10:22 p.m. 5.Sep.99
Linz, Austria

The O.K. Center is a five-minute bicycle ride from the Brucknerhaus and
it is home for this year's Prix Ars Electronica Exhibition. Unlike
openX, the Prix Ars is in a more formal museum setting. The
installations are each in their own particular niche; some pieces greet
you as you wind up the staircase, others are hidden behind closed doors.
"Genesis," a transgenic artwork created by Eduardo Kac, falls into the
latter. Ars Electronica commissioned the piece for this year's festival
and Julia Friedman, a dealer from Chicago who represents Kac, granted me
a private tour.

When I arrived at the center, Julia informed me that we had to first
pick up a new petri dish that containing bacteria that was created out
of the "artist gene." While we went to the refrigerator containing this
petri dish, Julia described the gene and assured me that it was not
toxic. The "artist gene" is so named not because it is a DNA strand that
was taken from Eduardo; rather it is a gene that was synthetically
created by the artist. He did this by taking a quote from the book of
Genesis (hence the name): "Let man have dominion over the fish of the
sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves
upon the earth." This line was then translated into Morse Code, which
was then translated into DNA base pairs.

Without using too much scientific jargon, the gene is cloned to form
plasmids with ECFP (Enhanced Cyan Fluorescent Protein) or EYFP (Enhanced
Yellow Fluorescent Protein). When mixed, ECFP and EYFP become GFP (Green
Fluorescent Protein). After this explanation, we arrived at a door and I
pushed it open to view not a sterile white space, but a dark room with a
large circle projected on the wall glowing in greens and blues. In the
center of the room is a Plexiglas case that holds a telescope, a light
box, and a UV lamp. On the right wall is the text from Genesis and the
left wall holds the Morse translation. Music fills the room.

Donning UV goggles, I helped Julia change the petri dish. She was
worried about whether she had brought enough bacteria-laden dishes from
Chicago, because she did not expect the fluorescence of the bacteria to
fade quite that quickly. After finishing the complex operation, the
screen illuminated even more brightly. The music is live and generated
by the computer. It actually chimes as either the genesis gene, the cyan
plasmid, or the yellow plasmid mutates. The turning on and off of the UV
light (which can be done both at the space and online) also controls the
sound. The whole experience is soothing and beautiful, allowing one to
forget about all the scientific specifications that were involved in
making this project.

"Genesis" uses biology, technology, art and the Internet to create an
overall music/art experience. In fact, Eduardo Kac collaborated with the
composer Peter Gena and the geneticist, Dr. Charles Strom.

The project on display at the O.K. Center does not refer to his work in
progress "GFP-K9" and how the two are interconnected. Eduardo would like
to take this gene and breed a dog that would glow in the dark a
fluorescent green color (GFP is the color and K9 is canine). While
everyone claims that the gene is not harmful, and people will agree that
dog breeding is a tradition that has a long history, Kac is under
scrutiny about the ethical problems with his "artist gene."

Perhaps people are horrified by his ideas, because they are done in the
name of art and not science. Perhaps the transgenic artwork seems wrong
due to the "unnaturalness" of the gene that would be employed. These are
all interesting questions and ones that he will address at tomorrow's
symposium. In the meantime, let us appreciate the aesthetic sensibility
without the guilt.