record

Thesis Info

LABS ID
00591
Thesis Title
When CRISPR Meets Art. The Experience of Relationality Through the Affective Agency of Matter
Author
Lotte Pet
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
MA
Year
2016
Number of Pages
61
University
Leiden University
Thesis Supervisor
Prof. dr. Robert Zwijnenberg
Supervisor e-mail
r.zwijnenberg AT hum.leidenuniv.nl
Other Supervisor(s)
Dr. Amalia Kallergi
Language(s) of Thesis
English
Department / Discipline
Arts and Culture / Contemporary Art and World Art Studies
Copyright Ownership
Lotte Pet
Languages Familiar to Author
URL where full thesis can be found
openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/42146
Keywords
bioart; CRISPR; human enhancement; genetic engineering; relationality; affect; agency of matter
Abstract: 200-500 words
In When CRISPR Meets Art I discuss how art can be fruitful to the debate on human enhancement that is sparked by the novel genetic engineering technique called CRISPR. This technique allows for the modification of DNA with much stronger precision and lower costs than previous methods, and is therefore quickly and widely applied in many practices of the Life Sciences. Due to this development, we are confronted with the inevitability of technology’s footprint and are forced to formulate opinions on issues that touch upon complicated and delicate notions of life, death and the question of what it means to be human. As with all complex issues, a univocal opinion is absent and the debate on the ethical and societal implications of genetic human enhancement shows many different and often incommensurable perspectives and opinions. Therefore, new methods for both experts and laymen that enable the management of this essential subject matter need to be developed, as well as means to overcome the current stalemate position. This thesis argues that these can be found in bioart: the field of art in which techniques and materials of the Life Sciences are used in artistic practices to construct a better understanding of the ethical, social and philosophical implications of biotechnology. Bioartists are famous for their ability to bring about instances such as shock, disgust or fascination in their audiences when they confront them with life material, bringing people in contact with intrinsic perceptions they weren’t aware of beforehand. Drawing on theories by Brian Massumi, Georges Bataille, Michel Serres, Rosi Braidotti, Andrew Lapworth and Karen Barad, I argue that bioart can instigate an awareness that our existence is in its core relational and that this awareness is of importance to an alternate scientific and ethical attitude. I relate this to six different art projects – Ear on Arm by Stelarc; MicroSushi, Microinjection Food Science by Adam Zaretsky; Genetic Heirloom by Revital Cohen; Cult of the New Eve by Critical Art Ensemble, Paul Vanouse and Faith Wilding; Embracing Animal by Kathy High; and Natural History of the Enigma by Eduardo Kac – and show how the agency of their material works provides different epistemological frameworks. Whereas in daily life things and phenomena are often treated as separated but clearly defined and therefore understandable entities, in the projects of these artists the complex and muddy notion of intersubjectivity as a process of becoming is centralized. The incorporation of art in discussions about technological innovations like CRISPR is therefore significant due to its focus on inclusion in contrast to methods of exclusion. The diverse viewpoints that are present in the human enhancement debate exemplify that finding the right definition of what is at stake sometimes cannot be achieved through language and representations. Instead, it has to be known through art’s affective happening in which different desires, implications and heuristic models all find their affirmation.