Engineering Solar-Powered Species

The Towards Biosolar Cells research program at Leiden University in the Netherlands addresses questions of green energy and the creation of sustainable biomass. The TBSC program combines natural and technological components to create solar collectors that supply fuel rather than electricity. Bioartists are collaborating in the development of these “artificial leaves”. In order to integrate bioartistic research, we have involved artists at all levels of the scientific practice. Research begins with “Elysia chlorotica”, a wild species that is half plant, half snail. This sea slug eats chloroplasts from algae and becomes solar powered so it does not have to eat for long periods of time. Recently it was discovered that this snail has genetic information to repair the chloroplasts and keep them going; if the genes that allow the snail to maintain the functional integrity of the chloroplasts can be laterally transferred, it is possible the genes can be utilized for other organisms, ultimately for humans. This generates the possibility to produce solar-powered species for food and biofuel directly from the sun, reducing our ecological footprint.
The scientific aim is to examine the possibility of equipping higher organisms with genes that enable them to keep chloroplasts alive, with the goal of increasing and improving the conversion of sunlight into photosynthetic energy supply for animal organisms. There is an aesthetic dimension to all scientific practices, from preparations of stock solutions to the choosing and cloning of gene inserts and the reading of results. The artistic discourse is therefore taking place in practices working at the interaction between humans and organisms as models for presentation. What are the political implications of these approaches? How do these practices deal with questions of manipulation, objectification and instrumentalisation of non-humans? What kind of research is done in the bioartist’s laboratory? How do we measure its worth?

Links: http://www.waag.org/project/studiolab

BioArt artist Adam Zaretsky in collaboration with Prof. Huub de Groot (bio-solar cells) and Prof. Rob Zwijnenberg (Faculty of Humanities, Leiden).

Adam Zaretsky (NL) is a bio-artist working in biology and wet lab art practice: ecology, biotechnology, non-human relations, live art and gastronomy. This involves biological lab immersion as an artistic process. He focuses on the legal, ethical and social implications of biotechnological materials and methods. He is currently a PhD student at Rensselaer Polytechnic (NY) and heads Vastal (the Vivoarts School for Transgenic Aesthetics Ltd.) at the WAAG in Amsterdam (NL) while researching in Leiden, where he is associated with the de Groot group. www.vimeo.com/vastal