Biology, which defines the cell as the basic unit of life, is a discipline broadly impacted by an ocular frenzy of the modern age. Prior to the microscope, the life sciences were limited to anatomical investigations. Optical devices of this period include telescopes, microscopes, endoscopes, oscilloscopes and a multitude of related visual tools. The visual information produced by these devices was based around the lens, which like the eye that it aided was fundamentally circular.

Conversely, the DNA image belongs to a different regime of late 20th century screen-based information, Cartesian coordinates, x,y locations and the database. And while the 19th century marks the age of biology, the late 20th century marks the “post-biological” age, because DNA is increasingly understood as a code rather than a material substance. The post-biological turn marks a point of cybernetic fantasy in which the infinite complexity of the wet organism is finally humbled by the easily quantifiable genetic code that supposedly exercises total control over the flesh.

“Ocular Revision” is an artwork using an alternate mechanism for the analysis and display of the DNA image. Typically, DNA is visualized in a rectangular chamber containing a porous gelatin within an electrical field. When DNA is inserted into one side of this gelatin the electrical current pulls it across the gel at a rate corresponding to its molecular length and thus differentiates DNA by size.

“Ocular Revision” uses a custom-made, experimental circular-gel electrophoresis rig to visualize DNA bands. The radial design and inside-out polarization allows the apparatus to create DNA images reminiscent not of a “bar chart” or a “progress bar” on a computer screen, but rather a slow emergence, a signal, an attraction or repulsion.

“Ocular Revision” seeks to nudge DNA imaging back toward the realm of biology. The goal is to force DNA to be read as substance rather than mere code and thus hopefully break a deadlock in genetics caused by its overly simplistic operationalization. The images produced by the custom rig resemble geographic maps of the twin hemispheres. These “genetic maps” could be interpreted as simplistic form-based puns in which the circle is a visual metaphor for a heavenly body like the earth. But at a deeper level they call attention to ingrained metaphors such as “genetic mapping”, which are problematic because “mapping” implies (distanced) simplification, abstraction and exploitation.

Supported by: Renew Media (Formerly Rockefeller Foundation) Fellowship; University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. USA

Paul Vanouse (US) has been working in emerging technological media forms since 1990. Interdisciplinarity and impassioned amateurism guide his art practice. His electronic cinema, biological experiments, and interactive installations have been exhibited in 20 countries and widely across the US. Vanouse’s work has been supported by Creative Capital Foundation, Renew Media Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Sun Microsystems, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Heinz Foundation, Mellon Charitable Trust, and National Science Foundation. He is an associate professor of visual studies at the University at Buffalo, where he co-directs the Emerging Media MFA.