Art and Biotechnology: Viral Culture from CRISPR to COVID

by Claire Nettleton (Editor), Louise Mackenzie (editor), Charissa N. Terranova (series_editor)

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.

280 pages, Hardcover

Published July 11, 2024

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forces unleashed by humans (CRISPR) and nature (COVID...maybe) have changed all of our lives in ways we have just started to unpack. This anthology marks the first effort by a group of serious artists, scientists- and art-scientists- to poke this new reality with a stick. You might call some of these often very odd people avant-garde, if their wildest flights of fancy hadn't become headline news truth. There is enough fertile material in this volume to spawn ten follow-up volumes. This is an essential and exciting read.