Category: Art Criticism

The Art of Genetic Manipulation

by Arius Elvikis


The Farm
by Alexis Rockman
(2000)

Incredible advances are being made in genetics and biotechnology. Crops are altered to be easier for farmers to grow; bacteria are altered to produce specific substances or break down others; and animals are beginning to be custom-tailored to yield more meat or aid in disease research. These are fascinating fields and they certainly spark the imagination when the potential is considered. But they might not be without their dangers. Continue reading The Art of Genetic Manipulation

Chris Jordan: Sublime Stuff

by Arius Elvikis


Chris Jordan
Intolerable Beauty
“Cell phones #2”

Plasticatastrophe
Half a year ago I read an article on the North Pacific Gyre, an immense, high-pressure area of the ocean between the west coast and Hawaii. The waters within were doldrums; few ships sailed through because the winds didn’t blow. The ocean just swirled there slowly. Continue reading Chris Jordan: Sublime Stuff

The Logic of Mass

by Chris Livesay

1. Cornelia Parker, Mass (Colder Darker Matter) (1997)
Mass (Colder Darker Matter)
Cornelia Parker
(1997)

The word “mass” elicits a host of images.  A mass of people just ran into the breezeway to escape the monsoon showers outside the building I type in.  Scores of people across the world are certain to be celebrating the Mass at this moment, in churches both tiny and massive in size.  Most fundamentally, there is mass in its scientific context, i.e. mass as the sum total of matter present in an object.   In all of these senses, Cornelia Parker’s Mass (Colder Darker Matter) acts as a perceptual and conceptual metaphor.

Continue reading The Logic of Mass