Visiting Artist's Lecture by Eduardo Kac
Wednesday, November 30, 2005, 4;30 pm
College of Architecture
Langford B Auditorium
Book signing following the lecture
Langford B Exhibition Hall

After an introduction contextualizing his pioneering telepresence work, in progress since the mid-1980s, Kac will give examples and further discuss his current transgenic work. Eduardo Kac's art deals with issues that range from the mythopoetics of online experience (Uirapuru) to the cultural impact of biotechnology (Genesis); from the changing condition of memory in the digital age (Time Capsule) to distributed collective agency (Teleporting an Unknown State); from the problematic notion of the "exotic" (Rara Avis) to the creation of life and evolution (GFP Bunny). Kac will conclude with a brief explanation of his most recent transgenic works -- GFP Bunny, The Eighth Day and Move 36. GFP Bunny is comprised of three elements: the birth of a rabbit that has a gene from a jellyfish (a gene that produces green fluorescent protein), the public dialogue that the project has generated, and the social integration of the rabbit in the context of the artist's family. The Eighth Day is a transgenic ecology that includes a biological robot, all linked interactively to the Internet. Move 36 sheds light on the limits of the human mind and the increasing capabilities developed by computers and robots, and includes a new plant created by the artist. Following the lecture, Mr. Kac will autograph copies of his just released book, Telepresence and Bio Art -- Networking Humans, Rabbits and Robots, published by The University
of Michigan Press.