Week 6: Art and Biotech

Like many fields that attempt to combine the sciences with the arts, the biotech field is not alone. This combination of biotech with art may seem like an obscure one compared to the other sciences, but this combination probably has been in fact one of the very first intersections to actually occur.

A prime example of biotech, in terms of life, being a viable expressive medium can be traced to the earliest dances performed by humans. The earliest evidence comes from paintings depicting dance in Indian and Egyptian tombs from 3300 BC (“History of Dance”). As a lifeform, humans have throughout history used dance as artistic medium for a variety of reasons from appeasing their gods to attempting to heal diseases. Through the movements of their body, usually with the accompaniment of music, dancers attempt to convey some sort of expression.

Another expression of art through life is the use of other life forms aside from humans to express human emotions and thoughts. This form takes to the using scientific equipment to capture artistic creations instead of personal expression. There are specific lab spaces that contain “a vast collection of animal and plant specimens that students use as visual inspiration” (Tansey). In these labs, the host organization attempts to give access to specimens specifically for use of artistic expression. These kinds of locations allow individuals access to express themselves through the use of other species.

Some artists go as far as using life it self as art in their attempts at expression of thoughts or emotions. Paola Antonelli from New York was “forced to kill a work of art” when she had to remove an art piece of leather “cultivated from mouse tissue that lived inside a sterile glass ball” (Miranda). Instead of simply using life to inspire art, Antonelli used life itself as art. Something like this reflects the use of humans as art, in terms of dance, but instead now is using other actual life as art.

"The Dance: Historic Illustrations of Dancing from 3300 B.C. to 1911 A.D." Gutenberg.org. N.p., 12 Dec. 2005. Web. 5 May 2015.

"History of Dance." Dance Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2015.

"History of Dance." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 05 May 2015.

Miranda, Carolina. "Weird Science: Biotechnology as Art Form." ARTnews. N.p., 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 May 2015.

Tansey, Bernadette. "Science and Art: Why Choose? A Biotech Entrepreneur's Dual Life." Xconomy RSS. N.p., 21 May 2014. Web. 05 May 2015.