Events

June 3, 2013

Stranger Visions: The DNA You Leave Behind

  • June 3, 2013
  • 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
  • Refreshments will be served
  • 6th Floor Conference Room

Heather Dewey-Hagborg is an information artist interested in exploring art as research and public inquiry. In her recent project, Stranger Visions, she creates literal figurative portrait sculptures from analyses of genetic material collected in public places. Working with the DNA traces strangers unwittingly leave behind, Dewey-Hagborg calls attention to the impulse toward genetic determinism and the potential for a culture of genetic surveillance. The project raises questions about the DNA we leave behind, privacy, and numerous legal and bioethical issues.

Designed as a provocation, Stranger Visions has been featured in the international news media, including Smithsonian, CNN, the New York Times, and National Public Radio.

In this exhibit and policy discussion, Dewey-Hagborg will discuss her process and progress on Stranger Visions. She will join Professor Sonia Suter of the George Washington University Law School and Dr. Todd Kuiken and Eleonore Pauwels of the Synthetic Biology Project in a discussion and public Q&A about the bioethical, legal, and policy dimensions of the work.

The archived webcast and be viewed here: