Curiosity and Horror: Transgenics, Cybernetics, and Evolution
Date: Saturday, April 3, 2010
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5.00
Observatory presents a an illustrated lecture with Shanna Maurizi, contributing artist to the current Observatory show Entomologia.
Silkworms engineered to produce pharmaceuticals and hormones, cyborg dragonflies designed for high-speed missions and surveillance…
In connection with her recent work, Shanna Maurizi has been delving into the nether regions of genetic engineering and transgenics, molecular biology, and military cybernetics.
Hovering on the edge of the known, and obscured from view as a result of political and capitalist agendas, new life forms are being created which prompt a mixture of wonder and horror. In addition, controversial new research in genetics is challenging the traditional gene-based model of heredity, suggesting non-DNA based transmission systems and exposing the gaps in our understanding of the natural world. RNA and chromatin, transposons and species jumping, DARPA’s HI-MEMS project and the transformations of Bombyx Mori; Ms. Maurizi charts a path through these topics, uncovering evocative connections and perplexing possibilities along the way.
[...] Curiosity and Horror: Transgenics, Cybernetics, and Evolution Saturday, April 3, 2010, 8:00pm An illustrated lecture by Entomologia contributing artist Shanna Maurizi on the nether regions of genetic engineering and transgenics, molecular biology, and military cybernetics. ABOUT THE CURATOR: Michelle Enemark is the creator of Curious Expeditions, a site devoted to traveling and exhuming the extraordinary past. Curious Expeditions was named a finalist for best travel blog in the 2008 Weblog Awards and received a 2009 Cliopatria Award. A motion graphics artist by trade, visual artist by training, and historian and naturalist by self appointment, Michelle aims to show the forgotten bits of the world, be they lost pieces of history, forgotten museums, or elements of the natural world that have been ignored or overlooked. [...]