Project is the artistic manipulation of living materials using the tools of modern biological research in order to sharpen questions arising from the utilization of these new sets of tools. Prevailing Western views of a nature-culture dualism can be challenged by putting into practice newly acquired knowledge in biology. Synthesizing biological processes and materials can help us understand that humans and their extended phenotype (the external manifestation of our genes expressed through our culture and technologies) are an integral part of what we call nature, and we therefore have to develop a new set of references in order to understand the implications of our deeds.Many artists are directing their attention to the consequences of deciphering the genetic code. Our work deals with another level of the biological system-that of the cell and communities of cells: tissue. The interaction with nature that we offer is the manipulation and direction of the growth and three-dimensional formation of tissue on scaffoldings that we provide. Our work is conceptually closer to cybernetics, machine/nature hybrids and the effect of technologies on complex biological systems, than to molecular biology-based art-although we often use genetically modi ed cells and utilize other aspects of molecular biology. We are exploring the formation of a new class of objects/beings, which we refer to as "semi-living" objects.The Tissue Culture & Art Project (initiated by Oron Catts in 1996) was set up to explore questions arising from the use of living tissues to create/grow semi-living objects/sculptures and to research the technologies involved in such a task.
Lungfishes are the closest living relatives of the ancestors to all terrestrial vertebrates and have remained relatively unchanged since the early Lochkovin period (410 mya). Lungfishes, therefore, represent a critical stage in vertebrate evolution and their sensory neurobiology is of considerable interest. This study examines the ultrastructure of the retina of two species of lungfishes: the South American lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa and the spotted African lungfish, Protopterus dolloi in an attempt to assess variations in photoreception in these two ancient groups of sarcopterygian (lobe-finned) fishes. In juvenile P. dolloi, the retina contains one rod and two cone photoreceptor types (one containing a red oil droplet), while only one rod and one cone photoreceptor type is present in adult L. paradoxa. Both species lack double cones. The large size and inclusion of oil droplets in both species apart from one of the cone photoreceptor types in P. dolloi suggests that L. paradoxa and P. dolloi are adapted for increasing sensitivity. However, the complement of photoreceptor types suggests that there may be a major difference in the capacity to discriminate color (dichromatic and monochromatic photoreception in P. dolloi and L. paradoxa, respectively). This study suggests that the visual needs of these two species may differ.
the biomass of disassociated living cells and tissues is in the thousands of tons. these fragments do not fall under current biological or cultural classifications. the notion of the Extended body developed by the tC&A (tissue Culture & Art) Project can be seen as a way to define this category of life and, at the same time, an attempt to destabilize some of the rooted perceptions of the classification of living beings. the Extended body is an amalgamation of the human extended phenotype and tissue life-a unified body for disembodied living fragments, an ontological device, set to draw attention to the need for re-examining current taxonomies and hierarchical perceptions of life. the Extended body is a tangible metaphor for the Victimless Utopian ideal; at the same time, it is paradoxically an embodiment of the sacrifice of the victim.
As technology is becoming more lifelike and life is becoming a technology, there is a growing need to culturally scrutinize and articulate the meaning(s) of the concept of life. This happens at a time when fact and fake are becoming interchangeable, and the rhetoric of control over complex systems suggests fantasies about human desire for full dominance over the unintentional and constructed world. When it comes to the concept of life, who is calling the shots? This paper aims to explore the complexities in the relations between meaning makers (let us call them artists), fact makers (let us call them scientists), tool makers (let us call them engineers) and money makers (let us call them opportunists), especially as they relate to the idea of life. Lifean enigmatic conceptis always going through changes, physically and conceptually. How do we understand and articulate these changes through the work of artists using the tools of the fact makers to manipulate living bodies or their parts? What is the role artists play across the boundaries of fact, fiction, exploitation and care? In particular, we ask how art can avoid becoming instrumentalized in the service of the opportunists and the tool makers.
This is an examination of the performative aspects of the Semi-Living (and objects of Partial Live) grown by the Tissue Culture & Art Project (TC&A). The Tissue Culture & Art Project, among a growing number of artists and collectives are involved with the presentation of manipulated living systems in an artistic context. In contrast with art that deals with the representation of life through established artistic strategies, TC&A"s type of engagement with living systems generate an experience which is closer to live/performance art. The phenomenological experience of the audience (as well as the artists) is of major importance for the TC&A. In much of TC&A"s work the audience are "forced" to actively participate in or be implicated with the alteration of the life cycle of problematised, technologically dependent fragments of life. As part of the TC&A we look at Semi Live Art (where humans and Semi-Living are unequally collaborating) as an attempt to challenge people"s perceptions of life. Like performance or live art, TC&A is interested in the presentation of the subject rather then its representation. The audience is confronted by the existence of the Semi-Living through the different performative and aesthetic strategies of TC&A, but first and foremost by the fact that Semi-Living are sharing the time and space of the engaged audience. By presenting something that is "sort of alive", that could only exist because of us and is dependent on us, TC&A lay bare the hypocrisies created to deal with the paradoxes in human relationships with other living beings.
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