The Ethics of SymbioticA
In a recent Digital Art History class, we discussed the biotech art collective, SymbioticA.
SymbioticA is an artistic laboratory based in Australia dedicated to the furthering of research in life sciences. With the aid of such facilities, artists are enabled to participate in innovative biology practices to create their works of art.
In an interview when speaking of a recent project underway, artists coined the term “stupid tissue”, taking “dumb” meat and giving it new shape. The procedure in a nutshell was essentially, isolating cells from dead meat, nourishing and keeping alive those cells in a petry dish, and growing a semi-living mass with them.
Supposedly, this innovative procedure paired with cloning could eventually be used to create victimless leather and such possibilities are currently being explored by the Tissue Culture & Art Project.
Here’s a link to the site we viewed and discussed in class:
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/biotech_art/index.php?page=2
In a similar discussed procedure, it was demonstrated that artists, Oron Catts, Ionat Zurr, and Guy Ben-Arry were able to grow “pig wings” from pig bone marrow stem cells and biodegradable polymers with the use of facilities including SymbioticA.
This “art” could bring up a very heated debate. Is a procedure like this ethical? Some could argue that these creations are horrific monstrosities that God would never intend to exist in nature. If they’re not already living, but merely “semi-living”, could they eventually reach that status? Are we not, essentially playing God, so to speak, in performing these procedures?
I understand the innovative possibilities of such research, but was the creation of such a work of art necessary? Is this not an abomination of nature? If not now, perhaps their further work could reach that status.
In my opinion, there are some boundaries that should never be crossed in the sake of creating art, and I find this to be one of them. I don’t know, perhaps it’s only touching that boundary, but you can’t deny that such thoughts of the horrific possibilities haven’t crossed your mind in viewing the results of such research.
