Stelarc. "Stelarc // Videos: Ear on Arm Suspension." Stelarc // Videos. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2015.