participating artists

Cosmopilitan chicken

The 20th century was the age of information. Since the arrival of the computer in the 1950s it seems that even life itself has become ‘information’ given that it consists of genes, bits and sequences of symbols.  Genesis examines how – in unexpected ways -- the ‘information metaphor’ returns in the same form in both art and science. With exhibits drawn from the visual arts and from science, the exhibition explores the different interpretations and the limits of the information metaphor. Can life itself be translated into a computer code? Can a computer program come to life and even create art? 

Parallels between art and science
Some believe that art and science oppose and complement one another: art involves a creative engagement with reality; science concentrates on the facts. The artist seeks refuge in imagination, the scientist is condemned to hard reality. Genesis shows that both artists and scientists use their imagination in order to give an idea of life. Both deploy the same metaphors when they talk about life. Genesis reveals the similarities between art and science. Art and science seem to be miles apart, and to have entirely different objectives, but what unites them is their representation of ‘information’ The results of their work on information look remarkably alike.

The end of the information age: biorobots, clones and wet sculptures
The information metaphor reduces life to a sequence of abstract signs and denies the importance of a context. Life seems to be based on a single principle: the genetic code. Philosophers call this limited perspective ‘reductionism’. For many critics this reductionism is typical of the sciences. But as Genesis shows, this reductionism has also infiltrated our perspective on life, in the visual arts as well as science. Thus it is not science in itself that is reductionist, but the significance that is attached to ‘information’. How are the arts and sciences to escape the ‘information age’?  
‘information’
The exhibition consists of two parts. In the first part artists and scientists examine how fruitful the information metaphor was or is; in the second more experimental section, artists and scientists discover how they might escape from the information metaphor. Adam Lowe designed a three-dimensional printer in order to make a sculpture of wet cement. The sculpture is produced by means of the interaction between the computer programme and the surroundings.  Marc Quinn makes a gigantic sculpture by blowing up the form of a popcorn kernel and reproducing it in bronze. The ‘random’ form of the popcorn kernel turns out to be technologically reproducible. Elsewhere in Genesis Marc Quinn exhibits a self-portrait in the form of his own DNA structure in a frame on the wall, whereby he suggests that all that humanity is, can be contained in this substance. But to what extent is someone’s personality determined by their genetic code? Artificial Life expert Luc Steels designed robots that are able to learn from their environment. The Genesis exhibition shows two types of visual art and two types of science. One is inspired by information, the second wants to be freed from it.

Participating artists and scientists
During Genesis chickens will roam the museum, along with fluttering butterflies and swimming zebra fish. Among this fascinating livestock there will be works by
Bas Defize

Ad Dekkers (1938 -1974 Holland)
Mark Dion (1961, USA)
Edo Dooijes (1936, Holland)
Erwin Driessens and Maria Verstappen (1963/1964, Holland)
Charles and Ray Eames (1907/1925, USA)
Ed Emschwiller (1925-1990, USA)
George Gessert (1944, USA)
Hein Gravenhorst (1937, Germany)
Dr. John Gurdon (1933, UK)
Dr. Jim Hanan (Australia)

Hans van Houwelingen (Holland)
Floris Kaayk (1982, Holland)
Eduardo Kac (1962, USA)
Dr. Ben Kröse (1952, Holland)
Marc Lausberg (1968, Holland) 
David Lentink (1975, Holland)
Adam Lowe (1959, UK/Spain)
Dr. Erik Manders (1960, Holland)
Marta de Menezes (1975, UK)
Frieder Nake (1938, Germany)
Saskia Olde Wolbers (1971, UK)
Michel Paysant (1955, France)
Marc Quinn (1964, UK)
Kathleen Rogers (1962, UK)
Dieter Roth (1930-1998, Germany/Swiss)
Dr. John Schavemaker (1970, Holland)
Lillian Schwartz (1927, USA)
Karl Sims (1962, USA)
Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau (1964/1967, Austria)
Dr. Luc Steels (Belgium)

Berend Strik (Holland)
Peter Struycken (1939, Holland)
Paul Talman (1932-1987, Swiss)
Dr. Peter Tettelaar (1974, Holland)
Stan Vanderbeek (1927-1984, USA)
Koen Vanmechelen (1965, Belgium)
Dr. Astrid Visser (1969, Holland)

Steina en Woody Vasulka (1940/1937, USA)
Aad van der Voort (1932, Holland)
Drs. James Watson and Francis Crick (1928/1916-2004, USA/UK)
John Whitney (1917-1996, USA)

Exhibition design: Inside Outside / CreateThoughtImages

Flyer design: Lesley Moore

The exhibition was created by guest curator Emilie Gomart and was made possible by the Netherlands Genomics Initiative, Mondriaan Stichting, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, the French Embassy, the University Museum Utrecht, the Hubrecht Laboratory Utrecht, Drefa Industries Schoonhoven, Personal Space Technologies B.V Amsterdam.

Centraal Museum
www.centraalmuseum.nl
Nicolaaskerkhof 10, Utrecht
030 2362362
open: Tuesday to Sunday 12.00 – 17.00 
Friday: 12.00 – 21.00
(From  April 1: Tuesday to Sunday 11.00 – 17.00) 

Note to the editor:
For more information, contact Catrien Schreuder, pr department
cschreuder@centraalmuseum.nl 0031 3 2362311