Might reframing biotechnologies in the context of the sacred web of life be useful in guiding innovation towards the creation and restoration of flourishing and generative ecologies? When formulated within the modern paradigm the products of biotech tend towards the extraction, alienation and entrapment of life, both natural and synthetic. These tendencies disregard (willfully or otherwise) knowledge of the intricate web of life found in many indigenous cosmologies, whereby each living thing is able to fulfil its (sacred) purpose within the ecology it is part of.
In the Haudenosaunee perspective, for example, rootedness in place (understood as land) and relational entanglements are defining features of the web of life. The intra-relationships unfolding in place shape who all beings are. Deep, lived experience rooted in the wellspring of life is what enables harmonious living within nature, whereby all beings are able to fulfil their sacred purpose within the whole.
When life is grown in a lab or a geographically dispersed AI system becomes a biodigital organism it expands and complicates these interrelations and challenges the idea of place. What is the purpose of a, say, 3D printed tissue - does it have obligations to wider creation? What is its biography and ecology? Is the web of life complicit in its creation? Ultimately, these questions point to a bigger dilemma - whether the emergence of synthetic life further disconnects us and abstracts from nature, or whether it can be a part of restoring fractured relations with it.
What new pathways of understanding - and action - could arise, if we assessed the creations of biotech according to indigenous cultural and moral codes? Exploring questions such as these, seems vital if biotech is to have a chance of contributing to the restoration of diverse, sacred, flourishing ecologies - of the natural and synthetic. This conversation helps prepare the ground for approaching biotech as the latest iteration in a long line of sacred technologies; technologies that are created to aid living harmoniously with/in the web of life.
Ben Fisher Photography
Anicka Yi (b. 1971 in Seoul, South Korea) is a Korean-American conceptual artist known for her focus on olfaction and her use of unorthodox, living, and perishable materials,
Informed by scientific research, biology, and perfumers, Anicka Yi has produced a unique body of work over the past decade at the intersection of politics and macrobiotics. Her practice questions the increasingly hazy taxonomic distinctions between what is human, animal, plant and machine, and is the result of an alchemical process of experimentation that explores often incompatible materials. She collaborates with researchers to create media that are often inherently political, and delves into the cultural conditioning of sense and perception in a way she describes as a "biopolitics of the senses." Her diverse installations, which draw on scientific concepts and techniques to activate vivid fictional scenarios, ask incisive questions about human psychology and the workings of society.
Yi's work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions at institutions around the world, including Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan; Tate Modern, London; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany; Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland; List Visual Arts Center, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts; The Kitchen, New York; and the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. In 2016, Yi was awarded the Hugo Boss Prize and in 2019 her work was featured in the 58th International Venice Biennale, titled May You Live In Interesting Times. Anicka Yi was awarded the 2020 Tate Turbine Hall Hyundai Commission.
Keith Williams
Keith Williams is an assistant professor (educational studies) at Athabasca University. His work focuses on better understanding how to be good relations with our more-than-human kin, specifically in his home province of Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia) where he lives.
Keith draws heavily on Haudenosaunee teachings (part of his paternal lineage is from a Mohawk community on the northern shores of Lake Ontario), posthuman philosophy, and his lived experience with family members—human and otherwise.
Lucy Sollitt
Lucy Rose Sollitt is an experienced researcher and cultural programmer, specialising in innovatively merging art, technology, and ecosystemic change. Lucy’s career is dedicated to forging new narratives for sustainable development that prioritise restoration, kinship, and flourishing. Originally trained as a philosopher, Lucy approaches art as a form of felt knowledge and a gathering point for exploring alternative ideas for how things can be.
Lucy’s work includes writing, cultural programming, innovation strategy, funding and policy design. Lucy works with organisations ranging from Serpentine Galleries, Rhizome, Rupert and FACT, to the Goethe Institut, DACS, Creative United and the British Council. She previously led on Creative Media at Arts Council England (London office) and digital innovation lead for DCMS. She has worked for organisations including Tate Modern, the Mayor of London and the RSA. She regularly participates in panel discussions in the UK and internationally, lectures at Christie’s and the Royal College of Art, and mentors artists independently and for SPACE Studios and Somerset House Studios. Lucy is an Advisory Board member for Furtherfield and is based at Somerset House, London.
Related Materials
Indigenous perspectives on the biodigital convergence by Keith Williams and Suzanne Brant (2022)
