Latent Figure Protocol (LFP) takes the form of a media installation that uses DNA samples to create emergent representational images. The installation includes a live science experiment, the result of which is videotaped and repeated for the duration of the gallery exhibit. Employing a reactive gel and electrical current, LFP produces images that relate to the DNA samples used. In the first experiment, a copyright symbol is derived from the DNA of an industrially-produced organism (a plasmid called “pET-11a”), illuminating ethical questions around the changing status of organic life and the ownership of living organisms. Future instances of the LFP will use the DNA of other subjects and create other images.

A “DNA fingerprint” is often mis-understood by the lay public to be a single, unique identifier. However, there are hundreds of different enzymes, primers and molecular probes that can be used to segment DNA and produce banding patterns. These banding patterns that appear tell us as much about the enzyme/primer/probe as the subject that they appear to reproduce. My point is that the DNA fingerprint is a cultural construct that is too often naturalized.

The “wet-biological” techniques used in the LFP utilize restriction digestion of DNA samples and gel electrophoresis. The LFP imaging process relies upon knowing what size DNA is required for each band to move at the proper speed to make the correct image and what enzyme combinations will cut the DNA to these sizes. A custom LFP simulation program facilitates this. LFP is essentially doing molecular biology in reverse.