Life Meets Art: Exploring the World of Bio-Art

-Renee Alexandra

There’s a common saying that life imitates art; but what if life becomes art? This is exactly what bio-art, a  unique yet breathtaking art movement, is all about. Despite being in completely different realms, biotechnology and art combine to form a living masterpiece. However, it must not be mistaken as merely using materials like recycled trash in a piece of art — as bio-art requires direct biological intervention. 

The term “bBio-art” dates back to 1997, when artist Eduardo Kac performed his performative art piece “Time Capsule” live on television. Kac implanted a microchip in his left ankle that registered him into the pet database as being both the pet and owner, ultimately making him the first to do so. Since then, the beautiful intersection of manipulating, modifying, and creating biological processes (or occasionally all of them simultaneously) that started out as a shocker slowly started to seep into the mainstream art world, where artists have found solace in embracing their cultural and artistic principles through science. 

Honourable mentions for those using biological processes in their artistry include the pioneer of bio-art himself, Eduardo Kac’s “Natural History of the Enigma,” where Kac created a new life form by injecting his DNA into the veins of a petunia flower. The gene was only injected into the veins and only present in the red veins of the petunia flower, which led to the gene “identifying and rejecting the Other (presumably the other parts of the petunia flower) that the artist integrates into the Other, thus creating a new kind of self that is partially flower and partially human,”  according to Kac’s website. 

Another great example of how biotechnology, biohacking, or biology in general can be implemented into art as a form of self expression is the art piece “We Are All Here to Rot” by Oksana Kazmina of Syracuse University, who saw her art as a “bio-diary” (a diary in the form of a biological life form) and this particular piece as a critique of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine; she proceeded to make a video-loop of her own bacteria which was then bounded by print and memory foam, and considers the bacteria as a metaphor for the “disruption and fragmentation of body and space.” 

Artists who work with bio-art express several different themes in their work, but there are some common ones throughout many different works of bio-art. After analysing works by multiple other artists that have truly dominated the bio-art movement such as Stelarc to Candice Lin, here are some findings. Bio-artists are fascinated by the idea of challenging a future where biohacking and biotechnology is considered a way of making “mindless machines separated from emotions” that could potentially degrade society of its cultural and artistic value that is worth conserving as time progresses. They do this in a way where it creates further discussions and a moment for reflection on life itself, as well as social, cultural, and scientific predicaments. 

There are also art pieces that focus entirely on experimenting with art and how biological processes work. For instance, Jenna Sutela’s “Gut Flora” was an exhibition that was centered around exploring dynamics between closely related organisms through physical aspects and relationships between various life forms. The exhibition displayed audiovisual pieces and sculptures made out of materials used to replace or repair damaged biological structures, such as implants and biologically integrated grafts. This blossomed into another exhibit that aimed to unveil the human microbiome by showcasing a sculpture made from clay, breast milk, and mammalian feces. 

Bio-art does not merely attempt to merge science with artistic nuances and aesthetics; it seeks to reconfigure our very perception of life. Whether through the promotion of sometimes unsettling biotechnological experimentation for some people or critiques of societal norms, bio-art has found itself wrestling with art by becoming more open to redefinition. This art movement has perfectly encapsulated the recent phrase going around lately that mentions that “art is meant to disturb the comforted and comfort the disturbed.” 

To some, bio-art resembles a haven where artists who are trying to further emphasize their message and beliefs by applying scientific processes to their art and making their audience reflect and have empathy on these living beings, whether a mutated plant, bacteria, etc; scientists can also dabble into the arts to expand their knowledge and findings to more audiences whilst challenging their boundaries and abilities to create.

In a world of constant technological improvements in our lives, while they help scientists introduce groundbreaking finds, bio-art also raises questions of the place technology has in the art world.. Perhaps that is the beauty of bio-art-it does not only function as a statement about reality; it evokes instances of the unreal.