Ingeborg Reichle: "When Life Becomes Art: Molecular Biology and the Arts"

By contrasting contemporary art with recent scientific developments, it is possible to demonstrate that art today not only serves to comment on science, but also represents a form of research and knowledge production in its own right, though one belonging to a radically different epistemological tradition. Moving beyond the postulated dichotomy of the »objective« sciences and the »subjective« arts, contemporary art shows us that art is no longer limited to the production of beautiful artefacts, but has established its role as a legitimate form of knowledge production in its own right. Such artistic interventions in genetics and biological forms have made possible new means of artistic expression and art forms, like ‘Transgenic Art’ and ‘Bio-Art’. More radically these new art forms have crossed the boundaries between the artificial and the natural, provoking a different understanding of ‘nature’.

Dr. Ingeborg Reichle is an art historian and theorist at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.