Click the in front of each section for an annotated version (does not include all sources).

BIOART - ANNOTATED

Eduardo Kac.
Eduardo Kac is internationally recognized for his interactive net installations and his bio art. A pioneer of telecommunications art in the pre-Web '80s, Eduardo Kac (pronounced "Katz") emerged in the early '90s with his radical telepresence and biotelematic works. His visionary combination of robotics and networking explores the fluidity of subject positions in the post-digital world. His work deals with issues that range from the mythopoetics of online experience (Uirapuru) to the cultural impact of biotechnology (Genesis); from the changing condition of memory in the digital age (Time Capsule) to distributed collective agency (Teleporting an Unknown State); from the problematic notion of the "exotic" (Rara Avis) to the creation of life and evolution (GFP Bunny). At the dawn of the twenty-first century Kac shocked the world with his "transgenic art"--first with a groundbreaking installation entitled Genesis (1999), which included an "artist's gene" he invented, and then with his fluorescent rabbit called Alba (2000). Kac’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as Exit Art and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, and Lieu Unique, Nantes, France; OK Contemporary Art Center, Linz, Austria; InterCommunication Center (ICC), Tokyo; Julia Friedman Gallery, Chicago; Seoul Museum of Art, Korea; and Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro. Kac's work has been showcased in biennials such as 1st Yokohama Triennial, Japan, 1st Mercosul Biennial, Brazil, and 4th Saint Petersburg Biennial, Russia. His work is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection in Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, among others. Kac's work has been featured both in contemporary art publications (Flash Art, Artforum, ARTnews, Kunstforum, Tema Celeste, Artpress, NY Arts Magazine) and in the mass media (ABC, BBC, PBS, Le Monde, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, New York Times). The recipient of many awards, Kac lectures and publishes worlwide. His work is documented on the Web: http://www.ekac.org. Eduardo Kac is represented by Julia Friedman Gallery, Chicago; Laura Marsiaj Arte Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro; and Galerie J. Rabouan Moussion, Paris.

Tissue Culture and Art Project.
The Tissue Culture and Art Project (initiated in 1996), is an on-going artistic research and development project into the use of tissue technologies as a medium for artistic expression. ... Our goal is to create a contestable vision of futuristic objects that are partly artificially constructed and partly grown/born. These semi-living objects consist of both synthetic materials and living biological matter from complex organisms. These entities (sculptures) blur the boundaries between what is born/manufactured, animate/inanimate and further challenge our perceptions and our relations toward our bodies and constructed environment.

Ecce Homology.
In our physically interactive new media work Ecce Homology we have created a non-photorealistic, dynamic visualization of the similarity between the human and rice genomes. This aesthetic experience allows visitors to discover evolutionary links between genes from a human being and the model organisms used for the scientific study of life.

"Bio(techno)logical art." (2002). Art Press 276: 37-54.
A special section on biological art. Artistic practices for which biology is the actual medium suggest a new paradigm by producing "living artworks." Biological art is not based on life forms so much as on their processes, and it is not a set of metaphors or a comment on reality but a practice in vivo. Artistic practices in this arena are both more varied and older than is usually believed. The articles in this special section offer a basic map of the territory of biological art.

Barry, I., Ed. (2001). Paradise Now: Picturing the Genetic Revolution. Saratoga, The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery.
Catalog to a major show of genetic art first held at Exit Art in New York in 1999, and traveling since. 124 pages with artists' statements and numerous color plates.

Bureaud, A. "The ethics and aesthetics of biological art." Art Press 276: 38-9.
Considers biological art. The author states that artists working with biology include Edward Steichen, George Gessert, SymbioticA, Joe Davis, Brandon Ballengee, Eduardo Kac, David Kremers, and Natalie Jeremijenko, notes the limited body of work in this domain, and sketches seven characteristics of this kind of art. She identifies themes of invisibility, belief, and the permeability of species barriers in the work of artists including SymbioticA, Gessert, Kac, Paul Perry, and Marta de Menezes, and explains that work in this area questions distinctions between nature and culture.

