Friday Night — 09.02.05 — Adam Zaretsky — On Mutaphobia and Difference
Comments Off on Friday Night — 09.02.05 — Adam Zaretsky — On Mutaphobia and DifferenceFriday Night — 09.02.05 — Adam Zaretsky — On Mutaphobia and Difference
Art, Biology and The Lust for Hereditary Impression
On Mutaphobia and Difference
Contents:
0. About this Friday Night
1. Introduction
2. What is a transgenic organism?
3. Why do non-artists make transgenic organisms?
4. Why do artists make transgenic organisms?
5. About Adam Zaretsky
6. Adam — links
7. Related –links
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0. About this Friday Night
What: artist presentation / discussion
Where: 16 Beaver Street, 4th floor. Directions below
When: Friday Night – 09.02.05 – 7:30 p.m.
Who: everyone is welcome – free and open to all
Last year we organized a few events related to Bio technology, Bio art and Politics, specifically in relation to the CAE Critical Art Ensemble after the arrest of Steve Kurz. Later on, we helped organize a weekend consisting of mini presentations and discussions at MIT’s CAVS Center for Advanced Visual Studies.
http://www.16beavergroup.org/MIT/
as that struggle continues in relation to Steve and the CAE case, we would like to continue our exploration in this field…to engage with and develop some more questions.
http://www.caedefensefund.org/
We are looking forward to continue this discussion in relation to Adam’s work this friday.
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1. Introduction
This lecture will be on Transgenics
as a cultural phenomena, aesthetic and demented:
Some time will be spent on technique-
On the making of transgenic organisms
(Including Human Germline Engineering.)
The curious will be tempted with a short run through of
optional palettes which can be inborn through Transgenics.
And on to a short review of kneejerk mutaphobia
as an impasse to biotechnological critique.
Followed by a brief analysis of the attractions and repulsions,
responsibilities and sociopathologies which are coincident
with the flesh hacker’s arena of sculpting inheritance.
As a primer the following questions
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2. What is a transgenic organism?
Transgenic organisms are different than wild type organism. Transgenic
organisms are organisms that have foreign DNA inserted into their genome.
This means one or more genes from a different organism (i.e. animal,
bacteria, plant, fungus or virus) has been added, through some tricks of
modern molecular biology, into the nucleus every one of the organism’s
cells. Transgenic organisms are walking around with non-spontaneous
expressible molecules in their bodies, minds (if they have minds) and the
genetic material that goes on to make their children. Sometimes referred to
as hybrids, cyborgs or chimeras, transgenic organisms are an interspecies
mix of DNA, a targeted collage of two or more organisms. The most important
thing to remember is that their alteration is permanent and inheritable.
That means that their kids and their grandkids with have the same difference
that they do.
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3. Why do non-artists make transgenic organisms?
Genetically manipulated organisms, are considered promising tools to decode physiological processes and cure diseased metabolisms. Sometimes non-human models are not the best mirrors of human health. Sometimes sickly humans will volunteer to become human subjects. Humans are similar to all living organisms in some ways but if we can make organisms more similar to humans then we can increase predictability. So, in the name of progress and a faster drug development pipeline, molecular biologists in the medical field are creating human-other hybrids as disease models. Specialists in agriculture and animal husbandry have other goals than human health. Some want more yield for more profit, others want disease resistant organisms to erase fears of chaotic loss. There are even some pet producers who are using transgenic techniques to create aesthetic differences as a way to make newer, more seductive, cuter or stranger companion organisms. And, some animals are used as industrial factories for producing rare metabolites. After ornate molecular tweaking organisms known as workhorses are bred to transgenically produce products as an excreted fluid, products like pharmaceuticals or other expensive goo. These products are hard to make in a chemistry lab but can be produced in large enough amounts inside a body that a company can live off these special transgenic bodies and their body fluids. These animals are considered to be alive only as appliances or production facilities solely for manufacturing. It is the medical applications that carry the bulk of the reasoning for the application of these technologies. Although medical science is a ‘for profit’ venture worldwide, there is a certain amount of awe for doctors and scientists who dedicate their life work and somewhat cryptic brainpower to advances in curing human ills. Although far from a panacea, modern medical science has helped many people live longer and better lives. Nonetheless, It is important to realize the other uses and forces driving novel transgenesis as a breeding process for commercially engineered or, some would say, force-evolved processing units to manufacture proteins for the global market.
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4. Why do artists make transgenic organisms?
Part of my reasons for coming to speak at 16 Beaver is to explore this
question as a personal dilemma worth a junta devolving en masse.
