I keep thinking about this work. Kac deals with the once impermeable line between human and machine, the animate and inanimate. In fact, he may end up being largely responsible for changing where that line is. His biological creations, termed bio-art, are conceptually-based pieces that seem like they would more at home in a lab than in a gallery, except for his genetically modified flourescent bunny, which might be more at home in the world, except for the fact it would have nowhere to hide in the dark.
It turns out that Kac himself has nowhere to hide in the dark of his genetically engineered art. I am deeply torn by his work, drawn to it by its quite intriguing conceptual basis, and and repulsed by its utterly irresponsible moral position.
At his recent lecture at Ryerson, I raised the question of responsibility for the life forms he creates and modifies. Kac very disappointingly, side-stepped this entirely. This was rather devastating to me. If these creations were human he would likely be in jail. When tampering with genetic code and creating new life forms, there is no way to know where the line of consciousness is. Kac readily admits this, but then stops his innovative thinking right there.
Kac has gone way beyond art. Like a child, he wants us to applaud his creations and not mention, or even notice, that there may be one hell of mess that needs to be cleaned up afterwards.
