----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- Responding to Paul Vanouse's question about the relation between ethics and aesthetics, I wanted to first focus on aesthetics and bioart within a philosophical framework . . . I'm writing a paper for the biodeconstruction panel at this summer's ACLA conference. Tentatively titled “Bioart and the Epigenetic Turn: from Bioinformatics to Bioplasticity," this paper does not discuss bioart in relation to the fascinating world of transgenics and cloning, bionetworks and biocolonies, or Green Florescent Protein (GFP), but in relation to a so-called non-materialist transcendental principle: what Kant calls “the epigenesis of pure reason.” It also situates Derrida’s discussion of parergon from The Truth in Painting in relation to epigenetics: just as genetics might be considered the ergon of the living being, so too might epigenetics be its parergon. Although new materialism—and bioart is part of this adventure—has dissolved barriers between the natural and technological, the human and nonhuman, the living and non-living, the organism and environment, the genetic and epigenetic, the informatic and plastic, it has also unexpectedly invited us to revisit aesthetic orientations that look “beyond” the material. Philosopher Catherine Malabou, for instance, insists that although contemporary biology and biotechnology (and we can add bioart here) in effect deconstruct the limits of deconstruction and other poststructuralist theory, she nevertheless observes that new materialism often disregards and therefore reinstitutes the “transcendental” in its most critical and uncritical forms. In the realm of art and aesthetics this territory is perhaps staked out most familiarly by the “sublime,” yet if we return to Kant’s Critique of Judgment, we will see that the sublime and the transcendental are not only immersed in questions of the aesthetic, but in biology and, we might say, biotechnics and bioart as well. This is not to say that bioart should retreat or regress into questions of “aesthetic experience” or the “immaterial,” but that the aesthetic, in Kant’s formulation, belongs to life as such, and that Kant often deploys biological terms to discuss the aesthetic. One such phrase, and one that Catherine Malabou explores in her recent book Avant Demain: Épigenese et Rationalité, is “the epigenesis of pure reason.” Epigenesis is a theory of (embryonic) development in distinction from preformationism, and for contemporary genomics it suggests a certain kind of plasticity to the fixity and innateness of the genetic code and forms in general. It is here that we might pose the question of the epigenesis of bioart, suggesting that bioart is itself the epigenesis of both biology and art. Yet, even if bioart might be heading toward such uncharted territory as the (machinic) subjectivity of bioartworks, the “evolution” of bioart, anthropocene art, and astrobioart (the fusion of astrobiology and bioart), the philosophical grounds of bioart remain, it appears, highly static and fixed . . .
Paul: how would you describe the philosophical underpinnings of bioart? Regards, Erin Obodiac ----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- Hi Empyre group, Thanks Renate for inviting and Kathy for prodding me to write and to ask a couple questions;-) So, I suppose this would be a good place to mention/discuss my main recent project this year, the Coalesce Center for Biological Art. The Center was initiated as a component of the Community of Excellence in Genome, Environment and Microbiome at the University at Buffalo. Our mandate is to help address the grand challenge to our social and ethical tools by recent advances in the biotechnology; complementing UB’s expertise in the life sciences by addressing questions and issues vital to public understanding and participation, but beyond the analytical constraints of most disciplines. Coalesce has been in the works for a few years, but this is the first year fully operational in all aspects. We now teach interdisciplinary courses and workshops with biological media, offer graduate assistantships and undergraduate internships, support faculty research, and offer visiting artist residencies. This year’s residents were selected after a call for proposals in the summer 2016, and have been the center’s guiding spark: Nicole Clouston (CA), Heather Dewey-Hagborg (US), Kathy High (US), Timo Menke (Se), Zbigniew Oksiuta (US), Byron Rich and Mary Tsang (US), and Lucie Strecker and Klaus Spiess (At). After working in with biomedia for the last twenty years, the Coalesce center and our residents have forced me to think in greater breadth about many issues our field interrogates. Needless to say, I wouldn’t have attempted such an enterprise if not for the residency I completed at Symbiotica, with Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, 2005 in Perth, as well as at Biofilia, 2014 in Helsinki. The questions that now sit upon my desk, staring back at me, are particularly these “ethical tools”, which I mention in our mission statement. I’ve always considered theoretical frameworks to be “critical tools” and find updating our ethical tools crucial at this stage. It would seem that many of the funds and incentives for the development of ethical tools have been diminished and compromised since the beginning of the Human Genome Project in the 1980s with its 15% funds devoted to Ethical, Legal, Social Implications (ELSI) program. Indeed, many of the seeming bedrocks of ethics and precaution have been eroded, like those of the Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA in 1975. For instance, the recent proclamations from the National Academy entrepreneurs that the highly accurate Crisper protocol means that we can now reconsider the ban on human germ-line modification?! As if the ban were simply because of technical problems! So, can bio-art be an even more explicit participant in ELSI debates in the coming years. How do we presently conceive of the relationship between ethics and aesthetics? Looking forward to hearing from others about this. cheers, Paul > On Feb 24, 2017, at 10:35 AM, High, Kathy <hi...