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5. About Adam Zaretsky
Adam Zaretsky is a teacher and practitioner of VivoArts: Art and Biology
Studio. Immersion in the world of scientific study exposes artists to the
‘other’ culture and refines their process and commentary. Included in his
Biological Art Practices are such non-laboratory based movements as Live
Art, EcoArt, Food Art and Trans-Species Art. An active student of
Developmental Biology and Transgenic Theory and Practice, Adam believes GMOs are a transnational and diasporic issue for both humans and the rest of the lifeworld. Adam provides real aids towards public understanding of the
social and ethical implications modern molecular biology with humor and
hands-on accessibility. Adam Zaretsky has two years experience as an
Organic Farmer, working to aid subsistence farmers in such disparate climes
as Guatemala, Sumatra, New York and Hawaii, 1993-1995. He has two years
experience as a sexworker/activist, gleaning the underbelly of our human
behavioral repertoire for biological commentary on sexual variety,
1996-1998. He has two years experience as a Research Associate at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Arnold Demain Laboratory for
Microbiology and Industrial Fermentation, 1999-2001. He has been published
in Nature Magazine, The New York Times, Red Herring, Leonardo, The
Washington Post and Johnny’s Unstoppable Bathroom Reader.
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6. Adam — links
http://www.emutagen.com
www.ovarium.org
http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/stage.php?NumPage=264
http://www.subtletechnologies.com/2003/zaretsky.html
http://www.subtletechnologies.com/2001/zaretsky.html
http://www.techcentralstation.com/042602C.html
http://proxy.arts.uci.edu/~nideffer/_SPEED_/1.2/zaretsky.html
http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/programs/vivo.html
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7. related –links
The Tissue Culture and Art Project:
http://www.tca.uwa.edu.au/
SymbioticA:
http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/
Kathy High
http://www.embracinganimal.com/
Subrosa:
Beatriz Da Costa
http://www.beatrizdacosta.net/freerange.html
http://www.beatrizdacosta.net/machine.html
http://www.beatrizdacosta.net/genterra.html
http://www.beatrizdacosta.net/amateur.html
Critical Art Ensemble:
http://www.critical-art.net/
http://www.critical-art.net/books/molecular/index.html
http://www.critical-art.net/biotech/cone/index.html
http://www.critical-art.net/biotech/conbio/index.html
http://www.critical-art.net/biotech/free/index.html
http://www.critical-art.net/biotech/index.html
http://www.critical-art.net/books/flesh/index.html
Joe Davis
http://viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w03/davis
_j_webarchive/davis_profile_sciam/jd.htm
http://www.clondiag.com/frame.php?page=/art/joe.davis
Brandon Ballengée:
http://www.greenmuseum.org/content/artist_index/artist_id-19.html
http://www.disk-o.com/malamp
Eduardo Kac
http://www.ekac.org/transgenicindex.html
http://www.ekac.org/Telepresence.art._94.html
Marta De Menezes
http://www.martademenezes.com/
Heath Bunting
http://www.irational.org/cta/superweed/
Julia Reodica:
http://www.vivolabs.org
Natalie Jeremijenko
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/001450.html
http://xdesign.ucsd.edu/biotechhobbyist/index.html
http://bureauit.org
EcoArt:
http://www.greenmuseum.org
Donna Haraway on Monsters:
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/monsters.html
Ecovention full text:
http://greenmuseum.org/c/ecovention/intro_frame.html
Greg Sholette on CAE:
http://www.recirca.com/backissues/c112/p50_59.shtml
Eugene Thacker: materiality & data between information theory and genetic
research
http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=106
YouGenics:
http://www.yougenics.net/home.php?page=resources
George Gessert ::
http://www.recirca.com/backissues/c90/8.shtml
http://www.gene-watch.org/genewatch/articles/17-2Gessert.html
Genetics and Culture:
http://viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/syllabus.htm
PDFs:
The Aesthetics of Care? ::
www.tca.uwa.edu.au/publication/
THE_AESTHETICS_OF_CARE.pdf
Recombinant Architecture::
www.noemalab.org/sections/ideas/
ideas_articles/pdf/bratton_recomb_arch.pdf
Biotech Hobbyist:
http://www.locusplus.org.uk/biotech_hobbyist.html
DNA info:
The Genetic Code ::
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_code
Genetic Search Engines ::
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=gene
Council for Responsible Genetics ::
http://www.gene-watch.org/
genetic engineering news ::
http://www.genengnews.com/
Suppliers:
DevBio:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/virtualembryo/dev_biol.html
New England Biolabs:
http://www.neb.com
Customized Genes and Vectors:
http://www.geneart.com/
BioRad:
http://www.biorad.com/
Charles RiverLabs:
http://www.criver.com/