Taryn Simon was born in New York in 1975. Her most recent work, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, reveals that which is integral to America’s foundation, mythology and daily functioning, but remains inaccessible or unknown to a public audience.
Her earlier work, The Innocents, documents cases of wrongful conviction in the United States and investigates photography’s role in that process. Simon’s photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including solo shows at: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum Fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. Permanent collections include: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum Fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Brown University and a Guggenheim Fellow. Simon has been a visiting artist at Yale University, Bard College, Harvard University and Columbia University. Her photography and writing have been featured in numerous publications and broadcasts including The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Ted.com, CNN, BBC and Frontline. Steidl recently published An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar. She is represented by Gagosian Gallery.

Source: Gagosian

White Tiger (Kenny), Selective Inbreeding
Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Foundation
Eureka Springs, Arkansas

In the United States, all living white tigers are the result of selective inbreeding to artificially create the genetic conditions that lead to white fur, ice-blue eyes and a pink nose. Kenny was born to a breeder in Bentonville, Arkansas on February 3, 1999. As a result of inbreeding, Kenny is mentally retarded and has significant physical limitations. Due to his deep-set nose, he has difficulty breathing and closing his jaw, his teeth are severely malformed and he limps from abnormal bone structure in his forearms. The three other tigers in Kenny’s litter are not considered to be quality white tigers as they are yellow coated, cross-eyed, and knock-kneed.

Avian Quarantine Facility
The New York Animal Import Center
Newburgh, New York

European Finches seized upon illegal importation into the U.S. and African Gray Parrots in quarantine.

All imported birds that are not of U.S. or Canadian origin must undergo a 30 day quarantine in a U.S. Department of Agriculture animal import quarantine facility. The quarantine is mandatory and at the owner’s expense. Birds are immediately placed in incubators called isolettes that control the spread of disease and prevent cross-contamination by strategically placed High Efficiency Particulate Air Filters.Before each quarantined bird is cleared for release, it is tested for Avian Influenza and Exotic Newcastle Disease.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room
John F. Kennedy International Airport
Queens, New York

African cane rats infested with maggots, African yams (dioscorea), Andean potatoes, Bangladeshi cucurbit plants, bush meat, cherimoya fruit, curry leaves (murraya), dried orange peels, fresh eggs, giant African snail, impala skull cap, jackfruit seeds, June plum, kola nuts, mango, okra, passion fruit, pig nose, pig mouths, pork, raw poultry (chicken), South American pig head, South American tree tomatoes, South Asian lime infected with citrus canker, sugar cane (poaceae), uncooked meats, unidentified sub tropical plant in soil.

All items in the photograph were seized from the baggage of passengers arriving in the U.S. at JFK Terminal 4 from abroad over a 48-hour period. All seized items are identified, dissected, and then either ground up or incinerated. JFK processes more international passengers than any other airport in the United States.

Research Marijuana Crop Grow Room
National Center for Natural Products Research
Oxford, Mississippi

The National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR) is the only facility in the United States which is federally licensed to cultivate cannabis for scientific research. In addition to cultivating cannabis, NCNPR is responsible for analyzing seized marijuana for potency trends, herbicide residuals (paraquat) and fingerprint identification. NCNPR is licensed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and also researches and develops chemicals derived from plants, marine organisms, and other natural products.

While 11 states have legalized the medical use of marijuana, a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision allows for the arrest of any individual caught using it for this purpose. Nearly half of the annual arrests for drug violations involve marijuana possession or trafficking.

Cryopreservation Unit
Cryonics Institute
Clinton Township, Michigan

This cryopreservation unit holds the bodies of Rhea and Elaine Ettinger, the mother and first wife of cryonics pioneer, Robert Ettinger. Robert, author of “The Prospect of Immortality” and “Man into Superman” is still alive.

