For our reading in To Life, the first artist I looked at that I was interested in is Critical Art Ensemble. CAE was founded in 1987 in Tallahassee, Florida. The ensemble consists of artists with backgrounds in various media like web design, film/video, photography, text art, book art, and performance. The reason I was drawn to them is because of their installation called Molecular Invasion in Washington DC in 2002. The group, along with several other artists and scientists, wanted to see if it was possible to reverse the effects of genetically modified seeds such as canola, corn, and soy. I liked this installation because it challenges the genetically modified seeds that the evil corporation Monsanto has been marketing around the world. Monsanto sells these seeds that can withstand the herbicide Roundup, which will kill all unwanted plants in the crop—so all of the plants that Monsanto didn’t manufacture. The problem is crops that aren’t genetically modified in surrounding farms are often exposed to the Round Up and they end up dying and if a Monsanto seed gets into their crop, they have to give the entire crop to Monsanto because they have a patent on the GMO seeds. I got carried away writing about the evil corporation, sorry, back to the art stuff. Critical Art Ensemble transformed the museum into a nursery to grow GMO plants and regular plants in the same environment. When the plants were grown, the artists applied a nontoxic chemical disrupter to the GMO crops. A few days later, they sprayed all of the plants with Roundup. All of the plants died, including the genetically modified ones, so the experiment proved to be successful. CAE proved that genetic manipulations can be overcome as well as showing the world that a group of artists had the capability to undermine the calculations of a huge corporation. CAE does not protest the system or condemn genetically modified crops, they protest the system in which GMO companies basically own and control the world’s food supply while making profits. CAE conducts experiments on food technology that is very new and hasn’t been tested long-term by the corporations that use them. They don’t believe in using harsh acts to prove a point because those would earn corporations sympathy, make the artists look bad, and have a negative effect on smaller farmers. They prefer to sabotage the corporations by emboldening the public to challenge corporate and scientific authorities. CAE uses 3 military attack principles in their sabotage. Focus attack on the weakest link in the system, form accurate targeting systems to avoid collateral damage, and use the minimum amount of force necessary to accomplish an objective. In regards to the first principle, CAE discovered that all information about patented products is placed in public domain, including GMOs. This means that information can be investigated by scientists and the public. The second principle took great thought, because they had a feeling Monsanto would try to shut them down. Monsanto actually sent lawyers to the exhibition and brought cease and desist letters, but the artists believed it was just a bluff. CAE used about $10 worth of seeds and they knew that if the corporation were to sue the artists, they would also have to sue the museum hosting the exhibition. Monsanto doesn’t have a good image in the public eye (for obvious reasons) so CAE knew they would avoid suing an art institution that was part of the Smithsonian. Regarding principle three, the artists learned that doing this experiment wouldn’t be as difficult as they thought and was actually relatively easy. They could purchase the vitamin needed to disrupt the chemical modification at any vitamin store. The whole process was both simple and safe. They could not purchase the GMO seeds because they were not licensed to use them, but they found out that sometimes bags of seeds break and they could find the seeds at the bottom of trash cans. CAE’s idea was to use the chemical process for political reasons and to start a network of biological hackers. They want the public to realize they are capable of undermining corporations that seem immune to scrutiny. Their website has accessible models that the public can look at to learn more about genetically modified plants so they can evaluate the risks of using them. CAE considers Molecular Invasion to be a demonstration. One of the leading artists in CAE was arrested on suspicion of bioterrorism and everything regarding his research, along with his wife’s body and his cat, was taken from his home even though his biological materials were harmless.
The second artist I chose to read about was the Austrian group Gelitin that was formed in 1993. I liked this group because they have uplifting messages but express those messages with raunchy humour. The artists parody the idea of enlightenment and oneness. One piece of theirs I really liked is “Klunk Garden.” This is a zen garden they installed in Tokyo that does not look like it was meant to enlighten anyone. Zen gardens are used as a way of meditating and people who actually practice Zen spend decades on the process. Viewers walk up stairs to an elevated bridge above the Zen garden. The artists replicated an actual Zen garden with accuracy and retains the garden’s traditional purpose. The only difference was the use of their own bodies instead of stones. There were holes cut into the Zen garden to fit the shapes of certain rock-like parts of their bodies, the main (and most shocking) body part being the butt. The artists hoped to shift human consciousness from “being outside of nature” to “being in nature.” This is one aspect of Gelitin that I really loved. They hoped to expand awareness using parody and humour, which I think is a smart way to get people talking and thinking. The artists achieve a flip-side of “oneness” by using expressive artwork. They have an environmental goal: to assert the role of human attitudes in setting our planet’s course. For my mini-installation I want to put 3 different coloured Grow Monsters in 6 tubes. Each colour would be separated into 2 tubes and I would put the same amount of Grow Monsters in each. The installation would be symmetrical with one difference: 3 tubes would be grown with tap water and 3 would be grown with distilled water. While researching Grow Monsters, I learned that in tap water they can grow up to 500% their original size and when they’re in distilled water they can grow up to 10x more than in tap water. The concept for this installation can be both environmental and social. It can show how different environments can effect the outcome of growth, whether it be growth of plants or even the growth of children. When researching I kept thinking of the Grow Monsters as a kind of metaphor for children and the fact that they’re child’s toys is good for that concept. I’m not yet sure how I would set up the installation, but I guess that’s what the mini-installation is for.
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May 2018
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