Molecular Invasion, a new exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery, is possibly one of the more bizarre art attractions currently showing in the D.C. area. Presented by the Critical Art Ensemble, the project is a loud, brazen criticism of the environmental effects of advances in biotechnology.
CAE is a group of writers and artists who are “dedicated to exploring the intersections of art, technology, radical politics and critical theory.” Their projects, called “performance counterfeit,” are aimed at creating public skepticism about what they see as dangerous advances in technology. Molecular Invasion addresses agricultural biotechnology?specifically, crops that have been genetically modified to be herbicide resistant.
The “art” of the exhibit is bizarre, to say the least. In the middle of a small, white, brightly-lit room are six tables, on top of which are little plastic boxes with tiny green sprouts shooting out. Above the tables hang large lamps, ostensibly incubating the little plants. There are two tables each of three types of plants?corn, soy and canola?and one of each is labeled either “control” or “experiment.”
For all the old ladies on their Sunday expedition to the Corcoran, this may seem like a perfectly innocuous fifth-grade science experiment, testing soil toxicity or growing conditions. How cute!
That is, until you read the placard behind the tables: “Molecular Invasion provides an activist model for amateur bioresistance through the application of a simple chemical compound to reverse engineer the genetic modifications of the crops.”
Right.
At this point, the old ladies in their pantsuits and matching hats make a hasty escape to the Fashioning Art: Handbags by Judith Leiber exhibition down the hall leaving the observer alone in the gallery to hang with canola and corn sprouts and get weird looks from the museum guards.
What CAE has done is create an “anti-GM” compound that will make the crops vulnerable to herbicide once again. Their art is a science experiment: The control groups are Roundup resistant, while the experimental groups have been reverse-engineered and, presumably, are now vulnerable to herbicide.
A white, flat-screened iMac in the corner explains that, if this compound is successful, it will be the newest weapon in the war on advanced agricultural technology. Through “rebel labs and rogue human resources,” the newly developed anti-resistance will be spread through genetically modified crops everywhere (the titular “invasion”), disrupting new product development and, it seems, creating quite a bit of havoc for all those farmers who have crops dying by the acre from herbicide they were supposed to tolerate.
Molecular Invasion might be a bit too radical for many of the Corcoran’s regular guests. The rhetoric is very anti-technology, which sometimes reads as anti-establishment, and it’s hard to understand just what they are protesting unless one has some background knowledge of the whole agricultural biotechnology debate, which spans 30 years. The exhibit is one-sided, presenting only the negative aspects of agricultural biotechnology, when there have been undeniable positive contributions proven over the years: from herbicide resistance, which means farmers lose fewer crops to weed damage, to lowering levels of saturated fats in plant oils to creating crops with built-in nutritional supplements to help malnourished third-world countries.
However strange it may be, CAE presents a very unique exhibition. Especially for those science nerds and/or STIA folks, it provides a perspective from the other side of the lab bench?the opinions of those who think that technology is a wild, uncontrollable menace that is a threat to global well-being. Some of CAE’s other projects, summarized on more white, flat-screened iMacs, underline this view, protesting the Human Genome Project and reproductive biotechnology.
Biotechnology will be a major battlefield for 21st century activists on environmental, political and ethical fronts. Bioresistance, as innocuous as it may seem in an art gallery, is an undeniable catalyst for the approaching revolution, and Molecular Invasion is a wonderful alternative to normal museum fare. Thirty minutes is more than enough time to thoroughly peruse all the information on the computers (the irony of using such new-aged computers to attack the detrimental influences of technology on society aside).
The exhibit runs through Dec. 2, and by that time, the group hopes to test out its crops and see if its experiment was a success. If it isn’t, remember, it only costs $3 to see the exhibit. And if it is, you can tell your grandkids that you were there at the beginning of a revolution fought on the molecular level.
Molecular Invasion is showing at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 17th Street and New York Avenue, N.W. through Dec. 2. Admission is $3 for students, $5 for everyone else. But hey, Mondays and Thursday nights are free!
