Online Crossing Kingdom: as part of the Art’s Work in the Age of Biotechnology exhibition at the Center for Bioethics and the Department of English at the University of Pittsburgh, USA.

With a team of scientists and social scientists from Edinburgh University and fellow artist Tarsh Bates, we explored the field of cross-kingdom cell fusion as it happens currently in the synthetic biology field. We were looking at combining a fungi cell and a mammalian cell into a hybrid to raise questions, through actual manipulation of life forms, about the ontological nature and identity of novel organisms that fall outside scientific and cultural classification systems. Cross-kingdom fusion raises ontological, ethical and poetic questions: how do multi-kingdom cell fusions challenge our categories and understandings of life? Where do they belong within both biological and cultural realms? How does their existence impact the environment and society?
This exhibtion was designed specifically as an online exhibtion.