Bio-Technology and Art

    Bio-Technology was quite a shock to me. This was not the first time I have heard about it but I did learn a lot of new different experiments that took place. In last weeks lecture we learned about Orlan and I did a little research and did find her Harlequin coat which I thought had to do a little more with biology than Med-Tech.

   The Tissue Culture and Art Project was a little disturbing an strange to me. It involves the growing of leather without killing animals. It is grown from cells into a layer of tissue that is alive! WOW! This has never even crossed my mind! It was extremely mind blowing to think we can grow pieces of living cells to make things like jackets! It is still unbelievable to me!

   I did find the use of live animals unethical because it is a live creature that one is experimenting on. I understand that some people say that it is for the good of humanity but what about the good of the animals? Professor Vesna made a great point as to saying that the mouse and the human share a large percentage of DNA and that they are greatly related to us. We know this but we still experiment on them continuously like they are not really worth that much (we also see them as pests). I often do think of animals as I buy cosmetics or even groceries. We do not really know what they are thinking or what they feel.

   It is very unpleasant to me that we genetically engineer animals now so we can make them bigger for our use but in the long run we are torturing them. Chickens are unable to walk, turkeys cannot even mate because they are so big, and bulls are being engineered to produce healthy cows.

Our fruits and vegetables are also engineered; we consume these everyday not knowing what chemicals have been put into them. We often do not have a choice because that is all we have. That is true for my city; they do not carry organics. I do not think that we are ever going to get out of the genetically engineered foods because of how much we consume and the little space we have to grow produce.

On a more positive note! Bio tech has it's negatives and positives but I do think it is more positive than negative despite the experimentation. We find new ways of creating things that help us such as the tissue cultures. I found that you can grow a lot of things with just cells and maybe in the future we won't have to kill animals but instead grow our food in petri dishes. (Is that too weird? Let me know)











1. "The Tissue Culture & Art Project: Oron Cattes and lonat Zurr - Victimless Leather." . Fact HQ, n.d. Web. 20 July 2014. <http://www.fact.co.uk/projects/sk-interfaces/the-tissue-culture-art-project-oron-cattes-and-lonat-zurr-victimless-leather.aspx>.

2. "." . N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014. <http://www.topsixlist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/genetically-modified-food.jpg>.

3. "." . N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014. <http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/700/cache/lab-made-beef-burger-mark-post_70099_600x450.jpg>.

4. "Meet the Super Cow." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Feb. 2008. Web. 20 July 2014. <http://youtu.be/Nmkj5gq1cQU>.

5. Vesna, Victoria. "5 BioArt pt3." YouTube. YouTube, 17 May 2012. Web. 20 July 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EpD3np1S2g&list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7>.