Nothing seems more God-like or fearful than transgenic engineering, the formation of new combinations of genes from one or more organisms that are then reintroduced into a living organism.  You might say that this is where Postmodernism meets science.  It was once believed that species’ boundaries were for the most part impenetrable.  However, with the various genome projects, we now know that genes of differing species can be easily spliced in endless combinations with no clear limitations (like cultivating cranapples or other hybrid fruits).  The consequences are of course unknown.

The artist Eduardo Kac has created an infamous work of art meant to draw the public’s attention to transgenic engineering:  the glow-in-the-dark bunny.  The bunny’s name is Alba.  She was created in a laboratory in Jouy-en-Josas, France, by splicing in the genetic material from a glow-in-the-dark jellyfish.  Alba looks like a normal rabbit, but under blue light she glows fluorescent green!  Kac’s hope was to create an installation in which he and his family would live with Alba.  They would occasionally be either video-taped or placed behind a protective glass that allowed visitors to observe the whole family in their “natural” habitat.  Think of a cross between a history museum diorama and the reality TV show Big Brother.  Kac’s idea borders on such controversial cruelty to animals that, under pressure, the lab has never released Alba to the artist for exhibition.  Nonetheless, transgenic engineering is one of the many alarming developments of a Postmodern art obsessed with replication and simulation.

Wilder, Jesse Bryant. Art History For Dummies (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2007), p. 380.

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