Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The theory and practice of bio art, a new art form that uses the materials and processes of biotechnology, with examples of work by such prominent artists as Eduardo Kac and Marc Quinn.

Bio art is a new art form that has emerged from the cultural impact and increasing accessibility of contemporary biotechnology. Signs of Life is the first book to focus exclusively on art that uses biotechnology as its medium, defining and discussing the theoretical and historical implications of bio art and offering examples of work by prominent artists.

Bio art manipulates the processes of life; in its most radical form, it invents or transforms living organisms. It is not representational; bio art is in vivo. (A celebrated example is Eduardo Kac's own GFP Bunny, centered on "Alba," the transgenic fluorescent green rabbit.) The creations of bio art become a part of evolution and, provided they are capable of reproduction, can last as long as life exists on earth. Thus, bio art raises unprecedented questions about the future of life, evolution, society, and art.

The contributors to Signs of Life articulate the critical theory of bio art and document its fundamental works. The writers--who include such prominent scholars as Barbara Stafford, Eugene Thacker, and Dorothy Nelkin--consider the culture and aesthetics of biotechnology, the ethical and philosophical aspects of bio art, and biology in art history. The section devoted to artworks and artists includes George Gessert's Why I Breed Plants , Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr's Semi-Living Art , Marc Quinn's Genomic Portrait , and Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey's Chlorophyll .

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Series Foreword (p. ix)
• Acknowledgments and Credits (p. xi)
• Introduction: Art that Looks You in the Eye (p. 1)
• Hybrids, Clones, Mutants, Synthetics, and Transgenics
• I Biotech Culture (p. 1)
• 1 Open Source DNA and Bioinformatic Bodies (p. 31)
• 2 Ornamental Biotechnology and Parergonal Aesthetics (p. 43)
• 3 Embodying the Chimera (p. 57)
• Biotechnology and Subjectivity
• 4 The Transgenic Involution (p. 69)
• 5 Life Art (p. 83)
• II Bioethics (p. 93)
• 6 Bioethics and the Posthumanist Imperative (p. 95)
• 7 Blood and Bioethics in the Biotechnology Age (p. 115)
• 8 Art as a Public Policy Medium (p. 151)
• 9 Liberating Life from Itself (p. 151)
• Bioethics and Aesthetics of Animality
• III Bio Art (p. 163)
• 10 Life TransformationùArt Mutation (p. 163)
• 11 Why I Breed Plants (p. 185)
• 12 Chlorophyll Apparitions (p. 199)
• 13 Good and Evil on the Long Voyage (p. 211)
• 14 Art: in vivo and in vitro (p. 215)
• 15 Semi-Living Art (p. 231)
• 16 Cases for Genetic Art (p. 249)
• 17 VivoArts (p. 267)
• 18 The Relative Velocity Inscription Device (p. 277)
• 19 Proteins (p. 285)
• 20 Skin Culture (p. 291)
• Object-Oriented Art
• 21 Repro Duction (p. 295)
• 22 OneTree (p. 301)
• 23 The Art of Unnatural Selection (p. 303)
• 24 Genomic Portrait (p. 309)
• IV Biology and Art History (p. 313)
• 25 The Origins of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's Biocentric Constructivism (p. 315)
• 26 The Growth of Microorganisms on Paper (p. 345)
• 27 Edward SteichenÆs 1936 Exhibition of Delphinium Blooms (p. 347)
• An Art of Flower Breeding
• 28 On Science (p. 371)
• 29 From Genetic Perspective to Biohistory (p. 373)
• The Ambiguities of Looking Down, Across, and Beyond
• 30 Art and Biotechnology (p. 387)
• Contributors (p. 395)
• Index (p. 401)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This is the first collection of writings to focus exclusively on the interface of art and contemporary biotechnology. Its four sections--"Biotech Culture," "Bioethics," "Bio Art," and "Biology and Art History"--cover bio art's major aspects and key principles. Generously illustrated, it offers numerous works by prominent artists working in the field, along with commentary and explanation. Bio art is not representational, but art in vivo, where organisms are invented and transformed as the very processes of life itself are manipulated. This volume highlights a number of approaches and techniques, from Eduardo Kac's well-known GPF Bunny (the transgenic fluorescent rabbit) to chlorophyll photography, genomic portraits, and epidermal and connective tissue sculpture; along the way it raises questions about aesthetics and the nature of art, as well as issues of ethics, life, evolution, and society. Scholars, critics, and artists--ranging from Barbara Stafford, Yves Michaud, and Dorothy Nelkin to Marc Quinn and Adam Zaretsky--offer the underlying theories and cultural implications of this new art, along with an examination of its possibilities, limits, and constraints. This volume will be an important addition to the collection of any institution that supports an arts program. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above. R. M. Davis emeritus, Albion College