the orange garden

CHM13hTERT is a single cell that was developed to build a more complete picture of the human genome. For the first time in history, human beings are able to read and modify their genetic composition, through genomic editing techniques, such as CRISPR-cas9, which allow specific alterations to be made to the genome of a cell. To date, these techniques are being studied for the treatment of a number of genetic pathologies, but they also grant scientists the opportunity to consider our DNA as something malleable. If evolution is an endless process propelled by genetic mutations, and humans have the ability to engineer and interfere with the course of mutation, what will become of our bodies? Can we control evolution and become a new species by modifying our DNA or combining it with that of other creatures? What are the limits of what we can do with our bodies? The artist becomes a vehicle for exploring these questions and reconstructing the relationships between nature, technology, and the human. 

In CHM13hTERT, Agnes Questionmark presents herself as a new hybrid being, whose questionable genesis is yet to be defined. Suspended for twelve hours a day for sixteen consecutive days, supported by a metal structure and a series of cables and straps, her body becomes a political vessel that challenges the power relations inherent in our current social structures. Agnes proposes an image shrouded in mystery, It is unclear whether an experiment is being conducted, if an operation is being carried out or if what we see is actual evolution taking place before us. 

The performance aims to question evolutionary pathways controlled by science, technology and our own will; technology extends the potential of the body, to reconnect it to nature. Starting from the right that each of us has over our own body, being able to encode our gene means that, perhaps, one day we will be able to modify it and shape it as we wish.