Artists and Biology Research

Science and Technology dominate contemporary world.  
What is an appropriate response for the arts?

• Consumers of new tools - using them to create images, sounds etc
• Critical commentary from the distance
• Artists as researchers - independent research agendas, inquiries, development of technology

Topics of Presentation

• Explore artist as researcher approach as it pertains specifically to biology
• Explore why artists should be interested in biology/ importance of biology in future
  
• Survey a few bioart projects from this perspective
• Consider two of my own installations, Protozoa Games &  IntroSpection
• Enhance understanding of how exactly artists might contribute to research.
• Review the challenges of opportunities of artists functioning as researchers

Based on Research from my books Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology  and Art+Science Now

Surveyed Artists working with Research More work needed to understand how art and research might influence each other (Information Arts, MIT Press, 2002) (Art+Science Now, Thames & Hudson 2010)

Rationales for Involvement of Artists

• Pragmatic (artists will contribute valuable new ideas that will result in better research or development or science/technolgy will enrich art.)
• Cultural (the culture at large will be enriched by the confluence of these ideas from diverse disciplines.)

Cultural: -  Basic philsophical notions of what it is to be human, the nature of time and space,  the nature of the universe, what is maleable and what is fixed is being shaped by science - art historically helped us understand and anticipate.  -Understanding the underlying narratives - Importance of Scientific Openness to Alternative Paradigms. Art can be a tool for offering other perspectives . ref:  Thomas Kuhn - Sturcture of Scientific Revolutions

Preface of Beyond Productivity (from US National Academy of Science)  illustrates pragmatic appeal

Pragmatic: "Creativity plays a crucial role in culture; creative activities provide personal, social, and educational benefit; and creative inventions ...are increasingly recognized as key drivers of economic development. "  * ITCP = Information Technology Creative Practices   "ITCP can constitute an important domain of research. It is inherently exploratory and inherently transdisciplinary. Concerned at its core with how people perceive, experience, and use information technology, ITCP has enormous potential for sparking reconceptualization and innovation in IT. In execution, it pushes on the boundaries of both IT and the arts and design. Computer science has always been stimulated by exposure to new points of view and new problems, which are ever-present in the arts and design. Because of the breadth of use to which artists and designers put different forms of IT, and because they typically are not steeped in conventional IT approaches, artists' and designers'  perspectives on tools and applications may provide valuable insights into the needs of other kinds of IT users. The needs and wants of artists and designers can suggest new ways of designing and implementing IT. Engaging their perspectives is a logical extension of recent trends in cross-disciplinary computer science research."

Why is Biology Interesting to Artists

Critical area of innovation - opening up new possibilities, areas of inquiry, products.  scientific research and technological development	NSF - genome research
Contested area of culture.  eg. deconstructing nature, body, gender, disease	8 cell embryo - stem cells
Biology has a mind of its own.  Unlike other art materials, it sets on its own trajectories.	Australian rabbit coin
We are biology ourselves.  A way of investigating our selves.	Visible Woman

Examples of Stephen Wilson  Art & Biology Works

Protozoa Games  -   Stephen Wilson

New information available via new tools Digital Microscope and motion tracking Facination with other life forms Follow Me - Reverse usual experimental forms Protozoa in charge Control Me - Wacky commentary on Experiments colored lights, sound/voice what really is important in protozoa lives? Themes explored: Human relationships with animals Ethics of animal and human experimentation Nature of intelligence and consciousness Reflections on the essence of life Protozoa Complexity

IntroSpection

Philosphical Issues Underlying Biology Research

What is the nature of life? How are the living and non-living different?
What are the boundaries of naturally occuring life? - What are the limits of the forms it can take? What might exterrestial life be like? Can there be  forms of life not based on carbon?	SetiAtHome - search for extrerrestial life
Can we synthesize life? Can we create semi-life? Can we create artificial life? Will nanotechnology be able fabricate life atom by atom?  Can we modify life through bioengineering?  through breeding? What are the limits?	Semi-living Art Tissue Culture and Art Group
To what extent does genetics determine ultimate organism?  What is the balance between nature and nurture?  Can all biology ultimately be reduced to coding and bioinfomatics? What is the nature of consciousness and intelligence?  What is the relationship of brain and mind?  Can we synthesize them?  What is the nature of non-human intelligence?	Rice University Bioinfomtics group
What are the possibilities and limitations of "posthuman" enhancement?  Can we increase strength, endurance, intelligence, creativity,  sexual powers? Can we control mood and psychic space?  What are the limits of psychopharmacology?  Is there a prozac for everyone?	Superman / Wonderwoman
Can we eradicate disease? Can we create super-health?  Can life be prolonged?  Can death be eliminated?	Fountain of Youth
What is the nature of connection between species?  What is the connection between organic and non organic systems?
Ethics.  Which of any of these should be pursued and which not?

