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Suzanne Anker 07-09-2021
In Origins and Futures, pyrite, a mineral commonly known as “fool’s gold” glimmers with novelty and seduction. Its crystalline structure and reflecting light attracts the viewer’s eye without hesitation. The piece is based on A.G. Cairns-Smith’s hypothesis that primitive RNA learned to duplicate itself by taking over the crystalline lattice of a mineral, of which pyrite is an example. After appropriating the crystal’s structure, duplication processes were learned, thus leading to DNA’s replication powers. That is one theory among many competing ones concerning the origin of life. However, in a commodity-driven economy, what parameters determine the future of life? Genes and their sequences are currently being patented by corporations. This state of affairs provokes the entangled question as to whether our origins and futures are up for sale?
Suzanne Anker: Origins and Futures, 07-09-2021, in: Archive of Digital Art In Origins and Futures, pyrite, a mineral commonly known as “fool’s gold” glimmers with novelty and seduction. Its crystalline structure and reflecting light attracts the viewer’s eye without hesitation. The piece is based on A.G. Cairns-Smith’s hypothesis that primitive RNA learned to duplicate itself by taking over the crystalline lattice of a mineral, of which pyrite is an example. After appropriating the crystal’s structure, duplication processes were learned, thus leading to DNA’s replication powers. That is one theory among many competing ones concerning the origin of life. However, in a commodity-driven economy, what parameters determine the future of life? Genes and their sequences are currently being patented by corporations. This state of affairs provokes the entangled question as to whether our origins and futures are up for sale?
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