Potential Issues regarding Biological Arts

Definition and implications of Biological Art

Bioart is a contemporary art form that integrates knowledge in both fields of art and science. Applying scientific methods or technologies in order to create various (digital, physical, etc) forms of art, Bioart plays a crucial role in instigating scientific thinking, encouraging the public to be intrigued by science, and deriving the emergence of new technologies and engineering concepts.

While Bioart does derive positive implications as mentioned above, taking up new roles in science laboratories, there are also potential dilemmas that must be confronted.

Liaison to political power

Michel Foucault, a French philosopher who first addressed the issue of bioethics, claims that “the emergence of the health and physical well-being of the population in general’’ becomes ‘‘one of the essential objectives of political power.’’ As there will be continued manipulation in the field of biology, this may create political power where it can control the physical and mental state of a large population.

Genuine sake of Biological Art

The other ethical issue derives from the idea that living organisms are being manipulated for aesthetics. While scientific research has the objective of ameliorating people’s quality of life, “Science is reduced to mere aesthetic spectacle” states the professor of University College London Frances Stracey. The controversial opinion states that biological art is either a “valid manifestation of art” that’s used as an implement to convey messages to the public or an “exploitation of living organisms”.