| JFA on Mon, 27 Aug 2001 19:08:12 +0200 (CEST) |
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| [nettime-lat] Kac's Genesis and The Eighth Day |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, August 27, 2001 For further information contact: Julia Friedman, (312) 455 0755 or [email protected] TRANSGENIC ART TRAVELS TO THREE CONTINENTS EDUARDO KAC EXHIBITS "GENESIS" AT THE YOKOHAMA TRIENNALE AND OFFERS A PREVIEW OF HIS NEW WORK, "THE EIGHTH DAY" GENESIS Eduardo Kac's landmark artwork, "Genesis," will travel to three prominent venues during September: The Yokohama Triennale, Japan, September 2 - November 11, 2001; El final del eclipse at Fundaci�n Telef�nica, Madrid, Spain, September 12 - November 18, 2001; and Paradise Now at the Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs, New York, September 15, 2001 - January 6, 2002. Kac's "Genesis" is a transgenic artwork that explores a synthetic gene created by translating a sentence from the biblical book of Genesis into DNA base pairs. The sentence reads: "Let man have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." On the Internet, participants can mutate bacteria that contain the gene, thus changing the meaning of the biblical sentence. For more on Genesis, please see: http://www.ekac.org/geninfo.html http://www.juliafriedman.com/work_kac.html After September 2, 2001, when Genesis goes online at Yokohama, the public is encouraged to intervene in this biotechnological work: http://genesis.xdsl.ne.jp. THE EIGHTH DAY (PREVIEW) http://www.ekac.org/8thday.html Kac's most recent transgenic artwork, "The Eighth Day," is presented by Institute for Studies in the Arts, Tempe, from October 25 - December 14, 2001. "The Eighth Day" provides the public with the unique opportunity to experience a spectacular ecology of green glowing creatures and thus to critically reflect on the social and cultural implications of biotechnology. "The Eighth Day" brings together a biological robot (biobot) linked to the Internet, GFP fish, GFP mice, GFP amoeba and GFP plants, and video footage and sound of the ebb and flow of moving water. In order to approach the transgenic ecology, the viewer "walks on water." Gentle, recurring sounds of waves emanate from four corners of the room. In the center of this tranquil environment, a fluorescent ecology of living creatures emerges. The living creatures and the biobot are enclosed in an environment under a ventilated, clear, plexiglas dome, thus rendering dramatically visible what it would be like if these creatures would in fact coexist in the world at large. As a self-contained artificial ecological system it resonates with the words in the title, which add one day to the period of creation of the world as narrated in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. All transgenic creatures in "The Eighth Day" express the gene that produces green fluorescent protein (GFP). By enabling local and online participants to experience the environment inside the dome from the point of view of the biobot, "The Eighth Day" creates a context in which participants can reflect on the meaning of a transgenic ecology from a first-person perspective. "The Eighth Day" was developed through a two-year residency at the Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe. Eduardo Kac is represented by Julia Friedman Gallery, Chicago. ___________________________________________ Julia Friedman Julia Friedman Gallery 118 N Peoria Chicago, IL 60607 Phone: (312) 455 0755 Fax: (312) 455 0765 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.juliafriedman.com _______________________________________________ nettime-lat mailing list [email protected] http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-lat