EDUARDO KAC- ART AND BIOTECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP

EDUARDO KAC
ART AND BIOTECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP
18-21 MAY 2005

VENUE : EXPERIMENTAL ART FOUNDATION
Lion Arts Centre, North Terrace at Morphett Street, Adelaide, South Australia

Since the early 1960s the social impact of computer technology has been a dominant issue and since the early 1980s the digital revolution has been provoking profound changes in the way we live. Now, in the twenty-first century, we realize that the next frontier of artistic investigation is biotechnology.
The field of biological studies is changing from a life science into an information science Biosemiotics, for example, is an interdisciplinary science that studies communication and signification in living systems. Biotechnologies are introducing complex ethical issues, such as the patenting and sale of genes from foreign peoples. Genetic engineering is transforming forever how society approaches the notion of "life."
A few contemporary artists have been responding to this change and are already working with transgenics, interspecies communication, cloning, tissue culture and hybridization techniques to redefine the boundaries between the artwork and living organisms. This workshop will discuss the complex and fascinating relationship between biology and art in the larger context of related social, political, and ethical issues.

PROGRAM
18 May 1:30-4:30pm
A Brief History of Art and DNA
Presentation (slides, video) and discussion
Questioning the Ideology of Biology
Participants will be asked to read before the beginning of the workshop the following texts: "A Reasonable Skepticism", "All in the Genes?", and "Causes and Their Effects" in: Richard C. Lewontin: The doctrine of DNA : the biology of ideology (London; New York : Penguin, 1993). Participants will be expected to discuss these texts.
19 May 1:30-4:30pm
Art and Ecology Presentation (slides, video) and discussion
20 May 1:30-4:30pm
Art and Genetics Presentation (slides, video) and discussion
21 May 1:30-4:30pm
Consciousness in Non-human Animals and Plants
Screening and discussion of "Why Dogs Smile and Chimpanzees Cry".
Discussion will be based on the following texts: Thomas Nagel. "What is it Like to be a Bat?" in Philosophical Review October 1974, pp. 435-450; R. H. Bradshaw. "Consciousness in Non-Human Animals: Adopting the Precautionary Principle" in Journal of Consciousness Studies Vol. 5, N. 1, 1998, pp. 108-114; Alexandra H. M. Nagel. "Are Plants Conscious?" Journal of Consciousness Studies Vol. 4, N. 3, 1997, pp. 215-230; Daniel Dennett. "Animal Consciousness: What Matters and Why" in Social Research 62 (3), Fall 1995, pp. 691-710.

REGISTER
The Workshop is FREE. Travel and accommodation is at cost to the participant.
There is limited capacity.
Workshop texts will be available from the EAF and can be distributed via email.
Register your interest in attending the Workshop by Thursday 5 May providing contact details and brief resume:
Email: [email protected] - "Biotech Workshop"
Post: Experimental Art Foundation, PO Box 8091, Station Arcade, South Australia, 5000
Fax: +61 (0)8 8211 7323

Phone EAF Director, Melentie Pandilovski, for further details +61 (0)8 82117505

Eduardo Kac's residency in Australia has been made possible with the assistance of the South Australian Government through Arts SA's Artist in Residence Program.

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EXPERIMENTAL ART FOUNDATION curates its exhibition program to represent new work that expands current debates and ideas in contemporary visual art. The EAF incorporates a gallery space, bookshop and artists studios.

Lion Arts Centre North Terrace at Morphett Street Adelaide
PO Box 8091 Station Arcade South Australia 5000
Tel: +618 8211 7505 Fax +618 8211 7323
email: [email protected] bookshop email: [email protected] web: http://www.eaf.asn.au
Director: Melentie Pandilovski Administrator: Julie Lawton
Program Manager: Michael Grimm Bookshop Manager: Ken Bolton

The Experimental Art Foundation is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, it arts funding and advisory body, by the South Australian Government through Arts SA, and through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments. The EAF is proudly smoke-free.