Event I: Waste Matters Exhibit by Kathy High

Prior to attending the actual exhibit, I had attended the review session in which Professor Vesna and a couple biology students debated over the artistic and scientific values of Kathy High’s work. It was definitely helpful having a little background about Crohn’s disease and the overall exhibit before seeing it.

Ceramic feces preserved in honey

Walking into the exhibit, the first thing I see is the flagrant exhibition of feces preserved in honey. High explores the intersection of BioTech + Art with her bold letter to David Bowie asking for his feces for use in fecal transplant. While some of the students argued that the use of ceramic feces as opposed to actual feces takes away from it’s artistic value, I felt that the feces didn’t have to be real to be provocative. As grotesque as it was, I was reminded of the reactions to Eduardo Kac’s GFP Bunny, “interesting but silly.” I think ultimately we should focus less on the intrinsic value of the work, but rather its impact in raising awareness about the rare Crohn's disease.

The backdrop is a video of a windup toy pooping as it walks, bringing humor to a normally avoided topic of conversation

There are some in the artistic and scientific community arguing that High is overstepping her boundary, that she doesn’t have the right to ask a celebrity for her fecal transplant. Other controversy surrounding this exhibit is that it glamorizes and oversimplifies Crohn’s disease. However, basic statistics states that the chances of a match between her and Bowie are no more and no less than her and any other person, and I believe that by this principle, she is entitled to ask whoever she wants. Many of the students viewing the exhibit were also curious about need for someone else’s feces, so I feel that this exhibition has really been successful for increasing knowledge about Crohn’s disease and fecal transplants.

Oliver Kelhammer's Re-mediator Series

My favorite part of the exhibit was the series of images feature the gut as a happy ecosystem. The laughing and playing children symbolized the equilibrium achieved as a result of the healthy green flora in the intestines. If I could talk to the collaborator Oliver Kellhammer, I would definitely ask about the significance of having some aspects of the images in pixelated low resolution.

Although this exhibit is now over, I would’ve recommended it to other classmates for it’s exploration of the topic in many mediums (ranged from sculptures to photography and videos) and to learn more about the significant of fecal transplants in Crohn’s disease.

"EXHIBITION: "Waste Matters: You Are My Future" by Kathy High | UCLA Art | Sci Center + Lab." UCLA Art-Sci Center, n.d. Web. 17 May 2015.

Sukay, Sierra. "Bioremediation in the L-lot." The Sanctuary for Independent Media. 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 1 June 2015. <http://www.mediasanctuary.org/blog/bioremediation-l-lot>.

"Crohn's & Colitis." CCFA: What Is Crohn's Disease. Web. 1 June 2015. <http://www.ccfa.org/what-are-crohns-and-colitis/what-is-crohns-disease/?referrer=https://www.google.com/>.