Critical Art Ensemble

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Target Deception 2007

Bodies of Fear in a World of Threat They wanted the Germs; they got ’em. – Darby Crash The use of the symbolic abstraction of fear as an exchangeable sign has always been a helpful means to justify and manifest […]

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Marching Plague 2005-07

Marching Plague was an exploration into the historical failure of germ warfare programs around the world from the point of view of both military and scientific logic, and questioned why the US continues to expand its program in spite of […]

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Free Range Grain 2003-04. CAE, Beatriz da Costa, and Shyh-shiun Shyu.

Free Range Grain was a live, performative action that used basic molecular biology techniques to test for genetically modified (GM) food in the global food trade. CAE wanted this interventionist performance to demonstrate how the “smooth space” of global trade […]

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Molecular Invasion 2002-04. CAE, Beatriz da Costa, and Claire Pentecost.

Molecular Invasion was a participatory science-theater work done in cooperation with students from the Corcoran School of Art and Design and exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC. In this work, CAE/da Costa/Pentecost and selected students attempted to reverse-engineer genetically […]

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GenTerra 2001-03. Critical Art Ensemble and Beatriz da Costa.

Performed at the Natural History Museum, London; Gallery Oldham, Manchester; St. Norbert Art & Cultural Center, Winnipeg, and Le Magasin, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble. GenTerra was a live exploration of the variety of discourses on transgenics in relation to […]

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Cult of the New Eve, 1999-2000. CAE, Paul Vanouse, and Faith Wilding.

This project examined the appropriation of Christian promissory rhetoric by industry and scientific specialists in order to persuade the public of the utopian nature of new biotechnology. CAE/Vanouse/Wilding moved this rhetoric from the context of the most legitimate and authoritative […]

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Intelligent Sperm On-line 1999

This performance was designed for universities that have donor scouts looking for “custom” product for their fertility clinics. It performs the aims and methods of the current eugenic meat market. In this action a CAE member functions as a representative […]

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The Society for Reproductive Anachronisms, 1999-2000

Performed at Expo Destructo, London, and Rutgers University. CAE created the Society for Reproductive Anachronisms(SRA) in order to have an inexpensive, highly mobile means to speak to the issues raised in Flesh Machine. This performative counterfeit consisted of a group […]

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Flesh Machine, 1997-98

This live performative project attempted to simulate bio-class divisions in the flesh economy. By live testing the suitability of participants to pass on their genes through a “donor program”, CAE revealed the latent residue of eugenics in the fertility market. […]

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