Bureaud, A. (2000). "Ars Electronica." Art Press 262: 78-9.
A review of the Ars Electronica Festival, held in Linz, Austria, September 2-7, 2000. Titled "Next Sex: Sex in the Age of its Procreative Superfluousness," the festival continued its exploration of the life sciences, including work by a number of artists working with biotechnology. With the overhaul of the Ars Electronica prizes, the event is now open to "popular" but high-quality electronic music. The Ars Electronica Center has successfully begun a new thematic formula, titled Print on Screen and dedicated to digital literature.

Castro, A. M. "Real doll." D'Ars 41(165): 12-14.
Discusses the relationship between the body and technology, focusing on the increased cultural acceptance of the mutation of the body. The author examines the central role of the body in scientific-cultural debates since the early 1990s, considers the genetic manipulation of the body, and studies the collaboration between physicists from the Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire in Geneva and 15 international artists, including Paola Pivi, Anish Kapoor, Monica Sad, and Richard Deacon, for the exhibition Signature of the Invisible on show at the Atlantis Gallery in London (Jan. 2001). She focuses on the contemporary de-materialization and cultural transmutation of the body, and outlines the commercially successful Internet project Real Doll (illus.) which creates `women' to specification.

Catts, O. and I. Zurr "Growing semi-living sculptures: the Tissue Culture & Art Project." Leonardo 35: 365-70.
The Australia-based artists Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr explore the potential of tissue engineering with reference to the ongoing Tissue Culture & Art Project. They provide a definition of tissue engineering and address ethical questions arising from its exploitation for artistic purposes. They explain the process of growing tissue sculptures or `semi-living' objects, detailing the sources of the bio-material involved, the seeding methods available, the crafting of biocompatible 3-dimensional scaffolds, and the functions of bioreactors, and outline the biological-imaging techniques by which the resulting structures are diffused. They describe The Process of Giving Birth to Semi-Living Worry Dolls (2000; illus.), a project inspired by a Guatemalan legend presented at the Ars Electronica Festival 2000 in Linz, Austria, for which seven worry dolls made from biodegradable polymers were seeded with endothetial cells and cultured in a bioreactor, review the public's reactions to them, and highlight unresolved problems pertaining to the size, kinaesthetic ability, and interactivity of such objects. They conclude by clarifying the objectives and possible outcome of the Project.

Catts, O., Ed. (2002). The Aesthetics of Care? Nedlands, Australia, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia.
Proceedings of the first international symposium on ethical issues involved in bioart. Most but not all of the participants n this groundbreaking event were artists. A wide range of organisms and approaches to bioart were discussed.

Cheon, M. (2003). "SCI-ART: Post-Photography, Documenting Our Genetic Possibilities." NY Arts Magazine.
In a sense, the field of photography today creates a new understanding of the meaning and methods of documentation that succinctly work with our age of transformation. The term “New Media” has been broadly used to describe electronic and digital work as well as new ways and languages for understanding the world. With this in mind, it only makes sense that artists use the New Media of “post-photography” to document the world (in the most post-photographic sense) through the context of another conceptual innovation: that of post-genomics and the media and language of bio-technology.

Crawford, A. "Brave new womb." Artbyte 3(4): 34-41.
Reports from the latest Ars Electronica exhibition held in Linz, Austria (2-7 Sept. 2000), which showed art relating to genetic engineering, the cloning and mutating of human and animal flesh, and post-biological sexuality,and included work by Chris Haring and Klaus Obermeier, Marta de Menezes, Natacha Merritt, Kaucyila Brooke, Dieter Huber, Carl Djerassi, Neal Stephenson, Nobuya Unno, David Small and Tom White, Romy Achituv, AT&C, and Tissue Culture and Art (TC&A). The author explains that since its inception in 1979 the Ars Electronica series has focused on the often-controversial areas where technology and art overlap, and the current exhibition drew criticism from right-wing politicians, the media and some art critics for its choice of art to illustrate an imagined society in which human beings are genetically configured and sex is relieved of its function as a means of reproduction. Works described by the author include: living worry dolls made from mouse tissue by TC&A; de Menezes's genetically engineered butterflies; an artificial womb designed to incubate goat foetuses by Unno, a Japanese professor of obstetrics and gynaecology; self-portraits by Merritt; photomontages by Brooke; studies of genitalia by Huber; and a performance work by Haring and Obermeier. He summarizes the organizers' defence of the exhibition and judges the show to be a success.

