The instrumentalisation of life
Recently they have ‘killed’ a living coat at MOMA, now they talk with us about their work.
Ionat Zurr and Oron Catts are pioneer artists in wet biology art practices, were founding members of the Tissue Culture & Art Project and SymbioticA. ‘Victimless Leather’ was the polemic piece they exhibited at MOMA and that had to be ‘killed’. A piece that raised questions about life and death and the ethical boundaries in both art and science.
Ionat Zuur with Robert Zwijnenberg at 2008 hYbrid meeting
You are a Wet Biology Practitioner. What distinguishes wet biology art practices from other biological art practices?
The term biological art and what it entails is still negotiated; what type of art is included or excluded within this term is yet to receive a consensus. The reference to wet biology is to do with us (Catts & Zurr) working directly with life (and its manipulation) as oppose to using traditional representative techniques.
What are the main ethical implications of biological art practices?
There are many and diverse ethical implications with biological art concerning the act of life manipulation; its reasoning; its effect on the life manipulated; the audience; the environment etc. questions concerning the role of the artist and how it is played in the larger socio-economical as well as political sphere is also important (i.e is the artist is used to promote a certain agenda?).
What is unique to Biological Art is the fact that the art involves, in different degrees, the instrumentalisation of life. This reason by itself raises profound ethical questions. Although humans have manipulated life since the beginning of their history the extent, and ways in which this is done now is different. Many of the artists are asking these ethical questions through their work. Should purposefully created ethic committees regulate art and science projects? Wouldn’t these ethic committees pose a form of artistic censure?
Maybe the question should be asked somewhat differently; do the sciences and the arts should be regulated when practiced within an institution? And if the answer is yes, should these committee bodies be the same for both the art and the sciences? At the moment the ethics committees are geared almost predominantly for Biomedical research. This fact may put some strain and/or challenges when an artistic project has to be evaluated. But back to your question: We did pose that very question to our university committee in one of our ethics application and apparently it generated some considerable discussion within the committee about its role and its jurisdiction over different kinds of practices within an academic and research realm.
An interesting point about ethics committees is that in many cases they allow the researchers institutional production to do things that otherwise might be considered illegal; such as inflicting injury on another person (which is the case when one takes biopsy and tissue samples from subjects). Therefore the question should be widened and can be asked – should artists obey the law? And do the law sometimes pose a form of artistic censorship?
Victimless Leather, Tissue Culture & Art
Your work raises some questions about who we are, the value of life, what it means to be human. Do you believe art can answer some of these questions or art simply aims to raise questions?
I will be very suspicious of anyone who will claim to have the answers to each of these questions. Life is a continuing journey in search for better understandings of the complexities of these questions.
Art is one of the very few disciplines that do not require answering questions. As a meaning forming activity it requires challenging perceptions rather then solutions dictation.
How did the idea of creating a laboratory for artists in a school of anatomy and human biology came up? In other words how did SymbioticA started?
From SymbioticA web site www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au :”SymbioticA was established in 2000 by cell biologist Professor Miranda Grounds, neuroscientist Professor Stuart Bunt and artist Oron Catts. Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr from the Tissue Culture and Art Project (TC&A) had been working as artists/researchers in residence in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology and the Lions Eye Institute since 1996. The shared vision of Grounds, Bunt and Catts for a permanent space for artists to engage with science in various capacities led to the building of the artists’ studio/lab on the second floor of the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at The University of Western Australia. Funding for the space was provided by the Lotteries Foundation of WA and The University of Western Australia”.
NoArk, photo of the video instalation documenting the project
Can you give us an overview of what an artist faces during a SymbioticA residency?
This depends to certain extent on the individual and her specific project. In general, SymbioticA provides the conditions and the assistance to provide the resident with the appropriate expertise (i.e matching with the appropriate scientist, technician etc.) and provides accesses to technologies and tools.
The resident is going through health and safety induction (like any other researcher in the School) and in case the project concerns with ethics approval (whether animal ethics or human ethics), the resident, with our assistance has to submit an application. SymbioticA provides a supportive environment to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative research. Every Friday we have SymbioticA Friday meeting, in which different people give an informal talk on diverse topics; SymbioticA is part of the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, which has its own weekly seminars. We usually recommend, when possible, that the resident will come firstly for an explorative short visit to familiarise herself with the personnel, the expertise and the possibilities SymbioticA offers, this visit will enable the resident to better plan for the long term residency.
