Santa Barbara Museum of Art Presents
photoGENEsis: Opus 2
November 9, 2002 - February 9, 2003
December 12, 2002 - photoGENEsis: Opus 2, a thought-provoking new
exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) presents a
spectrum of artistic responses to the genetic age. The exhibition,
on view November 9, 2002 - February 9, 2003, includes the work of
more than 40 international artists working in film-based media.
Eliciting more questions than answers, the exhibition does not pass
moral judgments on issues like cloning, GM foods, genetic engineering,
and gene therapy or answer any philosophical questions about the
relationship between art, society, and science. The exhibition continues
the SBMA's investigation into the matrix of science and art begun
in 1998 with the exhibition Out of Sight: Imaging/Imagining Science.
The years 2002-2003 mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery
of the double helix that inaugurated the age of genetics. The recent
mapping of the human genome opened a new phase in the biological
revolution. The selection of images on display explores the issues
and complexities of the genetic age as they are understood and translated
by contemporary artists. The focus of the show is on the future,
but it acknowledges some of the early visual pioneers of biology,
both artists and scientists, such as Rosalind Franklin and Roman
Vishniac.
Loosely organized into areas of inquiry in the genomic age, photoGENESis:
Opus 2 reflects the range of understanding, complexity, and mystery
that characterize this age and poses questions about the future.
Featuring images from eminent artists who have long been interested
in science as well as newly-found work from artists who answered
a call for entries, photoGENEsis: Opus 2 offers insights and translations
by artists seeking to understand the meanings and impact of a revolution
that is without precedent. Professor of Biology and Art Helen Donis-Keller
mixes the idea of genotype -- the genetic signature particular to
each one of us -- with phenotype -- the impact of socio-economic
conditions and environment, to create a new form of self-portrait.
Eva Sutton presents a software program to compress the evolutionary
process, allowing viewers to create a "universal creature"
on a large-scale plasma screen.
Artists such as Catherine Chalmers, who photographs genetically-engineered
mice used to uncover the origins of human diseases, and Miwa Yanagi,
who asks friends to imagine themselves in old age now that life-spans
are lengthened, raise issues about the consequences of genetic research.
Richard Press documents the 9.11.01 Identification Center where
DNA analysis made the identification of victims possible.
The exhibition demonstrates that culture has not faltered before
the new truths of biology. It has incorporated them together with
a new and scaly vocabulary not totally understood. Transgenic species,
germ-line therapy, stem cell research, cloning, proteomics all will
become part of the public discourse, just as genome and DNA have
in the past decade.
One section of the exhibition features artists whose works draws
on genetic science for new metaphors and analogies. A recurrent
theme in this body of work is the use of genes and the DNA code
as an allegory for the human condition, for art and as source of
paradoxes. In some cases the precision of scientific language is
artistically manipulated to suggest the untapped knowledge contained
within the natural world. Michael Flomen's work captures the midnight
dance of fireflies by recording their bio-luminescent glow directly
on photographic paper. These mystical tracings, the joint product
of the insects' instinctive behavior and chemical processes isolated
by humans, refer to the isolation of luminescent genes as a means
of tracking physiological processes in the body of live specimens.
Portions of this exhibition, organized by the Santa Barbara Museum
of Art, will appear in the gallery at The Graduate Center, The City
University of New York, beginning February 28 to coincide with events
celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Watson-Crick announcement
of the double helix. A five-part PBS/BBC series will air and a series
of lectures and symposia are being organized.
About the Museum
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is located at 1130 State Street,
Santa Barbara, CA. Museum hours are Tuesday - Saturday 11 am to
5 pm, Sunday noon to 5 pm, and Friday 11 am - 9 pm. Docent-led tours
of the special exhibitions are held daily at noon; docent tours
of the permanent collection are offered daily at 1 pm. For additional
information, call 805.963.4364, or visit our website at www.sbmuseart.org.
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