Each of the projects in Emergence had a relationship to the expansive and contested field of synthetic biology, or SynBio. For some contributors, SynBio is the daily space of their labs, research, education, and policy work. For others, SynBio is a discrete provocation or alternative lens through which to think about making, dreaming, and calling new realities into being.
What is synthetic biology?
There may be as many definitions as there are practitioners, but a simple definition is the science of “redesigning organisms for useful purposes by engineering them to have new abilities.” Applications include devising new ways for targeted pharmaceuticals to be absorbed by the body; cultivating tiny versions of human and animal organs, called organoids, for medical research and therapeutics; engineering natural yeasts to produce medicines, dyes, food flavorings and fragrances; designing microbial systems to digest plastics and other harmful substances in the environment; and creating entirely new life forms with engineered DNA.
With science, art has an equal role to play in helping us elaborate the futures that we want – not merely as a communication tool, but as a portal to understanding who we are and who we might be. We might wonder whether art can be one of the “useful purposes” of synthetic biology, and, likewise, whether projects by artist-scientists could yield knowledge so essential that materials intended “for research purposes only” should be more readily available for these endeavors, too.
Image credit: Jordyn Doyel
EMERGENCE FEATURED
Apoptotic Bodies
Eduardo Padilha
Crying Organoids
Dr. Marie Bannier Hélaouët, Organoid Group, Hubrecht Institute of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), The Netherlands; Oncode Institute, The Netherlands; Dr. Albert Wu, Ophthalmic Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Stanford Medicine, with lab members Dr. Aditi Swarup, Dr. Hala Dhowre, Dr. Sanja Bojic, and Julietta Picco
CyberBiome / MicroPET
Dr. Pat Pataranutaporn
Floating Future Gardens
Corinne Okada Takara
IndiGROW
Dr. Callie R. Chappell and Dr. Nasa Sinnott-Armstrong
MultiPlanetary Gardens
AfroRithm Futures Group: Ahmed Best, Dr. Lonny J. Avi Brooks, and Jade Fabello, in collaboration with Dr. Drew Endy, Jesse Gilbert, Raquel Horsford, Malaya, and Oguri
of kin and bone
Michael Jones McKean, with assistance from Dr. Stephen Fong, Professor of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, in cooperation with the Museu de Leiria, Portugal
Pillars of Creation
Henry Tan, Masato Takemura, Pakchira Chartpanyawut, Weeratouch Pongruengkiat, Woraporn Pongsamart, Jirapat Thaweechuen, Tanis Phongpisantham, Pongsakorn Wechakarn, Sumeth Klomchitcharoen, and Kookpedz Studio.
The Use of Life (in Relation to the Industry of Men)
Tissue Culture & Art Project: Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, with assistance from UCLA Art|Sci and California NanoSystems Institute
Emergence: Art from Life, an exhibition at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, was presented as part of PST ART. Presented by Getty, PST ART returned in September 2024 with Art & Science Collide, a regional event exploring the connections between art and science, past and present.
Thank you PST ART; JACCC; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; and The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles for your support of Emergence.