Elkins, J. "Words and images most severely distorted." Circa 104: 55-7.
Discusses the work of the artist Joe Davis. The author considers the state of contemporary studies into the relationship between images and words, describes the lack of funding for Davis's work, and reports on his project to place a digital image of the galaxy into the cells of a mouse. He traces the method by which Davis produced a digital reading of the image, reports on his creation of codes to convert it into a DNA-related form, and notes that if successfully transplanted into a mouse Davis's work could attain artistic immortality. He outlines Davis's collaboration with the New York-based art collector Peter Seidler, reports on the inclusion of Davis's work in the exhibition A Biologica como Art Medium at Lugar Comum in Bacarena, Portugal (2002), and concludes by exploring the possible directions in which Davis's project could develop.

Flannery, M. "Images of the cell in twentieth-century art and science." Leonardo 31: 195-204.
Surveys the use of images of the cell in 20th century art and science, comparing renderings in each discipline in terms of accuracy and aesthetic qualities to show that there is no clear dividing line between art and science. The author identifies three drawn illustrations of the cell in scientific textbooks - including one by Edmund Beecher Wilson published in 1925 which has been particularly influential in the history of cell imagery - and assesses them in terms of level of detail and aesthetic appeal. She considers images of the cell produced using recently developed photographic techniques, describing a book of such images by Dee Breger as being as much a work of art as of science and highlighting the frequency with which such images are included in art exhibitions. Considering the use of cell imagery in art, she discusses work by Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, the Surrealists, Max Ernst, Diego Rivera and Pavel Filonov. She identifies later artists' borrowings from scientific sources and microscopic images of the cell as resulting in the emergence of a new aspect to realism in art, and concludes by citing the work of contemporary artists, including Joe Davis, David Kremers, Terry Winters, Beverly Fishman and Daniel Manns, who incorporate actual cells into their art.

Gibbs, M. "Data knitting." Art Monthly 266: 44.
Discusses digital and Internet art works at the Dutch Electronic Art Festival in Rotterdam. The author describes the creation of the `digital depot' at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, which enables visitors to view the 112,000 objects in its collection, considers the effect of the Internet's size, and examines the nature of databases. He studies the treatment of data in Festival projects including Volker Morawe and Tillman Reiff's Pain Station (2001) and Erotogod (2001), the work of Blast Theory, and Pocket Full of Memories (2001) by George Legrady, who also made Slippery Traces (1996). He studies Jeffrey Shaw's project Web of Life (2002), emphasizes Lynn Hirshman's on-line work AgentRuby.com (1990-2002), and analyses Manon de Boer's investigation of identity in Panoramic Portraits (2002-3).

Goodsell, D. and T. J. O'Donnell "Molecular Graphics Art Show." Leonardo 30: 153-4.
Examines the 1994 Molecular Graphics Art Show held in conjunction with the 13th international meeting of the Molecular Graphics and Modeling Society at Northwestern University in Chicago (9-13 July 1994). The authors explain that the images of molecules on show attempt to convey information about their subjects while also functioning aesthetically as art. They position such work as normally either viewed as technical illustration with no intrinsic aesthetic value, or as art and having dubious informational content. They describe several of the works included in the exhibition to illustrate the variety of approaches to this subject matter artists take: works by Simon Friedman and T. J. O'Donnell address the role of molecules in the transmission of AIDS, and O'Donnell also explores the symmetrical structures of molecular hierarchies; computer graphics by Mike Hann and Arthur Olson employ humour in their portraits of molecules; and Bettina Brendel and David Goodsell depict the densely packed hierarchies molecules occupy in nature. The authors conclude by identifying some of the everyday situations in which molecules play an active part, underlining the importance of visual art in providing information about molecules to the general public.

Grissom, H. (2003). "Lincoln, Massachusetts." Art Papers 27(4): July/August.
A review of "The Pig Wings Project," an exhibition at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts, from March 8 to May 25, 2003. For this show, a group of Australian artists known as the Tissue Culture and Art Project has joined with research biologists in a surreal, mystical, comical, and sinister effort to use tissue engineering and stem-cell technology to create little sets of "wings" from pig bone tissue. A series of photographs enlarges the view of the wings and creates an auric effect by projecting their imaginative force through vibrant color and image manipulation. This powerful project plumbs the way in which science elicits emotional, imaginative, and spiritual reactions.

