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| BioTechnology Engineering |
Biotechnology is
known as using biological processes for industrial and other purposes. I never
really looked into Biotechnology as being in the art fields until this class.
There has been a lot of controversy of where art stands in the field of
biotechnology. Some say that art is in the genomes, in the cellular, biological
input of the cell and some say art is the scientific process and collaboration
with scientist’s and artists in the engineering of new technology.
This technology
is valued more upon when there is artistic input in it. Biotechnology is a very
fragile and complicated field. There are many different fields like, art,
science, neurology, biology and genetics to make up this phenomenon. When
dealing with the human genome that is made within our body, it is very hard to
alter something like this and still have it run normally. Any mutation, or
small alteration made by biotechnology can have a lasting impact in the gene.
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| Dolly the Sheep |
Within this
field however, once is it perfected in how to deal with the gene then we can
invent and experiment with much more. For example, there is a famous experiment
of the cloning with Dolly, the sheep. This sheep was the first mammal that was
cloned by an adult somatic cell by the process of nuclear transfer. This sheep
lived the majority of its life in a University lab. With this invention though
we have been able to prove the ability of cloning and have opened up doors to
many other unique types of developments.
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| Alfred Vendl Art Work |
One person I
found very interesting was Alfred Vendl. He is both a chemist and a filmmaker.
This alone is very different and from two different mediums. He is known for
making hidden scientific phenomena visible. One of his artworks is to follow
the movement of crystals growing. He did this by using a scanning electric
microscope (SEM) to see the intricate details of the process that would be
almost impossible to see with the naked eye. He was able to turn this
scientific sensation into an artistic one by having it be filmed in photography.
Biotechnology is
one field I find to be very creative and filled with geniuses. This field has
so many layers to it and so much good can come from it that I don’t think there
should be a limit to one’s ability to create. After all, what we surround ourselves
with today was once imagined and then created by someone else before.
References:
Biotechnology: Week 7. Biotechnology. Art, Science & Technology. September
7, 2011. Web.
The Roslin Institute. Cloning Dolly the Sheep. Animal Research. 1996. Web.
http://www.animalresearch.info/en/medical-advances/timeline/cloning-dolly-the-sheep/
Vendl, Alfred. Science Visualization. University of Applied Arts. May 2014. Web. https://www.alfredvendl.com/
Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. DESMA 9.
Web. 30 Oct. 2012.
Weintraub, Karen. 20 Years after Dolly the Sheep led the way. Scientific American.
July 5 2016. Web. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/20-years-after-dolly-the-sheep-led-the-way-where-is-cloning-now/
Hi Komel, I really enjoyed reading your blog and I especially like the argument you made about how biotechnology is "valued more upon when there is artistic input in it."
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that biotech is a complicated field and sometimes the use of biotech to create art inevitably raises ethical concerns. A good example, as you have mentioned in your blog, is the ability to clone animals and even human beings using genetic engineering. However, I personally feel that whether there should be limit to one’s ability to create still remains highly debatable.