The Cryonics Institute offers cryostasis (freezing) services for individuals and pets upon death. Cryostasis is practiced with the hope that lives will ultimately be extended through future developments in science, technology, and medicine. When, and if, these developments occur, Institute members hope to awake to an extended life in good health, free from disease or the aging process. Cryostasis must begin immediately upon legal death. A person or pet is infused with ice-preventive substances and quickly cooled to a temperature where physical decay virtually stops. The Cryonics Institute charges $28,000 for cryostasis if it is planned well in advance of legal death and $35,000 on shorter notice.

All images and text from Taryn Simon.
Buy the book here.
See her work here.

From the 26th of june till the 3rd of july the ornamism project will be exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague, Netherlands.
It will take part of the group exhibition ‘Vers Geperst’.

The Ornamism exhibition will consist out of:

*An installation consisting out of 2 photographs (1.2 by 1.8 m) interacting with 2 ‘natural history museum resembling’ display boxes, showing a taxidermic cat consisting out of 2 different half’s and bottles growing lifeless ‘sticks’. These ‘genetically altered’ animals will be accompanied by a nameplate stating their (fictive) patent number, and a long list, printed of a dot matrix printer, with existing patents (USPTO) on genetically altered organisms. A comment on the ‘gold rush’ on patenting life, the commercialization of natures building blocks.

*A reference to the promotional campaign throughout the Netherlands, consisting of flyers and other merchandise, arousing peoples interest in the subject. This promotional campaign will launch saturday the 12th of june.

*A touchscreen representation of this website, http://www.ornamism.com, where people can explore the subject and all the latest developments. It also functions as a platform where people can express their opinions and discuss these developments. This is now in the finalization stage, and will be finished before the 12th of june.

*A book combining photography with quotes and articles from famous philosophers, artists and scientist. The book shows in an abstract way the ethical imbalance of biotechnology, how people perceive bioart as the unethical use of these technologies. Manipulation of life is only justifiable when the end result is noble, but who decides what is noble?
Get a copy here.

Growing Pains: Nurturing The Relationship Between Man & Object
2009

Breakthroughs in biological science have redefined the capabilities of the human body. A new frontier has opened for design, allowing the employment of the body’s material to cultivate products within the human body. We might, therefore, refer to the body as a factory, with its own natural chain of production, capable of producing life.

If man were to grow an optimized material he must nurture a relationship with the object, physically interacting with it under the skin. Through this process, the object is personalised, carrying the indexical traces of its interactions and experiences in its form. If man treats his cells right they will grow.

‘Growing Pains’ is a term referring to the pain symptoms commonly felt by children during development. Metaphorically, it can also be applied to the growth we experience throughout life both physically and emotionally. Through tissue engineering we can cultivate objects within our bodies that not only represent, but participate in our most profound life experiences.

If we were to cultivate an object inside of our bodies that represents us beyond the grave, we would grow death inside of us, forcing us to interact with it on a daily basis whilst nurturing new material in preparation for our decay. In this instance, new tools are needed to help us interact and nurture the object, tools that customize the final form.

These tools become part of our daily routine, enhancing our lives whilst preparing us for death. In this growth process, by physically interacting with the item under the skin, we not only shape and increase its growth potential, but also come to terms with our own mortality – you design your own death. Upon death the object is removed from the body and passed onto a relative or loved one, a representation of the self both physically and symbolically.

Cell Syringe
Prior to cultivation, cells are removed from the body and differentiated in the lab. Once the required bone cells have been isolated, they can be introduced into the growth area. A small incision is made into the Periosteum, a membrane that lines the outer surface of bone, and the differentiated bone cells are injected, stimulating the production of new bone.

Growth Stimulator
The Growth Stimulator allows you to enhance your physique whilst enhancing your death. Electrode pads are placed upon the body, a small electrical current toning the muscles, whilst stimulating the growth of the body object. Each pad stimulates the bone to grow into a specific shape, thus allowing you to sculpt the bone form beneath the skin.

