| Leonardo/ISASTwith Arizona State University

Adam Zaretsky

Biologist
Woodstock,
United States

Zaretsky is a Wet-Lab Art Practitioner mixing Ecology, Biotechnology, Non-human Relations, Body Performance and Gastronomy. Zaretsky stages lively, hands-on bioart production labs based on topics such as: foreign species invasion (pure/impure), radical food science (edible/inedible), jazz bioinformatics (code/flesh), tissue culture (undead/semi-alive), transgenic design issues (traits/desires), interactive ethology (person/machine/non-human) and physiology (performance/stress). A former researcher in Arnold Demain’s Laboratory for Industrial Microbiology and Fermentation, MIT department of biology. Zaretsky has taught an experimental bioart class called VivoArts at: San Francisco State University (SFSU), SymbioticA (UWA), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), University of Leiden’s The Arts and Genomic Centre (TAGC), DasArts and the Waag Society. He has also taught DIY-IGM (Do-It-Yourself Inherited Genetic Modification of the Human Genome) at New York University (NYU) and Carnegie Melon University (CMU). He also runs a public life arts school: VASTAL (The Vivoarts School for Transgenic Aesthetics Ltd.) His art practice focuses on an array of legal, ethical, social and libidinal implications of biotechnological materials and methods with a focus on transgenic humans. Adam is currently Media Arts Faculty in the School of Communication and the Arts at Marist College. He received his BFA in Studio Art from the University of California at Davis, his MFA in Art and Technology from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his PhD in Integrated Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Adam continues to present, exhibit, publish and perform public bioart labs globally.

Journal Articles:
Gallery

Art’s Work in the Age of Biotechnology: Shaping Our Genetic Futures

February 2022
Leonardo Gallery

Scientific Delirium Madness 3.0 Gallery

June 2017
Special Section: Leonardo Abstracts Service: Top-Rated LABS Abstracts 2016

Vastal: The Vivoarts School for Transgenic Aesthetics, Ltd.

October 2018