Bio Art

Joe Davis

With the discovery of DNA and subsequent ability to manipulate it, it has arisen as a potential medium for art. Some artists like Joe Davis (Vesna) have seized the opportunity and pioneered it as a new canvas on which to paint. As a medium this calls into question the ethics of using DNA as an art form as well the value of the medium (Elsevier).




Joe Davis noted that he is likely the most successful publisher in history because the E.coli. This highlights a key feature of art being encoded in DNA in that it can be replicated very quickly and efficiently. Thus his Microvenus symbol is within the DNA of millions of cells of E.coli. Another feature of art being encoded as DNA is the permanence and capacity of the data stored within in it. Supposedly all of the world’s data could be stored in it (Extance).
Microvenus

There are ethical concerns about using DNA as well. One such example is if using it as an art medium could continue into genetically modifying organisms leading to animals and eventually humans (Ormandy). Another concern DNA is that is not as easy to deal with a paper or computers, but as technology advances it will become more accessible. For example, laypeople can extract the DNA of strawberries at home (Meanings...). While this may be true, the benefit of using it as an artform definitely outweigh the cons. The progression of the main form of reproduceable art from paper to digital encoding to DNA would enable a permanent, replicable, and efficient medium to store art.
Binary DNA

Works Cited

Elsevier. “Creating Art with Genes and Bacteria.” 1st Edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, www.elsevier.com/connect/creating-art-with-genes-and-bacteria.
Extance, Andy. “How DNA Could Store All the World's Data.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, www.nature.com/news/how-dna-could-store-all-the-world-s-data-1.20496.
Ormandy, Elisabeth H., Julie Dale, and Gilly Griffin. “Genetic Engineering of Animals: Ethical Issues, Including Welfare Concerns.” The Canadian Veterinary Journal 52.5 (2011): 544–550. Print.
Vesna, Victoria. “BioArt Part 1.mov.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 8 September 2013.
“Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology” May 13, 2018

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