Image Capture Frame
The Image Capture Frame enables you to regularly check upon the development of the body object, whilst the image capture facility means you can record and proudly display its progress. Low intensity ultrasound pulses have been proven to aid bone development, therefore regular use also assists in the growth process.

Body Object
Upon death the object is removed from the body and passed onto a relative or loved one. The above image shows a pipe grown from the radius in the left arm. The body object acts as a record of your life, each mark a trace of your life experiences and physique, a representation of the self both physically and symbolically.

Download Thesis


Body Interior Illustration by Maartje Kunen
3D Visualisation by Daniel Rossi
Photography by Susana Camara Leret
All text from Mike Thompson

In 2010, scientists from Yansei and Stanford University pioneered a technique
by where 30-nanometre wide gold electrodes were inserted into the photosynthesising organs – chloroplasts – of algal cells, thus managing to draw a small electrical current from algae during photosynthesis. As advances in nanotechnology lead to increasingly energy efficient products, plant life such as algae will become attractive sources for tapping energy. Latro is one such product that responds to this future market.

Latro (latin for thief) incorporates the natural energy potential of algae and the functionality of a hanging lamp into its design. Synthesising both nature and technology in one form, Latro is a living, breathing product. Algae are incredibly easy to cultivate, requiring only sunlight, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water, offering a remarkably simple way of producing energy. Breathing into the handle of the lamp provides the algae with CO2, whilst the side spout allows the addition of water and release of oxygen. Placing the lamp outside in the daylight, the algae use sunlight to synthesize foods from CO2 and water. A light sensor monitors the light intensity, only permitting the leeching of electrons when the lux level passes the threshold – avoiding algae malnourishment. Energy is subsequently stored in a battery ready to be called upon during hours of darkness. Owners of Latro are required to treat the algae like a pet – feeding and caring for the algae rewarding them with light.

Download Project Info

All text and images from Mike Thompson

Themed “Building on the Past, Shaping our future”, the 6000-square-meter UK pavilion is also known as the “Seed Cathedral” and the area around it is designed like a wrapping paper, making it seem as if the wrappers have fallen open to reveal a sparkling jewel of life. Visitors can relax around the open space or enter the “Seed Cathedral” to admire the seeds in the spines, marveling how such tiny seeds can produce wonders of nature and life. The UK pavilion hopes to raise awareness for the Millennium Seed Bank Project, an international conservation project launched by the Royal Botanic Gardens in 2000.

Highlight 1: Green Cities
Visitors will travel through four UK’s capital cities from west to east – Belfast, Cardiff, London and Edinburgh. Large “green maps” of the cities are on display. The best way to show how green British cities really are is to “erase” all the buildings and streets, leaving only the green spaces.

Highlight 2: Seed Cathedral
Visitors will be invited to watch, touch and recognize seeds of different plants as the core exhibition of the UK Pavilion. They will be surrounded by the seeds in a 20-meter-high hollow cube-like structure with the seeds embedded in the walls and ceilings. The “Seed Cathedral” is itself an object formed from 60,000-plus transparent acrylic rods containing seeds. The seeds demonstrate the concept of sustainability, the diversity of nature and the potential of life. During the daytime, each of these 7.5-meter-long rods will act like fibre optic filaments, drawing on daylight to illuminate the interior. At night, light sources embedded in each rod will allow the whole structure to glow.

Highlight 3: Living City
In the “Living City,” visitors will find a showcase for a rich variety of plants, a mix of living plants and imaginary future plants. They are encouraged to look closely to see which are real and which are modeled. These specific stories allow them to appreciate how science has used nature in areas as diverse as medicine and construction, and how plants of the future could offer solutions to climate change and other global concerns.

Highlight 4: Olympic Corner
UK Pavilion offers a preview of the 2012 London Olympics by incorporating an “Olympic Corner” in its display. The area features a large “green map” of the 2.5-square-kilometer Olympic Park in Stratford in East London, which will be turned into the largest city park in Britain.

