I am just introducing myself. My name is Alan Bigelow, and I am a digital writer living in Buffalo, New York, USA.
I am very happy to be included in "Re-Drawing Boundaries." It promises to be a wonderful exhibition and, judging by the discussion so far, one that encourages lively conversation. I am particularly impressed by the variety of works represented within the exhibition, and the scope of media and philosophies that it embraces.
Yes, it appears we will "re-draw" boundaries, not just in the world of art, but in the cross-pollination of ideas and philosophies embedded within our various disciplines. I wish us good luck!
alan bigelow
--- On Sun, 5/8/11, roger malina <rmalina@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> From: roger malina <rmalina@alum.mit.edu>
> Subject: [Yasmin_discussions] art and science: re-drawing boundaries
> To: "YASMIN DISCUSSIONS" <Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr>
> Date: Sunday, May 8, 2011, 3:53 PM
> Howard
>
> Thank you for your very interesting and informative post
> your your work as an artist in synthetic biology
>
> You ask the question: re artists and synthetic biology
>
> " By capitalising on emerging
> technologies too quickly, do we end up metaphorically
> mapping art works from
> diverse areas onto a desired category ? "
>
> The answer is of course : yes, and there is a real danger
> of 'eliding' into
> new hot topics without really dealing with the substance-
> jen hauser has a long
> curatorial practice in art and biology and I am sure that
> he is careful not
> to confuse synthetic biology with other areas of art and
> biology= but indeed
> its early in synthetic biology research and there are only
> a handlful of artists
> like you working actively in that territory
>
> but your email about your own work as an artist
> in a practice based art PhD in synthetic biology is a bit
> of a mind
> blower- a few months ago I was at a Leonardo LASER evening
> that was packed with biotech people, with the art hacker
> community talking
> about DYI genetic engineering equipment= just like in the
> 70s the
> first home computer clubs were started at the start of the
> digital age
>
> it seems to me we are in the middle of a rather profound
> cultural change
> in how we view life- with genetic engineering, synthetic
> biology,
> artificial life,
> physical intelligence we are seing a number of linked
> approaches that
> bring living systems into the artists studio at the cutting
> edge of research
>
> stuart kauffman in his recent book 2008, Reinventing the
> Sacred: A New
> View of Science, Reason, and Religion.
> attacks some of these issues head on ( from his point of
> view in the
> science of complexity)
>
> there are some rather profound boundaries that we are
> now beginning
> to transgress
>
> - the boundary between living and non living systems
> -the boundary between humans and non humans
>
> annick= you are quite right to correct me- that the ventner
> work doesnt breach
> the living/non living boundary= but rather introduces the
> possibility
> of new life
> forms on earth that are not a result of darwinian
> evolution= and so its
> the darwinian earth life vs new life forms that are non
> darwinian
>
> and why do we need boundaries= all philosophical systems
> develop detailed
> ontologies= that define what objects are grouped in the
> same class so that
> one can reason about them= and different ontological
> systems not only
> lead to different epistemologies but 'meaning' becomes
> destabilised as
> boundaries shift
>
> this yasmin discussion seeks to look at how science and
> technologies
> are shifting profound ontological categories
>
> one of the fascinating things is that artists are right in
> there in the
> research labs making meaning at the same time as the
> scientists
> (howard boland's work is a great example)
>
> roger
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Howard Boland <howard@c-lab.co.uk>
> Date: Sun, May 8, 2011 at 3:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [Yasmin_discussions] Yasmin_discussions
> Digest, Vol 112, Issue 1
> To: yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
>
>
> Dear Yasminers,
>
> As a first time poster a quick introduction is in place.
> I am currently
> doing a practice-based art PhD titled "Art from Synthetic
> Biology". It
> entails an immersive laboratory practice working both
> independently and
> alongside scientists. For the last couple of years, I have
> been practicing
> hands on genetic engineering and synthetic biology using
> the MIT Registry of
> Standard Biological Parts. For instance, I have engineered
> a genetic device
> that allows visualisation of invisible processes such as
> super-oxidised
> stress in bacteria and in so trace memories of growth.
