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"This interdisciplinary anthology examines the relationship between developments in biotechnology and both artistic and literary innovation, focussing in particular on how newfound molecular technologies and knowledge regimes, such as CRISPR gene editing, alter conceptions of what it means to be human. The book presents 21 essays, split across five parts, from a coterie of artists, scientists, and theorists, which examine the symbiotic relationship between humans, animals, and viruses as well as the impossibility of germ-free existence. The essays in this volume are urgent in their topicality, embodying the exhilarating yet alarming zeitgeist of contemporary nonhuman-to-human viral transmission and gene editing technologies. Ultimately, Art and Biotechnology reveals how art has influenced biotechnological innovation and has shaped the discussion around gene editing and the socio-cultural aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is essential reading for students and researchers focussing on science and art, environmental humanities, and ethics. In the age of biotechnology, is it possible to conceive of microbes as our new paintbrush, DNA as our typewriter and organic tissue as our new clay? Through an interdisciplinary approach, we examine how newfound molecular technologies and knowledge regimes, such as CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing and the recent COVID-19 pandemic, alter understandings of the human experience. We ask: Where do the arts, which have been at the forefront of technological innovation, sit in relation to our ongoing viral and biomedical entanglement? How have the arts shaped discussion and ethical considerations around genome editing and COVID-19? How have the pandemic and biotechnological innovation - from CRISPR to vaccines with messenger RNA (mRNA) - transformed what it means to be human? [...]"
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