Due to the possibilities of molecular biology living human cells, bacteria, embryos or whole organisms are becoming part of a new art, sometimes called bio-art. GFPixel is a “painting” made of genetically transformed bacteria. These organisms are bred in about 4000 Petri-dishes that are arranged as a portrait. Like on digital screens part of the bacteria produce the green light – the GFP-gene is "switched ON" and in the other part the GFP-gene is ”switched OFF”.

Through the use of pigments in living systems, the processes that take place within a cell - which have actually been schematically described - can be shifted into a new world of imagery. The phenomenon of "life" is thus in a very unusual way given a face and a graphic presence that are no longer as abstract as the sequence of letters of the genetic code.

GFPixel plays with the border between living world and the digital world; it uses genetically new created organisms as “material” to form a cuMarcic panel – the portrait of a woman. It seems to be digital but the portrait lives and dies during the exhibition.

Reinhard Nestelbacher (Austria, 1968), molecular biologist and science educator/popularizer; studied at the University of Salzburg where he is a member of the school’s allergy research project staff; has headed unusual scientific projects, including those at Ars Electronica 1999 and 2000 (Sex i(n) motion & Sperm Race), Province Fair Graz 2000, Allergy Congress–Salzburg 2001, Science in the Shopping Center 2001, and the laboratory of the vCell project of the Max Planck Society in Berlin; the mission of DNA-Consult, founded in 2000, is to help introduce science to the public in a new, understandable way, and thus to maintain an objective discussion about it.

Más informaciones

Gerfried Stocker (Austria, 1964), media artist. In 1991, he founded x-space, an independent working group of artists and technicians specialized in the realization of interdisciplinary projects. In this framework, numerous installations, performances and exhibition projects have been carried out in the field of interaction, robotics and telecommunications. He has also been responsible for the conception and realization of various worldwide radio network projects. Since 1995, he has been artistic and managing director of the Ars Electronica Center and, since 1996, together with Christine Schöpf, artistic co-director of Ars Electronica Festival.

DNA Consult