Art and Biotechnology: Viral Culture from CRISPR to COVID

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This interdisciplinary anthology examines the relationship between developments in biotechnology and both artistic and literary innovation, focussing in particular on how newfound molecular technologies and knowledge regimes, such as CRISPR gene editing, alter conceptions of what it means to be human. The book presents 21 essays, split across four parts, from a coterie of artists, theorists, historians and scientists which examine the symbiotic relationship between humans, animals, and viruses as well as the impossibility of germ-free existence. The essays in this volume are urgent in their topicality, embodying the exhilarating yet alarming zeitgeist of contemporary nonhuman-to-human viral transmission and gene editing technologies. Ultimately, Art and Biotechnology reveals how art and biotechnology influence each other and how art has shaped the discussion around gene editing and the socio-cultural aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is essential reading for students and researchers focussing on science and art, environmental humanities, and ethics.

Author Bio

Claire Nettleton is the Academic Curator at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, USA, where she was curator of Parisian Ecologies (2022) and organizer of 15 Viral Culture programs including the COVID-19, Bioart and Society events. She is the author of The Artist as Animal in 19th-Century French Literature (2019) and multiple articles including in Dix-Neuf and Nineteenth-Century French Studies. Louise Mackenzie is an artist and researcher. She is a lecturer in Contemporary Art Practice at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, UK, and a Director at ASCUS Art & Science, Edinburgh, UK. Recent publications include BioProtopia (2023) and Viral Experiments (2023) and she exhibits nationally and internationally, including The Stars Beneath Our Feet (2015-22) and BE THE SEA (2023).