Bioart: Exploring Memory in a Digital Era
Brazilian-American artist Eduardo Kac made headlines in 1997 when he implanted a microchip in his left ankle and then registered in an animal database. This strange experiment belongs to an art movement known as Bioart, in which Eduardo Kac gained recognition as a pioneer. BioArtists work with bacteria, study cells, and even modify their bodies to prove how far technology has advanced. This art form is still relatively new and not very well-known among the general public. Although some of the propositions end up being grotesque, questionable, and even humorous, the research done by these artists can help develop better techniques and explore new possibilities.
Eduardo Kac is now among the best-known BioArtists. He gained international popularity after exhibiting his work titled Time Capsule, where he explored how memory is changing thanks to technology.
Eudardo Kac, Time Capsule, 1997
In 1997, Kac invited a selected group of reporters to the museum Casa das Rosas located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He had previously arranged the space with seven sepia-toned photographs, a surgical bed, and a computer to perform live the insertion of an RFID microchip. He placed a webcam near his left ankle, took the gauge needle, and began the procedure. There was a doctor inside the museum to supervise the operation as well as an ambulance in case of an emergency. Fortunately, there were no complications and the procedure took less than a minute to complete.
He used a numerical microchip used to register animals, so his next step was to use the computer to access a U.S. animal database to get registered. He became the first person to register both as a pet and as an owner. He named this exhibition Time Capsule.
The project explores how our methods for keeping memories intact have changed in the last century. Kac included the seven sepia-toned pictures of his deceased ancestors to show how photographs became time capsules. Nowadays, however, photographs cannot be too reliable anymore because of the many programs that exist to alter them. They still hold a memory, but that recollection might not be true anymore. That is where microchips and other technology come in. They can retain information that a photograph can not. Indeed, these technologies contain too much information that people rely heavily on them. Kac’s microchip is the time capsule of the present and the future.
Kac chose the same microchip used in animals to hint that people will use them as identifications in the future. During the last decade, there has been an increment in people who opt to have microchips implanted. The reasons are diverse. Some have microchips to open their cars or their garages, to buy at the grocery store, or even to send images or texts; all these achieved just by waving their hands. Whatever the reason, it seems that humans are becoming one with technology, literally.
Our memory is fragile. It can be easily altered with the passage of time, modified by things we see or hear, or even erased due to accidents or diseases. It is no wonder that we are becoming more dependent on digital memory. We can easily be reminded of important dates, phone numbers, or a person’s information just with a click on our phones. What began as an art project that explored digital memory is becoming a reality.
