Fishing for ParameciaMaking art out of the wizardry of biotech.

Remarks from the Fray:

The examples of "bio art" discussed in this article have their roots firmly in the exodus of the impressionists from the academy in the 1880s, both as an ideological and cultural movement.

The cubists were motivated by theories of non-Euclidean space that were being developed both in the world of mathematics and in the emerging world of alternative Western spirituality. The idea of the 4th dimension inspired Picasso, Braque, and Duchamp...but they didn't ask their audiences to accept their art on the basis of their theories. They expected their art to succeed or fail on more basic attributes of artistic endeavor. Picasso has succeeded. The others fare less well. It is probably no accident that Picasso had a thorough grounding the the classical discipline of painting and drawing before he developed his unique approach to iconography.

Ultimately "art" has to capture more than the attention of a bored collector class or a restless intelligentsia. It has to find a connection with the heart and spirit of a place and time. In that respect, technology has always played an important, but subordinate, role...going back to Praxiteles and far beyond, to the colors used on the cave walls of Lascaux.

--zeitguy

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