Anca Dumitrache The Dissolution of Boundaries in Art Dr. Käthe Wenzel Jacobs University Bremen Spring 2009 Telepresence and Transgenic Art: Eduardo Kac

Theoretical Framework ● The late 20 th century saw an increasing number of artists exploring the cultural implications of modern technology, particularly the humanization of technology. ● artists that have worked with telecommunication and telerobotics: Ken Goldberg, Adrianne Wortzel, Eduardo Kac ● telepresence = projection of one's sense of presence to a remote space; affecting a remote space through a machine; a coupling of telecommunication and telerobotics ● transgenic art = art based on making use of genetic engineering to transfer natural or synthetic genes to an organism in order to create a unique living being

Eduardo Kac ● pioneer of telecommunication art in the 80's, even before the widespread use of the Internet ● has created and produced: performance art, media poetry (holopoetry, digital poetry etc.) and language art, telecommunications art, telepresence and interactive works, bio art (transgenic works) ● his works are part of permanent collections of: the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the ZKM Museum (Karlsruhe), the Museum of Modern Art (Rio de Janeiro)

The Ornitorrinco Project ( ) ● ornitorrinco = platypus (Port.) ● realised in collaboration with Edward Bennet ● Ornitorrinco events involve two locations geographically remote from each other and members of the public who operate the robot ● "a project that explores remote sensing, improvisation and teleoperation as elements of the work" (E. Kac, 1991, Ornitorrinco: Exploring Telepresence and Remote Sensing)

The Ornitorrinco Project ( ) Ornitorrinco's point of view Ornitorrinco in Eden Ornitorrinco's point of view

Time Capsule (1997) ● part of a series of biotelematic artworks, that expanded telematic art into biology ● the event was broadcast live in Brazil and on the Internet ● "Time Capsule is a work- experience that lies somewhere between a local event-installation, a site-specific work in which the site itself is both my body and a remote database, a simulcast on TV and the Web, and interactive webscanning of my body." (E. Kac)

Time Capsule (1997) The moment of implant. Detail of the Web interface of the database in which the artist registered himself, live on television, immediately after his microchip implant was read via the Internet from Chicago.

Genesis (1999) ● the work deals with synthetic genes, created by translating into DNA base pairs a sentence from the Bible, book of Genesis: "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." ● part of Kac's transgenic works ● explores the intricate relationship between biology, belief systems, information technology, dialogical interaction, ethics and the Internet The Book of Mutations, giclee prints 20 X 20" (50 X 50cm) each, 2000

Genesis (1999) Encryption Stones, Laser–etched granite (diptych), 20" X 30" (50 X 75cm) each, 2001 Transcription Jewels, glass, purified Genesis DNA, gold, wood, approximately 2" (5cm) each, 2001

GFP Bunny (2000) ● GFP = green fluorescent protein ● transgenic art needs to be produced "with great care, with acknowledgement of the complex issues at the core of the work and, above all, with a commitment to respect, nurture, and love the life thus created." ● "GFP Bunny comprises the creation of a green fluorescent rabbit, the public dialogue generated by the project, and the social integration of the rabbit." (E. Kac) Alba, the fluorescent bunny

GFP Bunny (2000) GFP Bunny - Paris Intervention, 2000, 11 x 17" (43 x 28 cm) each

The Eighth Day (2001) ● transgenic artwork displaying: a biobot linked to the Internet, GFP mice, GFP amoeba, GFP fish, GFP plants, video and sound footage of the tide and flowing water, housed under a clear 4 foot diameter Plexiglass dome ● biobot = robot with biological elements inside its body that perform certain functions ● raises the question of "what it would be like if these creatures would in fact coexist in the world at large." (E. Kac)

The Eighth Day (2001)

Conclusion ● key concepts: telepresence, transgenic art ● themes explored: telecommunication, shared experience and the relation between virtual and real (Ornitorrinco), changing condition of information and memory (Time Capsule), the cultural impact of evolution (GFP Bunny), creation of life and evolution (Genesis, The Eighth Day)

References ● KAC. 26 Apr ● Poppe, Frank. From Technological to Virtual Art. London: Cambridge, 2007.