The Arts and Genomics Centre supported the Kloone 4000 Project at Projectruimte Retort in Amsterdam.
Kloone 4000 consisted of a research project, group show and lecture series on cloning, in which artists and scientists collaborate.
Kloone4000 presented work by artists who are fascinated by images of the future and the ever-increasing possibilities offered by science and technology. Their interest in genetics forms the basis for collaborations and cross-fertilisation with scientists.
Project theme
Cloning is a topic that appeals to the imagination, raises ethical questions and forces us to think about the future. This project emphasises the special relation between art, science (mainly the terrain of genomics: the large-scale research on heredity and genes, including cloning) and technology.
Artists who work with themes related to genomics contribute to the public debate and analysis of scientific knowledge in an uncommon way. Art has the ability to criticise genomics experiments and their results, visualise them and make genomics accessible for a broad public, without stereotyping. In many cases it is also about visualising a reality that is inconceivable with the naked eye (DNA, nano-particles), for which there is a great need from within science. Artists and scientists are closer related in their daily practice than assumed: both are working with research, hypotheses, the search for truth and both are familiar with the ‘eureka’ moment. When artists are interested in the results, methods and applications of genetic research, and scientists in the possibilities of imagination, then there is a basis for cooperation, reflection and cross fertilisation.
Scientists are bound by theory and the public is often guided by emotions when thinking about the future of cloning, while an artwork is more independent, doesn’t have to be ‘true’ and is not judged in these terms. This provides an appealing freedom to explore future scenarios.
The following topics are initiatives for projects within this research project:
- Beauty and the tragic (certain abnormalities will no longer have to exist in the future, the concepts of ugly, unwanted and deformity will change)
- Who is my father? Who is my mother? (what is the meaning of family, upbringing and how will sexual manners change when sperm is redundant and egg cells cleaned out before use)
- Am I my twin? Why are we fascinated by our mirror image and at the same time afraid of it?
- Art as knowledge (another approach for cooperation between artists and scientists, not merely using the arts for their ability to visualise, but to see the benefits of a more holistic approach which is not appropriate within science but still allowed and practised in the arts.)
The Kloone 4000 website is still available for more information on the project and the results of the project.
A report on the project will be produced in the spring.
