LIFE 2.0 - artifice to synthesis

The selective breeding of animals and plants for companionship, labour, consumption and entertainment is perhaps one of the oldest examples of human biological manipulation. However in an era when animals are bred for human organ harvesting, we need to examine our symbiotic or perhaps parasitic relationship with the animal kingdom.

Get set to peek into the natural habitat of newly engineered organisms; speculate on synthetic infections; and consider humane healing by transgenic animals. Be prepared for intimate self-inspections; crocheting coral in creative communities and spectacular cinematic scenarios of synthetic futures.

RiAus has commissioned Australian cross media artist Deborah Kelly to bring her potent paper montages to life. The outcome is Beastliness – vividly animated vignettes of surreally synthetic creatures. Women morph into hybrid forms that already exist in the vernacular of the feminine – such as birds, foxes, bunnies, tigers and chicks. Highly stylised emblems of artifice, Kelly’s beasts walk an elegant line between fantasy, fashion and the femme fatale.

LIFE 2 .0 asks more questions than it answers. How can we determine what is natural when life is built from scratch and artifice is achieved by synthesis? How does the definition of life change with human endeavor and scientific exploration? Is Synthetic Biology pure engineering; dangerously playing God; or a spontaneous working together of different species to create a better world?

Curated by Dr Melinda Rackham.

Art Works by Revital Cohen, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Deborah Kelly, James King, Cambridge University IGEM Team 2009, and Richard Pell’s Centre for Postnatural History; with highlights from the Bio:Fiction: Science, Art & Film festival and crafting of the RiAus Adelaide Coral Reef.