Week 6

I never really understood how biotech could relate to art until this week. Biotechnology is the exploitation of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially the genetic manipulation of microorganisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones, etc. After listening to professor Vesna's lecture part two and the testings of lab rats and how they cross their genomes, it makes sense. Professor Vesna also mentions in her lecture that they do Blood wars. They take your white blood cells to test in hopes that people who donated will get a better understanding of how the white blood cells are used in our body to protect us. The artist's who work in this area spend a great amount of time and energy in their works.




Artists are taking advantage of their ability to use biotechnology in their art and are using rats to test on and cross their genomes and make hybrids, cyborgs, etc to get the results that they want. This crossing does create some good because it can help us humans create certain medicines, but it does not outweigh the bad. There was an artist that bought the lab rats and invested her time to making them healthy again. This artist suffers from auto-immune problems (chromes disease)and stress triggers it. she tried to mirror this with the rats to try and figure out how to treat it. she tried to get the rats to relax by feeling empathy for the rats.  There should be set standards for artists and scientist when it comes using biotechnology to manipulating these animals because they are living.







 Work Cited

http://www.entryguidance.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/bio.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/04/29/science/29mouse/29mouse-master1050.jpg

http://healthsciences.utah.edu/utah-genome-project/img/the_genome_as_a_person.png

Vesna, Victoria. "5 Bioart Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. UCOnline, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 09 May 2017. <https://youtu.be/PaThVnA1kyg>.

Levy, Ellen K. Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications. Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1-22. Print.

Comments

  1. Eun-Bin HongMay 16, 2017 at 5:52 AM

    I didn't know that artists could incorporate biotechnology in their artworks until this week either. However, I have to disagree that biotechnology is an exploitation of animals. If you were to set standards for artists and scientist, shouldn't other industries involving animals, such as food, fur, and leather industries should be restricted in their usages of animals? What makes using animals tolerable for certain fields? Also, would we have been able to progress like this without using animals?

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  2. Madilyn NicklesMay 16, 2017 at 10:35 PM

    Much like you, I never would have imagined biotechnology relating to art until this week's topic readings and lectures. I found it very interesting as well to discover that artists were incorporating the use of living features to help with art/scientific research. I do agree that there should be limits on how animals and other living things are tested for artistic experiments. However, I also found that it can be very useful for scientific research to learn more about living organisms for future generations.

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  3. UnknownMay 17, 2017 at 10:46 PM

    I completely agree with your views on there needing to be limits and restrictions on the use of biotechnology on animals. I took a bioethics class when I was a freshman and we talked about how animals have species specific interests. These are defined as things an animal is interested in participating in based on its particular species. We can to the conclusion that animals should be given tasks that fulfill these interests, such as putting a rat in a maze to find cheese. I feel that scientists should conduct their experiments based on these parameters, rather than treating these animals like they are props or tools to utilize for their experiments and not living creatures.

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