BioTeknica

BIOTEKNICA (Shawn Bailey and Jennifer Willet)
Canada
Time of residency 2004 and 2006
http://www.bioteknica.org

BIOTEKNICA is a fictitious corporation, which explores notions of reproduction and self/other distinctions in relation to evolving biotechnologies. BIOTEKNICA projects its viewers into the future, where within a virtual laboratory designer organisms are generated on demand. They are modeled on the Teratoma, an unusual cancerous growth containing multiple tissues like hair, skin, teeth, and vascular systems. BIOTEKNICA both embraces and critiques biotechnology, considering the contradictions and deep underlying complexities that these technologies offer the future of humanity.

Since their first residency in 2004 BIOTEKNICA has adopted a critical participatory methodology bringing their theoretical specimens out of their virtual environment and into the laboratory.  Their preliminary investigations involved growing tissue culture prototypes to serve as new representations of the BIOTEKNICA product line. THey commenced research with tissue culture protocols in the production of artwork as pioneered by Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr.  BIOTEKNICA exhibited as a part of BioDifference: the Political Ecology during BEAP2004 http://www.beap.org.

In 2006, the second residency involved working in collaboration with Catts and Zurr in the completion of  a new work entitled Teratological Prototypes.

2004 3 month residency funded through HEXAGRAM, Concordia University, Montreal.

2006 6 month residency funded through The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.