The teaser for Emilia Tikka's speculative artwork based on concepts of genome editing is available here.
Emilia Tikka has spent the last two months as the Artist in Residence at Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC). She has been working closely with the researchers at the MDC’s CRISPR lab. Her artistic concept is a speculative scenario about a possible future of genome editing technologies and the human obsession of youth. The residency project is concerned with the human desires and dreams driving current biotechnology from institutional laboratories to citizen science tinkerers. The residency at the MDC will inspire and contribute to the ORION public dialogue and is aiming to engage society in discussions of risks and opportunities presented by disruptive technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9. Emilia will draw on her experiences in the laboratory with the CRISPR-Cas9 research team to further develop her artwork engaging with the philosophical and societal dimensions of genetic engineering.
The residency was part of a variety of initiatives undertaken by STATE, a Berlin-based Art and Open Science initiative, aiming at guiding an open dialogue around critical issues regarding the cultural impact of scientific research. The artwork will be exhibited at STATE Studio Berlin, a gallery project developed in partnership with Wissenschaft im Dialog. The gallery and the artwork will be open from October 26th.