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february, 2000 |
transgenic artwork gfp bunny

 
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Transgenic artwork "GFP Bunny" by artist Eduardo Kac comprises the creation of a green fluorescent rabbit (GFP stands for green fluorescent protein), the public debate generated by the project, and the social integration of the rabbit. The first phase of the "GFP Bunny" project was completed in February 2000 with the birth of "Alba" in Jouy-en-Josas, France. This was accomplished with the assistance of zoosystemician Louis Bec and scientists Louis-Marie Houdebine and Patrick Prunnet.

"*Transgenic art*," explain Eduardo Kac, "is a new art form based on the use of genetic engineering to transfer natural or synthetic genes to an organism, to create unique living beings. This must be done with great care, with acknowledgment of the complex issues thus raised and, above all, with a commitment to respect, nurture, and love the life thus created."

"Since the domain of art is symbolic even when intervening directly in a given context, art can contribute to reveal the cultural implications of the revolution underway and offer different ways of thinking about and with biotechnology. Transgenic art is a mode of genetic inscription that is at once inside and outside of the operational realm of molecular biology, negotiating the terrain between science and culture. Transgenic art can help science to recognize the role of relational and communicational issues in the development of organisms. It can help culture by unmasking the popular belief that DNA is the Ğmaster moleculeğ through an emphasis on the whole organism and the environment (the context). At last, transgenic art can contribute to the field of aesthetics by opening up the new symbolic and pragmatic dimension of art as the literal creation of and responsibility for life."
{imago}
 
source::
GFP Bunny
<http://www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html>
 
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