Kac, E., Gail Wight, Julie Friedman and Renate Plöchl, Ed. (1999). Gail Wight "Spike," Eduardo Kac "Genesis". Linz, Austria, Centrum für Gegenwartskunst.
Text in English and German. Good color photographs of Genesis, the first visually compelling work of art to use the tools of genetic engineering.

Levy, E. K. "Contemporary art and the genetic code." Art Journal 55(1): 20-4.
Investigates the correlations between developments in science and the visual arts, and focuses on the scientific field of genetics. The author outlines the extent of current knowledge of genetic structure and its visual icon, the DNA molecule. She presents examples in art history of the influence of scientific theories before listing the topic areas within this issue of the journal, which concentrate on the late 20th century. The author provides a brief synopsis of the content of each article, notes the artists mentioned, and draws a parallel between the form- and content-based approaches to both art and science.

Levy, E. K. "Visualizing evolution: a painter's interaction with science and technology." Leonardo 20: 3-8.
The artist discusses the correlation she sees between the open-ended nature of evolution and art making, and explains how her mixed-media paintings and drawings explore aspects of evolution in terms of biological, technical and social transformations. She gives an organic basis to images associated with particular scientists and architects to emphasize these transformations, resulting in futuristic forms which make a striking contrast to her 15th century technique of panel painting. Her paintings reveal her interpretation of technology's forms as contemporary icons which still retain associations with nature, images related to her own experiences yet portrayed in a language which can be universally understood.

Levy, E. K. "Natural history re-created." Center Quarterly 11: 4-10.
Contemporary photographers often draw their inspiration from simulations of animal and plant life, both extinct and living, that show the natural world. The author discusses the work of Joan Fontcuberta, Peggy Cyphers, Orsolya Drozdik, Daniel Faust, Catherine Wagner, Richard Ross, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Lynn Geesaman, among others, who show the evolution of the natural world but not in Darwinian terms. Their photography cuts across biological lineages and creates all sorts of improbable images - they do not reflect nature but re-create it.

Levy, E. K. "Repetition and the scientific model in art." Art Journal 55(1): 79-84.
Explores the links between the generative structure of genetics and the processes of producing art works, making particular reference to the work of the artists Alfred Jensen, Robert Smithson and Allan McCollum. The author describes the way in which the DNA molecule reproduces in terms of the stages of replication, transcription and translation. She discusses Jensen's use of grids and mirroring in his paintings which layer ancient meanings and modern scientific associations, and comments on the repetitive forms such as the spiral and the crystal which recur in Smithson's work, as well as his spatial illusions created using mirrors. She also considers the repetition in McCollum's installation Drawings (1990), and his manufactured replications of fossils. With reference to the artists Beverly Fishman, Marilyn Emerson Holtzer and Joseph Nechvatal, the author comments on the way in which structural limitations can promote creative freedom.

Levy, E. K. "The genome and art: finding potential in unlikely places." Leonardo 34: 172-5.
Explores the notion that certain sections in the genetic code sequences of DNA which are considered valueless by scientists actually perform some function, either protecting or providing a background for information-rich sequences of code. The author draws analogies with various art world practices, including the juxtapositioning by artists of high-information images with low-information fillers, and system-derived art created using repetitive background design units. She cites as examples of system-based art, which draws on systems of knowledge for its material, the work of the painter Alfred Jensen in the 1940s and 1950s, who used as source material, among other things, the Mayan calendar, Goethe's colour theory, and Pythagorean numerical relationships; Jack Ox's intermedial translations of music; Mark Lombardi's political-intrigue drawings; Mark Banicki, who creates charts of questionnaires using colour markings and grids; Nancy Chunn, who creates works from newspaper and newsprint; Nancy Rubins, who transforms rubbish into art; and the work of Marilyn Emerson Holtzer and Suzanne Anker, which is based on genetic information. She describes her own creation of a drawing using repetitive groups entitled After Mondrian, After Noll, Third Generation (2000; illus.), itself inspired by an earlier experiment by Meyer Schapiro and Michael Noll in 1966 involving the creation of a computer version of a Mondrian painting.

