In Vivo,
DNA as fundamental storage,
Or how to design deposits for the history of humanity.
Technical specifications of the project
In recent years, the way in which human life has become increasingly digitized has caused an exponential growth of information, requiring the development of more robust storage media. In laboratories, DNA has increasingly caught the eye of researchers providing an attractive alternative for data storage due to its high physical density, reproducibility, and excellent durability which have been tested by nature. The diverse arrangement of the four bases that make up DNA makes it the natural information storage medium and the book of life that has recorded the evolution of life since its origin. A nucleotide or base could be used to store 2 bits of digital information. Therefore, digital data encoding in DNA sequences and those approaching the upper limit of 2 bits per nucleotide have the potential for large-scale data storage. Binary data information can be translated to DNA nucleotides using binary encoding strategy, ternary code, or quaternary code. Compared to binary code and ternary code, quaternary code that directly assign 2 bits to every nucleotide achieves the maximal Shannon capacity (A=00, C=01, G=10, T=11). The storage of data based on DNA sequences consists of six main steps: 1. The encoding of digital information in DNA sequences. A process that requires the refinement of information through redundancy that avoids subsequent biochemical problems in the folding and organization of DNA. 2. DNA synthesis, in which the genetic material containing the encrypted message is manufactured through chemical or enzymatic methods. 3. Conservation of DNA in physical or biological conditions 4. Access to DNA regions where the message is encrypted 5. Reading said information through DNA sequencing techniques and finally 6. Decoding and return of digital information.
In Vivo, DNA as fundamental storage,
Or how to design deposits for the history of humanity.
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The current scientific discoveries and advancements of technology and science situate humankind in a point of departure to other ways of living, and the acknowledging of new systems formed by these scientific breakthroughs take shape into visions of new ways for humanity to live life, to modify it and finally, to store all the data generated through the centuries of humanity’s rise, falls and developments. At this point we are conscious of the pivotal turn humankind has shifted. Retaining our history and the evolution of our consciousness must be a priority to navigate this new threshold that stands in front of us. It waits for us to create new scenarios and ways of living in these contexts that humanity still hasn’t seen yet. We ask ourselves how humanity has arrived at this point and what we have to do to create the right and fair development of the new stages of human existence through scientific and technological advancements. Who will dictate the rules of this new world we are starting to envision? And who will benefit from it? Who is creating the new narratives and for whom? How does the development of consciousness help humanity to achieve new thresholds without infringing ethical boundaries? What is the role of consciousness in the creation of the new world that now glimpses as a vision in interdisciplinary research projects?
In the year 2023, as an interdisciplinary group of scientists, artists, researchers, and thinkers, we want to open a space of reflection and creation in the space and time we are living now, to discuss and meditate on the possibilities and limitations on new technologies, we want to offer knowledge to the public about scientific breakthroughs of DNA and the possibilities it offers, through a conscious acknowledgment of the ethical boundaries that we must retain.
Our team has envisioned this project to inquire into the scientific facts of DNA storage and we present it as an outcome that is both scientific inquiry and artistic vision delivered as a bioart project.
Laboratory practices are starting to be studied by artists and cultural practitioners and presented as part of artistic works, which could be an important step in creating awareness on the public about these practices. Is important also to take participant-observations far enough to take in questions outside the laboratory, as Bruno Latour states in his text “Give me a Laboratory and I will raise the world” which seems a relevant title to our nowadays culture of using laboratory practices as context for contemporary art. It is in this context that our project In Vivo tries to establish a connection with the public and presents scientific research of the laboratory as encoding DNA, as material of inquiry to be analyzed by the public, through an art installation.
Our research project In Vivo explores notions of biotechnological practices in laboratories, and we would like to present to the audience some insights into the practices that happen inside a laboratory, in this case, encoding information on DNA and the procedures it encloses. In this research project, the encoding processes will be presented in digital format, so that the audience can interact and generate its own data. It is important to give an overview of some of the practices that are carried out in laboratories as now it is a common practice for contemporary art to present outcomes that are based on these experiments. As Bruno Latour described to us on the interests of outsiders in laboratory practices (Latour, 1983) “sciences are one of the most convincing tools to persuade others of who they are and what they should want”. This thought reflects the achievements of science as a generator of behavior patterns in societies and how contemporary art is now displaying these incursions into the laboratory environment by artists and cultural practitioners, bringing the knowledge and discoveries outside the laboratory into art galleries to share insights to the public.
It is our turn now, as a curious society, to unveil the mysteries of the experiments done at a microscale in the labs, that generate changes in society, let’s be conscious about that, so that we can decide or at least be aware of the changes at macroscale generated by scientific experiments in laboratories.
