Heather Dewey-Hagborg - Genomic Intimacy

Heather Dewey-Hagborg - Genomic Intimacy

How will bio-technology influence our lives? Does DNA hold our definitive truth? These critical issues are dramatically politicised by artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg, at MU, from 11 May to 8 July.

A world premiere, the four-channel video installation T3511 tells the story of a biohacker who procures saliva from an unknown donor and proceeds to analyse their DNA and grow their cells. In letters to the donor that are increasingly intimate, she confesses her growing obsession and explains how she obtains her information. The work, a collaboration with artist and filmmaker Toshiaki Ozawa, draws the viewer into an emerging world of ubiquitous genomic sequencing, biobanking, and commodification of human biological materials.

Dewey-Hagborg’s adjacent installation, Probably Chelsea, shows just how much room for interpretation DNA allows. Chelsea is Chelsea Manning, the U.S. whistle-blower who spent seven years in prison for exposing civilian deaths and torture in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Since the time of her sentencing and gender transition Chelsea's image was suppressed by the prison until she was released in May 2017. Dewey-Hagborg, however, created thirty 3D-printed portraits of Chelsea, while she was incarcerated, based on her DNA, to give her a face – or rather a multitude of probable faces.

MU is co-producer of T3511, together with Fridman Gallery New York.