Levy, E. K. (1996). "Contemporary art and the genetic code." Art Journal 55(1): 20-4.
Investigates the correlations between developments in science and the visual arts, and focuses on the scientific field of genetics. The author outlines the extent of current knowledge of genetic structure and its visual icon, the DNA molecule. She presents examples in art history of the influence of scientific theories before listing the topic areas within this issue of the journal, which concentrate on the late 20th century. The author provides a brief synopsis of the content of each article, notes the artists mentioned, and draws a parallel between the form- and content-based approaches to both art and science.

Levy, E. K. (2001). "Responses." Art Journal 60(1): 6-7.
As is evident from many recent books and exhibitions, art is being used to engage the public in discourse about biotechnology. While the motives of those artists who use scientific technologies to explore emergent behaviors are laudable, it is debatable whether artists need to use elaborate scientific methods; if the showmanship accompanying some investigations is necessary. Many artists who do not use elaborate forms of technology have found that they can engage with biotechnological issues by transforming and interpreting information.

Mahon, P. "Earthmakers." Contemporary Impressions 4(2): 2-5.
Discusses a collaborative installation by the Canadian artists Barbara Zeigler and Joan Smith, entitled Earthmakers and on show at the Edmonton Art Gallery in Edmonton, Alberta (Jan.-April 1995). The author describes how the artists used a range of media, including etching, drawing, photography, photocopying, sound, collage, and computers, to create the installation, which is based on life-forms discovered in a square metre area of an `old-growth' rainforest on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. He outlines the careers of Zeigler and Smith, noting the importance of nature as a theme in their art, explains the background to the collaboration, and stresses the scientific aspect of the work. He also considers the use of repetition in Earthmakers, comparing it to the use of repetition by Warhol, and the importance of man's relationship with nature in Zeigler and Smith's art.

Marques, T. (2003). "Genome Art Reveals the Challenges of the DNA Era." Globo.
NEW YORK. The 50 years of the experience that led to the discovery of DNA are being celebrated by a series of art exhibitions in New York and London. But only one question is brought up by traditional works of art and installations that are so sophisticated that they require collaboration between physicians and researchers: human identity confronted by genetic engineering.

Morgan, A. B. "Interview with Alan Sonfist." Art Papers 15(6): 37-42.
An interview with environmental artist Alan Sonfist, which occurred during his residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, in 1991. Sonfist talks about his collaborative work during his residency and discusses his collection and utilization of human artefacts in environmental art. Future projects include a commission to create an environmental sculpture reflecting the unification of Europe, and the creation of a narrative landscape concerning the history of the community surrounding the buildings at the new Science Museum in Jersey City, New Jersey. Sonfist feels that there is a greater public awareness of his work, and he comments on his working relationship with other environmental artists and the changing attitude to the public art process in the U.S.A. Finally he offers his views on the rôle of artists as the end of the century approaches.

O'Brien, P. "Ars Electronica 2000." Circa 94: 62-4.
Reviews the latest Ars Electronica, an annual festival of electronic art held in Linz, Austria (Sept. 2000). The author describes a selection of the installations, performances and symposia that comprised the festival, including interactive art and work featuring virtual reality. He explores the treatment of the festival's theme of `Next sex: sex in the age of procreative superfluousness', which included sperm races - quality assessments of donated semen - and lectures on human genetic choices and the future of reproduction in general. He highlights Marta de Menezes's associated art project for modifying butterfly wing patterns and the installations Tissue Culture and Art(ificial) Wombs by Oron Catts, Ionat Zurr and Guy Ben-Ary and artistic molecules by genetic artists Joe Davis and Katie Egan. He assesses entries in the various competitions, notably the robot graffiti /writer by the Institute for Applied Autonomy, and interactive art by Rania Ho, Naoko Tosa, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, whose entry won that category. He also notes contributions by etoy and Sharon Denning and science fiction writer Neal Stephenson, who won the Internet section, the short film Maly Milos by the the Czech artist Jakub Pistecky, which won the computer animation and visual effects section, and other entries by Paul Debevec and Catherine Ikam.

