Truly Natural

Genome editing of GMO organisms through CRISPR-Cas9 technology leading to removal of transgenes. The society of today is increasingly concerned with the distinction between what is natural and what is modified by human intervention. However, as human creativity has been developing increasingly powerful tools to control and alter nature, it is becoming difficult to discriminate the natural and the artificial. The selection of crops and domestication of animals is a striking example of the development of genetic mutants by a long-term commitment to clever breeding and careful selection. The rise of transgenesis and biotechnology provided greater control and the ability to generate characteristics that were not possible by simple mutation of existing genes. The recent development of genome editing tools, such as CRISPR-Cas9 technology, brought even greater possibili3es regarding the modifica3on of the genomic content of organisms. Truly Natural takes advantage of CRISPR-Cas9 to edit the genome of a genetic modified organism in order to revert it to the wild type status. The artwork consists in a genetically altered organism with a genome where nothing artificial can be found, as the genome editing was intended to remove the prior genetic intervention. This work creates a tension arising from the idea that a complex genomic intervention can lead to a natural organism, or rather, something simultaneously natural and artificial.

Acknowledgements:

Photographs: Edilson Ferri

Claudia Alves, FUTURISTA

Luis Graça @ Instituto de Medicina Mulecular, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.