Biotech+Art

Biotech+Art is the most controversial areas we will cover in class. It includes GMO, animal experiments and hybrids between species. There are many pros and cons. What is bio art? Bio art is a practice where humans work with live tissues, bacteria, living organisms and life processes. By using scientific processes such as biotechnology, the artworks are produced in laboratories, galleries, or artists' studios. Joe Davis caught my attention from this week’s topic.

Joe Davis is a Bio Artist. I did not know there was such a thing as “Bio Artist.” The project that caught my attention was the experiment he conducted that involved measuring the growth of E.coli bacteria in regards to the music that was being played for the bacteria. Joe Davis played different genres for the bacteria and measured its growth based on that. Music has been apart of my life for so long. As someone who loves hearing music all the time, it was very interesting to make an artistic connection to a scientific experiment. Another experiment that caught my attention was the Audio Microscope. It was a microscope that translated light information into sound allowing you to “hear” living cells, each with its own acoustic signature. 

Joe Davis: The man that creates art and controversy out of bacteria, deep space transmissions, and lightning.

After further researching more about Joe Davis, I had learned that he is a research affiliate at MIT Biology and Artist-Scientist at the George Church Laboratory at Harvard. It is a place that fosters creativity and technological development around genetic engineering and synthetic biology. Davis says, “It’s Oz, pure and simple. The total amount of resources in this environment and the minds that are accessible, it’s like I come to the city of Oz every day.” Although the number of bio artists is still very small, I believe that he will influence many artist and scientists to come together in new ways. Not only will it help people think outside of the box, it will benefit the world of medicine.

Despite all the controversy of Biotech and art experiments, I believe that it is an eye-opening experience to see the endless possibilities of art and portraying inhumane things. In my opinion, Joe Davis’s experiment is a unique way of art because it involves music as an art form. It is very different from most art in today’s society. Not only is this amusing, his experiments can be very beneficial to the medical world. It can help us understand bacterial growth and  being able to better understand will only benefit us from contracting diseases.

In my opinion, I believe that there are absolutely no bounds to human creativity. There are billions of people in the world, each carrying their own capabilities. Every individual has their own creativities. There will be continuous improvements/advancement in fields of science and technology created by human creativity and innovations. Topics such as math and philosophy expanded the range of our imagination. The human mind is very skilled with the passion and urge to constantly innovate.

Sources:

"Bioart: An Introduction." Bioart: An Introduction. Web. 07 May 2016. <http://phys.org/news/2015-11-bioart-introduction.html>.

"Joe Davis (artist)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 07 May 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Davis_(artist)>.

NOVAonline. "Scientist? Artist. Pirate! Who Is Joe Davis?" YouTube. YouTube, 2015. Web. 08 May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GkZt00Qics>.

"The Mystery of Human Creativity Explained." Web. 08 May 2016. <https://www.thetrumpet.com/article/8960.24.141.0/the-mystery-of-human-creativity-explained>.

Vesna, Victoria. "5 Bioart Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, 2013. Web. 07 May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaThVnA1kyg>.