Spaid, S. (2002). Ecovention, Current Art to Transform Ecologies. Cincinnati, The Contemporary Arts Center.
Coined in 1999, the term ecovention (ecology + invention) describes an artist initiated project that employs an inventive strategy to physically transform an ecosystem. This exciting publication has been designed and written to attract a diverse audience. Ecovention juxtaposes interesting ecological facts alongside case studies of projects artists have realized, in tandem with scientists and community members. Active ecovention sites that span the globe, from Australia to Kenya and Italy to the United States are documented in this book. This is a refreshing look into how artistic ideas can be combined with the sciences to create a healthier and more meaningful world!

Stocker, G. and C. Schöpf, Eds. (1999). LifeScience, Ars Electronica 99. New York, Springer-Verlag.
Proceedings of a major conference on the cultural implications of biotechnology. Scientists and academicians predominate in the proceedings, but artists are well represented. Articles by Jeremy Rifkin, Lori Andrews, Herbert Gottweis, Manuel DeLanda, Dorothy Nelkin, Charles Mudebe and many others, and a range of art, including works by Gail Wight, Eduardo Kac, Tran. T. Kim-Trang and Karl Mihail. In German and English.

Thompson, S. (2003). "Transformations in Science and Art." Fiberarts 30(3): 22.
Artists Clare O'Hagan and Denise Wyllie took a 42-meter-long donated rag and turned it into an artwork honoring DNA research, entitled Transformations in Science and Art. Created while the artists did a residency at the University College London, and done in collaboration with Professor John Hartley's oncology team, the multilayered piece features cross-media textile work, including a brightly colored printed double helix stretching its entire length. When exhibited, participants hold the fabric in a spiral labyrinth formation that represents the many steps taken in DNA research and cancer treatment advancement.

Tomasula, S. "Genetic art and the aesthetics of biology." Leonardo 35: 137-44.
Discusses art produced by the genetic modification of living organisms. The author notes that such art has many precursors, in the form of animals and plants deliberately bred for their aesthetic qualities; he cites the 1936 exhibition by the American photographer Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York featuring genetically modified flowers produced by mutations induced by the drug colchicine. He describes the programmes of genetic modification pursued by the Nazis and by those in favour of eugenics, and considers the work of the American artist Eduardo Kac, notably his interactive installation Genesis (1999), and his abortive project GFP Bunny, for which he genetically engineered a rabbit to make it glow green. He claims that artistic reflection on genetic manipulation is useful in calling society's attention to the subject, and recommends the Web site www.geneart.org. as a further source of information.

Troup, C. (2002). "ConVerge: Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 2002." Art and Australia 40(2): 240-2.
A review of "conVerge: where art and science meet, The 7th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art," held at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, from March 1 to April 28, 2002. In this show, various sciences emerged mainly as "worlds" of cold glamor and irresistible sophistication. The idea that the exhibition could witness artists' engagement with the conceptual and institutional spaces of science was literally referenced by Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, whose installation Pig wings included tiny semi-living "wings" grown from pig stem cells.

Youngs, A. "The fine art of creating life." Leonardo 33: 377-80.
Discusses work by contemporary artists which parallels developments in genetic enginering. The author explains that some contemporary artists seek to replicate the creation of actual new life forms in DNA laboratories using digital media to design virtual reality life processes, including Thomas Ray, Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau and Louis Bec, and that other artists work with plant forms. She cites the example of George Gessert who creates new strains of iris, bred to display features that he finds aesthetically pleasing - he distributes seeds from these plants in San Francisco's wildernesses in acts that have been called `genetic graffiti'. Since 1990 Mel Chin has been working on a project involving a biologically engineered method of metal recovery which uses hyperaccumulator plants to extract toxic metals from a land-fill site in Minnesota, the author notes. She also comments on the work of Joe Davis who has intervened in the structure of E-coli, introducing a synthetic strain of DNA which carries aesthetic symbolism, Natalie Jeremijenko who has cloned a single black walnut tree 100 times, the resulting plants being integrated into the San Francisco landscape, Eduardo Kac who works with animal DNA and has succeeded in producing a live rabbit - Alba (illus.) which glows green under certain light conditions. The author describes the work of these artists as reflecting different concerns from those of the biotechnology industries, and as challenging the assumption those industries make about the relationship between humans and other life forms.

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