The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic AgeBook Series: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Series on Genomics, Bioethics,
and Public Policy
Subject Area(s): General Interest Titles
By
Suzanne Anker, School of Visual Arts, New York;
Dorothy Nelkin, New York University
(c) 2004 • 216 pp., illus., index
Hardcover • $45 • ISBN 0-87969-697-4
Description
The gene has become a cultural icon and an increasingly rich source of imagery
and ideas for visual artists. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary painting
and sculpture, The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age explores the moral and
bioethical questions these works address. What does it mean to be human? What is
"identity" in a society of genetically manipulated individuals? Questions like
these are growing louder as genetic technology advances and the public examines
the ethical consequences more widely. Suzanne Anker and Dorothy Nelkin, an
artist and a social scientist, have written a thought-provoking and visually
fascinating book for scientists, artists, students, and general readers
intrigued by the anxiety and exhilaration of the genetic age.
Reviews
"In The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age, authors Suzanne Anker and
Dorothy Nelkin examine the intersections between art and science in the
developing arena of genetic research and engineering. The book is clearly
written, well documented, and lavishly illustrated. It will appeal to a wide
audience, including artists, scientists, and the general public with an interest
in the host of ethical and social questions raised by molecular science."
-Genome News Network
"The Molecular Gaze, published just months after the sad death of Dorothy
Nelkin, is a work of art. Literally, in the sense of being about art (and more
specifically, about art in the age of genetics), and figuratively, in the sense
of being a visually elegant and aesthetically satisfying production. It is also
timely: as Anker (an artist and art historian) and Nelkin (a sociologist of
science) document, in the space of little more than a decade, the incorporation
of molecular genetics into the visual arts-as icon, as motif, as subject, and
even as technique-has emerged as a not so minor industry."
-BioEssays
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Deciphering DNA: The Art and Science of a Supermolecule
Chapter 2. Reductionism: Reducing the Body to a "Code Script" of Information
Chapter 3. Mutation, Manipulations, and Monsters: The New Grotesque in Art
Chapter 4. Blurring Boundaries: Chimeras and Transgenics
Chapter 5. Breeding Better Babies: A New Eugenics?
Chapter 6. Commodification: Genes for Sale
Chapter 7. Science as Culture: Through the Artist's Lens
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