Eduardo Kac: Genesis, 1999

Lower Level Galleries
March 21, 2002 — August 25, 2002
In his multi-media, internet-connected, and transgenic installation entitled Genesis (1999), which inspired the title of the Henry exhibition, Chicago-based artist Eduardo Kac began with a biblical quotation that describes the domination of humans over nature. He translated this passage into Morse code (the first new language of the telecommunications age) and then developed equivalents to translate Morse code into genetic language. He and a team of scientists then created bacteria from this code. Images of this living mutating DNA are projected on one wall of the gallery. Genesis exemplifies the impact genetics has had on artistic practice by incorporating the materials and processes of genomics into an artist’s work. The West Coast premier of this installation was the first installment of the nationally touring exhibition, Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics.
ARTISTS
Eduardo Kac
CREDITS

Robin Held, Associate Curator. The exhibition and related programs are made possible with generous support from the Animating Democracy Initiative, a program of Americans for the Arts, funded by the Ford Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Rockefeller Foundation; the Allen Foundation for the Arts; PONCHO; The Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities; King County Arts Commission Special Projects Program, ZymoGenetics, Inc.; The University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences, and in-kind support from Carl Zeiss, Inc.; Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media; New Concepts Prototyping; Apple Computer; The Elliott Grand Hyatt, Seattle; KUOW Public Radio, WRQ, Inc., and Northwest Mannequin.