2. Tissue Culture &
Who Is TC&A?
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Oron Catts
Tissue engineering artist
Ionat Zurr
Wet biology Art PractitionerGuy Ben-Ary
3. Tissue Culture &
What Is TC&A?
The Tissue Culture & Art Project (TC&A) was set to explore the use of
tissue technologies as a medium for artistic expression. We are
investigating our relationships with the different gradients of life through
the construction/growth of a new class of object/being – that of the
Semi-Living. These are parts of complex organisms which are
sustained alive outside of the body and coerced to grow in
predetermined shapes. These evocative objects are a tangible example
that brings into question deep rooted perceptions of life and identity,
concept of self, and the position of the human in regard to other living
beings and the environment. We are interested in the new discourses
and new ethics/epistemologies that surround issues of partial life and
the contestable future scenarios they are offering us.
4. Tissue Culture &
NoArk Project
• Questioning biological and cultural
classifications
• A new vessel for new life
• Chimerical blob/neoorganism
• Rotating bioreactor (life support) and a
collection of dead and preserved animal
specimens.
5. Tissue Culture &
NoArk ProjectQuickTime™ and a
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6. Tissue Culture &
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Victimless Leather
• Questioning the concept of
a “garment”
• Grown out of cell and form a
living layer of tissue supported
by a biodegradable polymer
matrix in a form of miniature
stichless coat like shape.
Research Fellows in the Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication Lab at Harvard
Extended body: Technologically augmented life.
Took a bunch of cells, create a biomass - a semi-living/sublife/neoorganism.
It is orphaned and abandoned by the classification system because it is no longer a part of the
Original vessel that it came out of.
Transparent vessel reminiscent of an eighteenth century curiosity cabinet,
Garment became an expressive tool to project one's identity, social class, political stand and so on. Garments are humans' fabrication and can be explored as a tangible example of humans' treatment of the Other.
By growing Victimless Leather, the Tissue Culture & Art (TC&A) Project is further problematising the concept of garment by making it Semi-Living.
Part of a larger bio-art initiative.
Symbiotica: SymbioticA is an artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning, critique and hands-on engagement with the life sciences. cell biologist Professor Miranda Grounds, neuroscientist Professor Stuart Bunt and artist Oron Catts. Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr from the Tissue Culture and Art Project (TC&A) had been working as artists/researchers in residence in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology and the Lions Eye Institute since 1996. The shared vision of Grounds, Bunt and Catts for a permanent space for artists to engage with science in various capacities led to the building of the artists’ studio/lab on the second floor of the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at The University of Western Australia.
Most crucial is SymbioticA’s efforts to maintain the relationships between artists and scientists in balance – a task that absorbs much creative energy from the core artists running the structure, Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, from the Tissue Culture & Art project. Besides welcoming other artists, dealing with the obligatory ethics approvals and health and safety related issues, the core team of artists also offer classes in “Biological Arts” for undergraduate students, as well as the unique specialized “Biological Arts Masters program”.