Highlight 5: City Park
The “paper” area is as large as a standard football pitch and will be a public area for performances and for children to play football, just like a city park. The square will have performances every day including ballet, drama, orchestra and dance. Some UK football stars may be on hand to teach soccer skills to children. Much of the daily programming will concentrate on original and inventive comedy performance which draw on the UK’s great tradition of theatre – stretching back to William Shakespeare – and on the current international reputation of our artists and performers for original, inventive and crowd-pleasing work.

Text and images from Expo 2010

From a distance, its striped orange and black coat makes it look like a particularly odd tiger. But it’s actually a retriever, the victim of the latest craze among some dog owners in China to dye their pets to look like other animals.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

“In 1992, the Food and Drug Administration claimed that they had no information showing that GM foods were substantially different from conventionally grown foods and therefore were safe to eat. But internal memos made public by a lawsuit reveal that their position was staged by political appointees under orders from the White House to promote GMOs. FDA scientists, on the other hand, warned that GMOs can create unpredictable, hard-to-detect side effects, including allergies, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged long-term safety studies, but were ignored. The FDA does not require any safety evaluations for GMOs.”
Institute for Responsible Technology

This technology is so new and untested that we have no idea what long term effects it will have on those who consume it, the lands on which it is grown, or what wide-ranging environmental impact that can occur. The Monsantra Project is named, after the Monsanto Corporation, which is one of the largest suppliers and producers of genetically modified seed in the world. Like a B-movie Mothra or Godzilla, Monsantra is a hybrid of imagination, possibility, and reality. We can only guess what will happen to the food supply with subsequent generations of GMO’s? Using seeds from the Monsanto Corporation, plants are grafted onto robotic or remote controlled bases to become an organism with no clear heritage and no clear future. This poetic GMO plant robot hybrid begs the question what will it all become?

By taking our form of cross breeding into the street, we create situations where these technologies affect how we think about our food culture. In the first phase of the project we germinated and grew GM plants hydroponically onto robotic substrates. Once mature, we release these hybrids into public spaces to have direct interactions with the community.

These interventions were then documented in video format to later be exhibited in the controlled environment of the gallery space. Joining this video documentation, the final stage will allow for gallery audience to directly experience and interact with our creatures by handing over the robotic controls to the viewers. The levity of the hybrid Monsantras and the accompanying interactive elements underscore community and foster discussions about the future consequences of this uncertain technology at both the informative and entertaining levels.

Text from Wendy Deschene

This project is an artistic rendering of the stages of genetic analysis and profiling. It explores information visualization as an expressive medium drawing inspiration from scientific processes used to analyze and sort genetic data. Microarrays morph into numerical representations and translate into coded protein structures. The piece is shown here looped twice, and is meant to played looped indefinitely, a reflection on how the process of analysis and representation repeat themselves.

By Ashwin Kulothungun
& Neo Chung

Anthony Dunne // Dunne & Raby from Innovationsforum on Vimeo.

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Click here for an interview with Anthony Dunne on wemakemoneynotart.com.

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Anthony Dunne at Design Interactions at the RCA.

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Dunne and Raby.

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Anthony Dunne at MITpress.

“Humankind has imagined and depicted fantastical creatures since the formation of the first societies. Beasts such as the Chimera, the Golem, the Minotaur and Galatea could be said to be culturally symptomatic. Today, in the twenty-first century, we witness the emergence of a new class of beings: organisms that are first imagined and then–through the agency of biotechnologies–brought to life. What once was myth is today a medium. In Eduardo Kac: Life Extreme, Kac, the pioneer of “bio art” who is internationally recognized for celebrated works such as “Genesis” and the fluorescent green “GFP Bunny,” has selected 36 new organisms and invited the prominent philosopher Avital Ronell to discover these new beings. The book, published in Dis Voir’s new Encounters series, is prefaced by Kac’s “Anthroduction” and includes a whimsical taxonomy of taxonomies, offering a unique classification method for future species.”
BUY IT HERE.