Originally published in Genolog, a project of the new media artjournal SWITCH, Vol. 6, N. 1, 2000.

GFP BUNNY

Shona Reed

Uploaded on Thursday June 08, 2000.

On Friday June 2 Chicago based artist Eduardo Kac gave a public lectureat the Harbour Centre in Vancouver. This was part of the new-media artsgroup Digital Earth's - " Zero Degree Monstrosities" lectureseries. Kac introduced his latest project entitled "GFP Bunny".

Alba the bunny was born in Jouy-en-Josas, France in February. Alba istransgenic art. Alba glows green when illuminated with a blue light. Albacan be viewed by the public, together with the artist in an exhibitionspace in Grenier a Sel, Avignon France from June 15 through 25.

Transgenic art uses synthetic or natural genetic material in anotherorganism to create new forms of life. Normally transgenic animals are "objects"of scientific inquiry. Kac describes Alba not as an art object but as atransgenic social subject.

" My intention is to shift the discussion around transgenics, fromobjects that are used for a purpose to an appreciation of the perceptualand cognitive life of that individual transgenic animal. The point is thento highlight the uniqueness of that individual and also to shed some lighton the question of purity, because as we start to breed animals � we aretalking about the notion of pure race � Here is a transgenic animal thatchallenges the notion of purity."

GFP (green fluorescent protein) is a bioluminescent substance, whichis found in Pacific Northwest jellyfish. Scientists have isolated the genesequence that codes for GFP and since 1995 have been inserting it intothe embryos of frogs and mice. Therefore this is a genetic interventionbased on an established risk free outcome. Kac worked together with theFrench zoosystemician Louis Bec and scientists Louis-Marie Houdebine andPatrick Prunnet. The GFP was transferred to each cell of the bunny.

Kac cited his reasons for choosing the bunny. He was seeking to engagethe mind of an individual and create a shared space, which he said is verydifficult to create with a fly. Rabbits can interact with their kind, thinkand play. The rabbit is the largest mammal you can work with, it is ananimal you can look in the eye.

Kac will live and care for Alba in the gallery space in France. Afterthe exhibition, artist and Alba will return to Chicago to live togetherwith his family. Forming a negotiation of the complex relationship betweenthe public life of the rabbit in the gallery and the private life of thefamily on return to Chicago.

" The artwork is the whole complex social event, it involves bringingher into this world, integrating her socially in this case into familylife and the conversations that this whole project creates "

Kac's other objectives include "expansion of the present practicaland conceptual boundaries of art making to incorporate life invention"and a consideration of a non-semiotic notion of communication as the sharingof genetic material across traditional species barriers"

He proposes GFP Bunny as a future form of interactive art "GFPBunny gives continuation to my focus on the creation, in art, of what MartinBuber called dialogical relationship, what Mikhail Batkhin called dialogicsphere of existence, what Emile Benveniste called intersubjectivty andwhat Humberto Maturana calls consensual domains : shared spheres of perception,cognition and agency in which two or more sentient beings (human or otherwise)can negotiate their experience dialogically.

In an earlier work entitled "Genesis" Kac created a fantasygene by translating a sentence from the book of Genesis into Morse codeand then translating that code into DNA base pairs using a conversion techniquespecially developed for the work. The sentence was then translated backinto English. "LET AAN HAVE DOMINION OVER THE FISH OF THE SEA ANDOVER THE FOWL OF THE AIR AND OVER EVERY LIVING THING THAT IOVES UA EONTHE EARTH"

Kac views the debate around the cultural and ethical implications ofgenetics as being very polarized, the bio-tech companies themselves arenot engaging in any serious dialogue neither are the people at the otherend of the spectrum who remain only seriously opposed.

"Artists are citizens who do not come from a technocratic backgroundand they are not focused on extracting specific commercial benefits fromthe inventions of genetic engineering so artists can offer important alternativesto the polarized debate."

What of Kac's own view on genetic engineering? " I cannot opposeit if I am using the green bunny for debate. At the same time I do notagree with many practices, such as the patenting of life."

The debate that night - questions from the audience ranged from "Wheredoes art stop and nature begin ?"; Will you breed her ? to "Isthe end of the art project when the rabbit dies ?".

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