Friday, May 10, 2019

Week 6: Biotech + Art

Creating a cast of my leg
I believe that life could be considered a valid expressive medium. People can express themselves through the way that they live their lives, but also the way that plants grow or how animals live could also be seen as expressive media. In middle school a family friend casted my limbs to create a little girls body for one of their sculptures. I went to the Los Angeles Art Show in high school and there was a young woman whose artwork was not a painting or a sculpture, but herself. She was laying in a bed made of grass, moss, and flowers and she was fasting for the three days that the art show took place. Her body and her life was her artwork and I thought it was really cool and eye opening. I think people put their own values on artistic media and technologies based on whether they believe it is interesting or relevant to themselves. A young African American girl will most likely have a different taste in media than a middle-aged white man, but this does not make one’s more valid than the others.
The sculpture using the cast of my limbs

There is a fair amount of grey area when it comes to manipulating the living. There are stories like Us or Frankenstein where messing with life goes terribly wrong, but there are also many cases where it can lead to scientific discoveries and breakthroughs. This causes problems because it begs the question where do we draw the line?
What is okay to manipulate and what isn’t? There are discoveries in life that came from practices that we now would consider inhumane. I don’t think there is a limit on the creativity of the human mind and I think it would be impossible to try and impose any sort of creative limits on people and their aspirations.



Sources:



Davis, Joe. “Joe Davis: Genetics and Culture.” Joe Davis, geneticsandculture.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w03/davis_joe.htm.
Kelty, Christopher M. “Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology?” Journal of Science Communication, Mar. 2010.
Snowden, Heather. “Jordan Peele's 'Us': 4 Things You Might Have Missed.” Highsnobiety, Highsnobiety, 25 Mar. 2019, www.highsnobiety.com/p/jordan-peele-us-movie-references/.
Chin, Mel. “Revival Field.” Mel Chin, melchin.org/oeuvre/revival-field.
Venter, Craig. “Transcript of ‘Watch Me Unveil ‘Synthetic Life’".” TED, May 2010, www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life/transcript.
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2 comments:

  1. Audrey GoodmanMay 11, 2019 at 10:48 AM

    Hi Piper,

    I thought your discussion of the variety of ways people express themselves was very interesting, as people do go to great lengths to create art. The question of whether manipulating living organisms was also intriguing, as it can lead to scientific breakthroughs or nothing but harm. The controversy between biotechnology and art leads to the questioning of creative limits. I also thought the art sculpture using the cast of your legs was very cool and a unique form of art!

    - Audrey Goodman

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  2. Alex NguyenMay 15, 2019 at 9:54 PM

    I find it interesting also how people use what's relevant and interesting to themselves to form their own opinions on art and technology. In a sense, it can make the meaning behind the pieces enhanced, yet people who are completely focused on academia can criticize using this technology in art because it's not a proper use. It's interesting to note what common ground people have, yet this can also result in differing opinions.

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