@rpi.edu> wrote: > > ----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- > Dear Renate, > Thanks so much fro writing and for introducing Soyo, Paul and Yiyun. > It would be great to hear of the scene in biological arts in Seoul and > Shanghai - for Soyo and Yiyun! > And Paul could fill everyone in on his amazing Coalesce Residency in > Biological Arts in Buffalo!!! > > Looking forward! > Thanks Kathy > > On 21/02/2017, 2:06 PM, "empyre-boun...@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au on > behalf of Renate Terese Ferro" <empyre-boun...@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au > on behalf of rfe...@cornell.edu> wrote: > >> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- >> I have been trying to sort through some glitches in our system but am >> going to plod on in hopes you are getting our posts. Just a reminder >> that you can check on what has been posted by going to our main archived >> space here >> >> http://lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/ >> >> >> I want to take this opportunity to thank Kathy High and Lindsay Kelley >> for helping me through Week 2 while I was traveling to NYC. The >> discussion was a great beginning into the nuances of doing >> interdisciplinary work that is so meshed and intertwined with politics, >> the environment, health, and so much more. I appreciated Kathy’s early >> post last week when she wrote: >> >> <snip> >> I am very aware that my role as an artist, feminist, educator, queer >> person, and provocateur is essential more so now than even before! As >> so-called bio-arists (and I say that because the term “bio-art” is such a >> terrible “catch all” term that needs to be examined as it needs to serve >> for “eco-artists”, "genetic-artists” “transgenetic artists" "synthetic >> biology >> artists” and so on, all terms needing to be unpacked), — and generally >> we, as bioartists, work with living materials and we make decisions about >> the ethics that we apply to these materials. >> >> <snip> >> >> My hope is that we can use the base that both Kathy and Lindsay provided >> for us to deconstruct the layers within “Bio Art” that manifest >> themselves today BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND ART. For me its the between maybe >> that holds the key to our examination? Not sure but would love to hear >> from more of you. >> >> Welcome Soyo Lee, Paul Vanouse and Yiyun Chen. It is with great pleasure >> that we welcome you to our -empyre- space and hope that you will post. >> Realizing that Soyo and Yiyun are sleeping right now (they in Australia >> and Singapore) we will wish them sweet dreams and look forward to their >> contributions a bit later. Paul I know is awake and probably in his >> Coalesce Lab right now or teaching at U. of Buffalo but hopefully he will >> have time to write in when he gets a chance. >> >> And to you lurkers….hope you will be inspired to write even short posts. >> This is a conversation and without you in this space I feel lonely >> sometimes thinking that there is absolutely no one out there. So if you >> are reading this please be inspired to write. I will refer to the >> question that t Tim Murray and I wrote last month. Is the listserv >> -empyre no longer relevant if our subscribers do not participate. >> Something to think about for sure. >> >> Biographies are below. Looking forward. >> Warmly, Renate >> >> Soyo Lee(KR) is an artist who is interested in changing social and >> ethical conceptions about various living organisms in human culture. Her >> recent project Ornamental Cactus Design, looking at the cultural history >> of a popular horticultural product, was presented at the Museum of Modern >> and Contemporary Art(Seoul), Museum of Contemporary Art(Sydney), >> ISEA(Albuqerque), and SLSA(Perth). She holds a Ph.D in Electronic Art at >> Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, and runs an independent art >> space and publisher Lifeforms in Culture in Seoul, Korea. >> >> Paul Vanouse has been working in emerging media forms since 1990. >> Interdisciplinarity and impassioned amateurism guide his art practice. >> His electronic cinema, biological experiments, and interactive >> installations have been exhibited in over 20 countries and widely across >> the US. Vanouse is a Professor of Visual Studies at the University at >> Buffalo, NY. >> >> >> Yiyun Chen is an artist currently based in Shanghai. She graduated from >> MA Design Interactions at Royal College of Art in London, and obtained a >> diploma of Traditional Chinese Medicine at >> Shanghai University of TCM. Drawing and film are main mediums of her >> narrative works, which often based on fictional scenarios, aiming to >> provide alternative prospectives by raising dilemmatic questions through >> proposing critical concepts. She currently interests in the realms where >> art, psychology and medicine connect, and her work now mainly concerned >> with the human body under >> the topic of disease and wellness as an ideology. Her work ‘Sick Better’ >> is nominated by The Helen Hamlyn Design Awards and currently exhibiting >> in London.Yiyun just finished her bioart residency in SymbioticA, Perth, >> Australia. >> >> >> >> >> >> Renate Ferro >> Visiting Associate Professor >> Director of Undergraduate Studies >> Department of Art >> Tjaden Hall 306 >> rfe...@cornell.edu >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> empyre forum >> empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au >> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu > > _______________________________________________ > empyre forum > empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au > http://empyre.library.cornell.edu _______________________________________________ empyre forum empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu _______________________________________________ empyre forum empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
