SPIRIT MOLECULE I

Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Phillip Andrew Lewis (USA)

LIFESPACE SCIENCE ART RESEARCH GALLERY

School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee. Old Hawkhill, DD1 5EH

Co-commissioned with LifeSpace Science Art Research Gallery, this exhibition considers the protocols for propagation of genetically modified plants as memorials. The speculative design project fuses biotechnology with botany and employs University collections and research to re-tell stories of scientific discovery and genetic inheritance.

Spirit Molecule I is supported by University of Dundee’s Botanic Garden and Science Center, Philadelphia USA.

About the Artists

Heather Dewey-Hagborg is a transdisciplinary artist and educator who is interested in art as research and critical practice. Her controversial biopolitical art practise includes the project Stranger Visions in which she created portrait sculptures from analyses of genetic material (hair, cigarette butts, chewed up gum) collected in public places.
Heather has shown work internationally at events and venues including the World Economic Forum, the Shenzhen Urbanism and Architecture Biennale, the Van Abbemuseum, Transmediale and PS1 MOMA. Her work is held in public collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the New York Historical Society, among others, and has been widely discussed in the media, from the New York Times and the BBC to Art Forum and Wired.
Heather has a PhD in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is an artist fellow at AI Now, and an affiliate of Data & Society.
She is also a co-founder and co-curator of REFRESH, an inclusive and politically engaged collaborative platform at the intersection of Art, Science, and Technology.

Phillip Andrew Lewis is an artist working in a variety of media including photography, video, objects and sound. His creative research often responds to historical events, psychology, and phenomenology. This work consistently examines duration, perceptual limits and attentive observation. Lewis is actively involved in collaboration with artists and various groups.
Phillip has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally. He received a 2012 Creative Capital Grant in Visual Art for his ongoing long-term project entitled SYNONYM. He has also received generous support for his research from the Headlands Center for the Arts, Culture and Animals Foundation, Center for Creative Photography, Foundation for Contemporary Art in New York, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Midway Contemporary Arts Fund, Tennessee Arts Commission, University of Tennessee, and the Urban Arts Commission. In 2005, Phillip co-founded Medicine Factory, an independent arts organization in downtown Memphis committed to supporting installation-based works. He currently teaches at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga.