Eduardo Kac

Eduardo Kac was the first person to have a microchip implanted in his body. He did this as a form of social commentary, in that it causes us to think deeply about the relationship we hold with technology. He put the microchip in the lower part of his leg, on his calf.

When he was at Telematic Connections (where his work was being exhhibited) he mentioned that the reason he chose this spot on his body was that it was where slaves were often branded. The work he had on exhibit was entitled Teleporting an Unknown State.

Kac considers himself a "transgenic artist," using biotechnology and genetics to create provocative works that concommitantly revel in scientific techniques and critique them. In what is probably his most famous work, GFP Bunny, Kac collaborated with a French laboratory to procure a green-fluorescent rabbit; a rabbit implanted with a GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) gene from a type of jellyfish. Under certain blue light, the rabbit fluoresces green. Kac's wife and daughter helped name the rabbit, Alba. After a brief stint as an installation work, wherein Kac and Alba would live in a pseudo-domicile in a gallery, Alba was to return home to Evanston to live with Kac's family. At the last minute, before the scheduled release of Alba to Kac, the lab retracted their agreement.

Alba ostensibly died prematurely in the lab, of unknown causes. The death raised some interesting questions, including that of Alba's age (in relation to the premature nature of the death), causing some to question whether Kac was actively involved in the creation of the GFP Bunny, or whether he merely "purchased" a specimen already planned and/or living at the lab. GFP plants, fish, and mammals have, in fact, been long-term residents of science laboratories. The GFP gene is typically used as a type of marker, that, when attached to a separate genetic modification or gene, illustrates where that symbiotic gene manifests in the organism. Notably, since Alba's conception, GFP zebrafish have hit the commercial market under the trademarked name, GloFish(tm).

Kac, in response to the lab's retraction of Alba's liberty, flies a flag outside of his home, sporting a shillouette of a green rabbit. Apparently, this is the transgenic artist's version of keeping the porch light burning, so to speak.


External links:

fr:Eduardo Kac