What are the relationships between art and science? How have these two pursuits interacted historically and how are they transforming each other now? Examining and participating in the contemporary interest in BioArt, this class looks at how recent advances in biology, including genetics, epigenetics, synthetic biology and DIYbio, are transforming our lived experiences both in terms of our bodies and our environments. Within biology, particularly synthetic biology, which aims to engineer organisms from the ground up, we are developing the tools to build and transform organisms. In the process we have transformed humans, creating immortal cell lines of human tissues, in vitro fertilized embryos, and transgenic organisms that bear human genes. With the resurgence of epigenetics, our environments, what we eat and chemicals that we are exposed to, are being found to influence our reproductive, neurological and immunological development. How are these transformations changing the relationships between ourselves and other life-forms, and transforming our lived experiences of our bodies and environments? How have artists and designers participated in these changes? How might that participation be enriched to develop a critical dialog between arts and sciences? To begin answering this question, this course develops an experimental laboratory for artists and designers, a laboratory in which the biological sciences are themselves the subject of study. Through visiting and working in laboratories as well as developing tools for Do It Yourself (DIY) biology, this course will familiarize art and design students with the environment and tools of the laboratory. It will offer students conceptual tools for understanding the relationship between art and science and challenge students to participate in shaping how biology is practiced and understood. Students from both Design and Fine Arts Divisions are encouraged to participate in the class. Students will work in their own media to express the scientific, historical, and ethnographic concepts explored in the class. Students from science and technology studies, anthropology, history and science backgrounds are also encouraged to participate, these students will be able to work collaborative on projects or pursue written work
Graduate elective