Examples of Emerging Areas in Biology Research

Use of PET (Positron Emission Tomagraphy) and fMRI (Functional Magenet Resonance Imaging)  to observe live brain function

Determining coma vs consciousness. How auditiory cliks show up in PET  right = normals middle = coma with recovery left = vegetative M. Boly et al   Auditory processing in the vegetative state  (9/12/05 - 16)
Sentences read to person bottom = controls top = coma (who recovered) AM Owen et al (9/12/05 - 16)
fMRI research on lie detection U Penn research on which areas active in deception

Knockout  of particular genes

Knock out B2 receptors in midbrain of rats - lack exploratory behavior - put it back revive this kind of behavior. Other experiments control obesity, aggressive behavior,... Jean-pierre Changeux  (9/12/05 - 16)	process of creating knockout in mice embryo
FoxP2 Gene  - single gene controls speech- Ke family half could not speak     -  knockout in mice - not able to make certain vocalizations Simon Fisher -10/24/05
"knockout" mice that are genetically unable to produce the enzyme PERK (pancreatic endoplasmic reticulum kinase)  - needed for growth/ bones/etc

Flourescent tracking of bio agents in body

Transplanated bone marrow cells did show up in nerual cells of leukemia patients.  fusion of marrow cells with Purkinje neurons. Dendrites indicate new growth helen blau 11/7/05 21
Protein based sensors - target specific cell functions Malarial parasites tagged with red fluorescent protein, the malarial parasites in the sporozoite stage can be seen migrating along the sinusoids in a mouse liver. (Photo: Ute Frevert et al.)

 Pharmacogenomics

Technologies: MicroArray

2 samples of RNA are taken from 2 seperate sources and cDNA is created from each by using a technique called RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction). Each cDNA sample is labeled with its own specific dye. Both cDNA samples are then washed over a single array, after which dye intensities on each spot is calculated using a fluorescence camera.

Technologies: Automated DNA Sequencer

Automated identification of the bases.  Cut at each location, test with reagent. Detect with photodetector.  2 million a day.

Technologies:  Microplate Automation

Automatic loading of multiple arrays

Pheremones - Electronic Nose

Electronic Nose detection of Disease  Raed Sweik, Cleveland Clinkc Foundation - detect lung cancer, also pneumonia, vaginitis e-nose (cyranose 320) Osmetech (9/12/05 -36)
Electronic nose chip Professor Ichiro Takeuchi
Sexual Communication in mice tears H. Kimoto et al    10/24/05 -20

Specific Conditions/ Diseases

Aging -The free radical theory of aging -Mitochondria and aging -The glycation theory of aging -Proteins damage and maintenance in aging -Dna damage and dna repair -Telomeres and aging -Cellular senescence and apoptosis in aging -Longevity genes -Gene silencing in aging -Hormones and aging -The immune system and aging -Inflammation and aging -Accumulation of toxins and chemical garbage -Cancer and aging -Biomarkers of aging -Caloric restriction with adequate nutrition

Cynthia Kenyon - 300 year old (equiv)  c.elegans worms - aging gene caloric restriction - 100 year old mountain people

Obesity  - genes that control obesity, hormones that control energy balance in the system, drugs that block receptors for hunger stimulations 5/24/05 -20

Synthetic Biology

How to build life out of inorganic matter David Deamer :  12 requirements:  membrane enclosurecapture energy, divide, add to information stoere, etc Biobricks, Open Wetware  -  organizations to store and distribute elements researchers develop for constructing life Biobricks

Bringing Microbiology to the Masses

Vending machine for Reagents - materials needed in research 10/10/2005  Helena BioSciences -
Bio-Rad Microarray Printer
Personal Genome Project
Automated Microscopes Nikon - Coolscope

Drug Discovery

Attempt to find right option from multiple candidates - designer drugs Search for structural fits with AIDS virus McCammon group, UCSD

New ideas about gene expression

multiple influencers  - overcome dogma

p 33 5/24/05

Mass Spectrometer

Using HIV to deliver therapeutic genes to combat cancer

Inder Verma 1/06 -62

Examples of Areas of Biology Research & Development Asking for Artistic Inquiry

Smell & Taste  - Artificial Noses, Smell Synthesis, Pheromones, the near senses	u of Illinois - artificial nose
Bionics - integration of machine and organism	Campbell Aird - Irish bionic arm
Brain-machine interface Neurons in Petri dish run robots	Steve Potter - GaTech
Brain control - remote control rats	Sanjiv Talwar, SUNY
Bioidentification	Image from MSU Biometrics Research Page
Designer Drugs	Applied Molecular Evolution - cocaine analog without addiction
Bacterial memory for computers	bacteriorhodopsin protein

Artists Working with Biology

Microbiology - Laura Cinti - Cactus Project (develop cactus that grows human hair)
Mcirovenus - Joe Davis  - (embed codes in ecoli)
Eduardo Kac - Alba (genetically engineered flourescent bunny)
Species Revival - Brandon Balengee (redevelop extinct species of frog)
One Tree - Natile Jerijemko (100 genetically identical trees subjected to different environments)
Hubert Duprat - Caddis Worm (caterpillars cocoon formation manipulated with precious metal and jewels)
Diana Domingues -Insn(h)ak(r)es  - Robot snake (Robot snake lives in harmony with live snakes)
Mel Chin - Revival Field (Design both for artistic and ecological reclaimation)
Stelarc - Parasite - external control of body, broadcasgts from inside of body - prostheses
Critical Art Ensemble - Cult of the New Eve, Generra Interventions, Public events .  Beer brewed with yeast engineered to include human genetic material
Ken Rinaldo - Augmented Fish Reality (Robots driven by fish interacting with humans)
Paul Vanouse  - Relative Velocity Inscription Device (electrophoresis of dna compares racial inheritance of relatives)

How could Artists Influence Research Process 

• Artists might assign different priorities to various research agendas
• Artists might ask different research questions
• Artists might help deconstruct unacknowledged assumptions in the frameworks that guide research
• Artists might challenge standard research procedures or invent new ones
• Artists might discover new knowledge or invent new technologies
• Artists might interpret results differently
• Artists might invent new ways to extract understanding via information visualization
• Artists might identify cultural implications of research results missed by other researchers

• How much knowledge is needed?  - the role of the amateur
• How balance time on science/tech and art?
• How avoid being seduced?