MCD's blog

Eduardo Kac

The central work in the "Natural History of the Enigma" series is a
plantimal, a new life form I created and that I call "Edunia", a
genetically-engineered flower that is a hybrid of myself and Petunia.
The Edunia expresses my DNA exclusively in its red veins.

Developed between 2003 and 2008, and first exhibited from April 17
to June 21, 2009 at the Weisman Art Museum [1], in Minneapolis, "Natural
History of the Enigma" also encompasses a large-scale public sculpture,
a print suite, photographs, and other works.

The new flower is a Petunia strain that I invented and produced
through molecular biology. It is not found in nature.  The Edunia has
red veins on light pink petals and a gene of mine is expressed on every
cell of its red veins, i.e., my gene produces a protein in the veins
only [2]. The gene was isolated and sequenced from my blood. The petal
pink background, against which the red veins are seen, is evocative of
my own pinkish white skin tone. The result of this molecular
manipulation is a bloom that creates the living image of human blood
rushing through the veins of a flower.

The gene I selected is responsible for the
identification of foreign bodies. In this work, it is precisely that
which identifies and rejects the other that I integrate into the other,
thus creating a new kind of self that is partially flower and partially
human.

 "Natural History of the Enigma" is a reflection on the contiguity
of life between different species. It uses the redness of blood and the
redness of the plant's veins as a marker of our shared heritage in the
wider spectrum of life. By combining human and plant DNA in a new
flower, in a visually dramatic way (red expression of human DNA in the
flower veins), I bring forth the realization of the contiguity of life
between different species.

Read more on http://www.ekac.org/nat.hist.enig.html

Photo : Eduardo Kac, Natural History of the Enigma, transgenic flower with artist's own DNA expressed in the red veins, 2003/2008.  Collection Weisman Art Museum. Photo: Joy Lengyel.

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