Art And Biotechnology

Evolution has gotten us this far. Design may take it from here. Aimed at raising awareness about genetic engineering, biotechnologies, and their consequences through the lens of art and design, Art's Work in the Age of Biotechnology: Shaping Our Genetic Futures is an art-science exhibition curated by Hannah Star Rogers and organized by the NC State University Libraries and the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, and shown at the Gregg Museum of Art & Design, in the physical and digital display spaces of the Libraries, and on the grounds of the North Carolina Museum of Art. By combining science and art and design, artists offer new insights about genetic engineering by bringing it out of the lab and into public places to challenge viewers' understandings about the human condition, the material of our bodies, and the consequences of biotechnology. Exhibition participants include Kirsten Stolle, Paul Vanouse, Adam Zaretsky, Joe Davis, Emilia Tikka, Emeka Ikebude, Jennifer Willet, Charlotte Jarvis, Maria McKinney, Ciara Redmond, Aaron Ellison, David Buckley Borden, Joel Ong, and others.

Bioart -- art that uses either living materials (such as bacteria or transgenic organisms) or more traditional materials to comment on, or even transform, biotechnological practice -- now receives enormous media attention. Yet despite this attention, bioart is frequently misunderstood. Bioart and the Vitality of Media is the first comprehensive theoretical account of the art form, situating it in the contexts of art history, laboratory practice, and media theory. Mitchell begins by sketching a brief history of bioart in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, describing the artistic, scientific, and social preconditions that made it conceptually and technologically possible. He illustrates how bioartists employ technologies and practices from the medical and life sciences in an effort to transform relationships among science, medicine, corporate interests, and the public. By illustrating the ways in which bioart links a biological understanding of media -- that is, �media� understood as the elements of an environment that facilitate the growth and development of living entities -- with communicational media, Bioart and the Vitality of Media demonstrates how art and biotechnology together change our conceptions and practices of mediation. Reading bioart through a range of resources, from Immanuel Kant�s discussion of disgust to Gilles Deleuze�s theory of affect to Gilbert Simondon�s concept of �individuation,� provides readers with a new theoretical approach for understanding bioart and its relationships to both new media and scientific institutions.

This interdisciplinary anthology examines the relationship between developments in biotechnology and both artistic and literary innovation, focussing in particular on how newfound molecular technologies and knowledge regimes, such as CRISPR gene editing, alter conceptions of what it means to be human. The book presents 21 essays, split across four parts, from a coterie of artists, theorists, historians and scientists which examine the symbiotic relationship between humans, animals, and viruses as well as the impossibility of germ-free existence. The essays in this volume are urgent in their topicality, embodying the exhilarating yet alarming zeitgeist of contemporary nonhuman-to-human viral transmission and gene editing technologies. Ultimately, Art and Biotechnology reveals how art and biotechnology influence each other and how art has shaped the discussion around gene editing and the socio-cultural aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is essential reading for students and researchers focussing on science and art, environmental humanities, and ethics.

The field of antibody engineering has become a vital and integral part of making new, improved next generation therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, of which there are currently more than 300 in clinical trials across several therapeutic areas. Therapeutic antibody engineering examines all aspects of engineering monoclonal antibodies and analyses the effect that various genetic engineering approaches will have on future candidates. Chapters in the first part of the book provide an introduction to monoclonal antibodies, their discovery and development and the fundamental technologies used in their production. Following chapters cover a number of specific issues relating to different aspects of antibody engineering, including variable chain engineering, targets and mechanisms of action, classes of antibody and the use of antibody fragments, among many other topics. The last part of the book examines development issues, the interaction of human IgGs with non-human systems, and cell line development, before a conclusion looking at future issues affecting the field of therapeutic antibody engineering. Goes beyond the standard engineering issues covered by most books and delves into structure-function relationships Integration of knowledge across all areas of antibody engineering, development, and marketing Discusses how current and future genetic engineering of cell lines will pave the way for much higher productivity

Art, the Life Sciences, and the Humanities: In Search ofa Relationship Robert Ztuijnenberg Over the last decades there has been a distinctive effort in the arts to engage with science through participation in the actual practice of science. ' Exchange proj ects between artists and scientists, such as artist-in-lab projects, have become common and a large number oforganizations have emerged that stimulate and initiate collaboration between artists andscientists. ' Research funding organiza tions in thehumanities,such asthe British Arts and Humanities Research Coun cil (AHRC) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), have also initiated all sorts of research programs that explore and support inter actions between art and science. ' Asa result, artists have grown more involved with scientific concerns and practices, and their increased interactions with scientists have also become a subject of study within the humanities. Why do artists openly seek to gain access to the domain of the sciences? And why do scholars in the humanities value collaboration between artists and scientists so much that theyare willing to spend research time and money on it? This interest in science, I argue in this preface for Ingeborg Reichle's bookArt in theAge of Tecbnoscience,' underscores that the arts and the humanities are searching to establish a new relationship with the natural sciences as well as with each other. Art and Science T he relationship between thearts and thesciences hasbeen subject to permanent change over the past two centuries.

A visually striking, authoritative survey of the crossover between art and biotechnology by an expert in the field In an era of fast-paced technological progress and with the impact of humans on the environment increasing, the concept of “nature” itself seems called into question. Bio Art explores the work of “bio artists,” those who work with living organisms and life processes to address the possibilities and dangers posed by biotechnological advancement. A contextual introduction traces the roots of bio artistic practice, followed by four thematic chapters: Altering Nature, Experimental Identity and Mediums, Visualizing Scale and Scope, and Redefining Life. The chapters cover the key areas in which biotechnology has had an impact on today’s world, including ecology, biomedicine, designer genomes, and changing approaches to evolutionary theory, and include profiles of the work of sixty artists, collectives, and organizations from around the world. Interviews with eight leading bio artists and technologists provide deeper insight into the ideas and methods of this new breed of creative practitioners.

Tissues, Cultures, Art narrates the twenty-five years of collaborative and sometimes provocative artistic practice and scholarly thought of Catts & Zurr, who pioneered the use of regenerative biology techniques to create Semi-Living art using living cells, tissues, and technological surrogate bodies. Through hands-on work in biological laboratories, the authors researched concepts such as partial-life and DNA-Chauvinism and explored the fantasies of living in a technologically mediated victimless utopia. The authors delve into life’s resistance to reductionism, systemisation and control, asking whether there is something unique to life without the need to resort to metaphysics. Their practices reach beyond the confines of art and are often cited as precursors to the cellular agriculture and biofabrication industries. Through a hybrid of personal reflections, poetics, and anecdotes with a more rigorous, scholarly approach – all illustrated with artworks - the authors present a critical view on the use of life as a raw material for human manipulation.