When Crispr Meets ArtThe Experience of Relationality Through the Affective Agency of Matter

When CRISPR Meets Art deals with the value of art in relation to the human enhancement debate that is sparked by the genome editing technique CRISPR. This biotechnology allows for the alteration of DNA with much stronger precision and lower costs than previous methods and is being quickly and widely applied in the field of bioengineering. Consequently, people are being confronted with biotechnology’s sociocultural impact and forced to formulate opinions on issues that touch upon notions of life, death and the future and meaning of humanity. A univocal opinion is absent and the debate on human enhancement shows many different and incommensurable positions. Therefore, alternative methods of engagement for experts and laypeople need to be developed, as well as a means to overcome the current stalemated position. Affect theory and concepts from posthumanism and new materialism show that these can be found in bioart: the field of art in which techniques and materials of the Life Sciences are used in artistic practices to construct a better understanding of the ethical and societal implications of biotechnology. Bioartists are known for confronting people with intrinsic perceptions using instances such as shock, fascination and confusion. The material nature of their art provides onto-epistemological frameworks that instigate an awareness of our relational existence that is always in process of becoming. The diverse viewpoints show that the understanding of biotechnology’s significance cannot be achieved only through language and representations. Instead, it has to be known through the affective force of art.