“Turning the Invisible Visible”: Transdisciplinary Bioart Explorations in Human-DNA Interaction

Abstract

Hybrid interactive systems that combine living and digital components can engage, educate, and inform users, and are of growing interest in the HCI community. Advances in synthetic biology are transforming what is possible to do with these living media interfaces (LMIs). Bioart is a practice in which artists, often using synthetic biology methods, work with living organisms to creatively explore the human relationship with nonhuman organisms. We present results from an interview study with expert bioartists as well as our hands-on experience in a bioart project where we created poetry-infused wine by encoding and inserting a Persian Sufi poem into the DNA sequence of living yeast cells. We find that engaging in bioart practice generates transdisciplinary fluency with implications for access and activism and our understanding of the qualities of living media. We further explore the qualitative aspects of interacting directly with DNA and implications for sustainable futures.