Title:
Genes as Artists Medium: Inkjet print on cardboard and Styrofoam. Base Pair Legend: A and T base pairs are represented by males
C and G base pairs are represented by females.
Summary:
How
and where do humans get their looks? Is aesthetic beauty a product
of God playing artist or is it a more complex gift determined by
nature’s scientific mechanisms? Genes as Artists attempts to
show macroscopic beauty on a microscopic level and display human
aesthetic diversity when seemingly similar and vastly different
people reproduce. Through facial snapshots I have composed the phenotype
(outward physical appearance) that results from DNA parent strands
from one generation. I then recombined these original strands to
produce offspring phenotypes with a completely different aesthetic
appearance. To fully understand Genes as Artists think of each base
as the complete part of one parent’s genome that determines
his or her aesthetic appearance. Combining two bases is equivalent
to two parents reproducing and the mutated strand represents the
offspring.
Genetic Art
Proposal
Title:
"Genomics: Transforming the Way Society Looks at the World through
Genetic Art"
Summary:
In the aftermath of the genetic revolution it is relevant that
society be forced to look at its relation to the world and redefine
its view on issues it has held close throughout time. Society’s
philosophical view of what it means to be human must be totally redefined
when presented in the face of genetic data. It is also crucial that
society reconsider exactly where it wants to draw its ethical boundaries
on new genetic technology. Lastly our culture must decide who will
own DNA of the future. Will it be trusted to individuals or might
society be better served by incorporating it into government and industrial
controlled groups. With such challenging questions, genetic metaphorical
art will step up to play a transformative medium that will serve as
an exploration space for society to discover itself in while redefining
its relation with the world.