>
> I would like to comment on four aspects: the minimal
> genome, orthogonal
> ribosomes, standardised parts and the Synth-ethic
> exhibition.
>
> The idea of "the minimal genome" and circumventing 4.5
> billion years of
> evolution sounds dramatic but the base genome minimalised
> (from Mycoplasma
> genitalium) is of 'natural' origin. It is, of course,
> 'artificial' through
> manipulation (reduction), and more so in Craig Venter's
> use of a
> computational language (e.g. 'booting' up the DNA
> inside an existing
> organism or to paraphrase, "it's a bit like having sex
> with someone – and
> when the whole thing is over, the other has become
> you").
>
> Moving onto the Ortogonal Ribosome (OR), developed by a
> group at University
> of Cambridge and presented at the Royal Society in London,
> the idea here is
> to tap into the amber stop codon and integrate modified
> amino acids during
> protein synthesis. To do this, a similar "booting"
> concept emerges, through
> the creation of 'artificial' (or orthogonal) ribosomes
> able to fabricate
> 'unnatural' proteins. The upshot is an extended genetic
> code and a new
> arsenal of proteins. Jason Chin, heading the group,
> reflected somewhat in
> awe that it has only taken 10 years (since the beginning of
> modern synthetic
> biology) to redraw a 4.5-billon years history of
> 'natural' building blocks.
>
> Standardised genetic parts, like biobricks used in my own
> work, are less
> dramatic and more like tinkering with electronics, but lets
> not be fooled in
> think that wet and electronic processes are the same. Much
> work is needed to
> regenerate or convert existing material qualified and
> quantified by
> fundamental research into this standard (there are about
> 700 parts adhering
> to the MIT biobrick standard). Also, the goal of having
> enough parts and
> robotics-systems to develop wet devices using computers
> remains a remote
> idea (even with current efforts).
>
> Ten years is not a long time and I would be cautious about
> over-dramatising
> the situation. Whilst conceptually hinting towards major
> applications,
> synthetic biology should still be understood in terms of
> fundamental
> research. Much effort is driven towards manipulation in
> silico rather than in
> vitro with the final removal of human wet work.
> Understanding life as it
> emerges under these conditions as artificial, returns us to
> the age-old
> anthropocentric discussion of nature and man that continues
> to patronize
> nature. Whilst the idea of the synthetic often has foreign
> and plastic
> connotations, the synthesis or reprocessing uses existing
> matter. 'The
> extended nature' works better for me, such as the
> production of
> metalloproteins etc. made possible through OR. A question I
> would like to
> pose is whether or not the shared dialectic between
> synthetic biology and
> computational language is an attempt to diffuse ethical
> implications?
>
> Finally, and to Jens, the Synth-ethics exhibition intrigues
> me. However, I
> was hoping to also see works that not only loosely relate
> to synthetic
> biology, specially, given the dramatic material argument
> launched on Bioart
> (delineating it from traditional representation - except
> that which has a
> synecdoche relation with bio matter). By capitalising on
> emerging
> technologies too quickly, do we end up metaphorically
> mapping art works from
> diverse areas onto a desired category? The exhibited works
> are interesting
> and exciting. I would however like to pose a question: What
> artists out
> there are currently developing a synthetic biology practice
> and what are
> they producing? Whilst the 'Synthetic Aesthetic'
> network is geared at
> bringing together artists/designer with scientists in
> synthetic biology, are
> there other artists working directly with these processes?
>
> I want to propose a future exhibition that would involve
> artworks that
> actually employ synthetic biology and show living devices,
> perhaps we could
> call it 'wet-devices' and use it as a platform to negotiate
> some of the
> ethical dilemmas thrown up by synthetic biology (e.g.
> instrumentation and
> industrialisation of life).
>
> Best,
> Howard Boland
> Director of Artistic Engagement, c-lab.co.uk
>
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