E.coili Arts Initiative

Team Ecoili presents: Machine or life: a paradigm of synthetic biology.
At the Dana Centre,
The London Science Festival.

Our approach seeks to stimulate excitement, debate and interest around synthetic biology through the use of arts as an engaging media. Visual art and moving images can reach new audiences that may not traditionally be interested in the sciences and provide new perspectives for thinking about the social, ethical and cultural implications of contemporary science.

Showcasing existing collaborative and interdisciplinary practice across the arts and sciences helps to provide new thought in both fields. The art also provides stimulation and thought provocation in new directions that otherwise would not be accessed through only discussion and debate.

The exhibition will introduce visitors to synthetic biology and its uses in the iGEM competition, along with the implications of garage biology and the use of language in contemporary science. Through a showcase of art works and film we aim to provoke thoughtful reflection in a broad audience. This reflection will culminate in a discussion session and the opportunity for the visitor to record personal reflections on video. The art will provide a basis for new ways to examine the social cultural and ethical impact of synthetic biology, the event will have two main themes; Garage biology and the language of synthetic biology.

The ‘garage biology’ movement that has arisen alongside synthetic biology demonstrates that science is breaking from the confines of the lab, and in the future this may have a democratising effect on scientific discovery. Equally the ‘garage biology’ movement has caused concern about security and related ethical issues, such concerns have been amplified as synthetic biology has grown up in a post 9/11 culture of securitization. Our exhibition will allow the audience to consider both the positive and negative implications of garage biology as a movement and indeed we will consider if there is a ‘garage biology movement’ at all.

The social and cultural effects of language used in science communication are key in forging positive public perceptions. Specific sets of language are used within synthetic biology that often describe life using dehumanising mechanical words, these words are a legacy of synthetic biology’s close association with engineering. Are we experiencing the reductionism of life on a similar scale to that seen in the enlightenment, if so, should we expect reaction on a par with the romanticists? In fact, if we are experiencing such similarity in the historical paradigm of thinking, can we learn from the lessons of the past? What effect does the use of such words have on the public perception of synthetic biology? What are the implications of using old metaphors to describe new forms of life? Words that already exist with a common meaning are being reshaped and redefined, without any consideration for the outward image of science, we will aim to analyse why. Finally after exploring the intricacies of such linguistic subtleties from a historical and societal perspective we will be able to make an informed answer to the question: Are we really considering the lessons of the past to inform our going forward?