Ars Electronica Center, Level 1 + 2
Not too long ago, it cost millions to sequence a genome. Since then, the cost has dropped to a few thousand euros. It will soon be doable for peanuts.
For years now, we’ve been able to not only read genetic information but write it as well. Enabling humankind to configure all of life on Earth is the realm of possibilities of synthetic biology. The available options thus include resurrecting extinct species and endowing organisms with new characteristics, and doing so not only in big-time laboratories but in garages and home workshops too. Thus, in synthetic biology as well, there’s a do-it-yourself scene dedicated to the open source principle. The possibility of designing living creatures on the drawing board raises incredibly complex ethical, social and ecological questions.
Project Genesis — Synthetic Biology — Life from the Lab is the first show to bring together artistic works as a means of stimulating a discussion of these issues. They get across how artists use technological achievements to investigate and understand nature, and often to assume a critical perspective in doing so.
With works by Sonja Bäumel (AT) & Manuel Selg (AT), David Benqué (UK), Oron Catts (AU) & Hideo Iwasaki (JP), Ben Fry (US), Shiho Fukuhara (JP) & Georg Tremmel (AT/JP), Matthew Gardiner (AU/AT), Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg (UK), Andy Gracie (UK/ES), Hackteria.org (CH), Denisa Kera (CZ/SG), Le Laboratoire (FR), Emiko Ogawa (JP/AT) & Hideaki Ogawa (JP/AT) & Naohiro Hayaishi (JP) & Takeshi Kanno (JP), Patricia Piccinini (AU), Tobias Revell (UK), RIXC (LV), Theresa Schubert (DE), Johanna Schmeer (DE), Science Gallery (IE), Superflux Studio (UK), Rüdiger Trojok (DK), Teresa Dillion (IE) & Naomi Griffin-Murtagh (IE) & Claire Dempsey (IE) & Aisling McCrudden (IE) & Pierre Cordelle (FR) & Maëlle Chassard (FR) & Guilhem Aulotte (FR) & Sandra Rey (FR).
Curated by: Matthew Gardiner (AU/AT)
Ars Electronica Center, Level 1 + 2
