THE CACTUS PROJECT

The Cactus Project entailed the use of the agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer introducing keratin genes into cells of cacti. The transformed cells were used to regenerate engineered transgenic cacti. The aim of the experiment was having the keratins expressed in cactus cells morphologically similar to hair and for the cactus to produce it externally.

The Cactus Project

Cactus Expressing Hair

The Cactus Project is a living artwork of cacti expressing human hair. The work explores a reproductive paradox in genetic engineering—the inherent sterility of transformation processes. It employs agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer to introduce hair keratin genes into cactus cells. These transformed cells were regenerated as engineered transgenic cacti.



The Cactus Project, 2001 Media: Living cactus, backlit, large enclosed upright circular glass enclosure

Dimensions: 300 mm × 300 mm × 20 mm, 0.4 kg
The Cactus Project (2001), Sense Nonsense, Van Abbemuseum, Design Academy Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2014 © C-LAB
The Cactus Project (2001), Sense Nonsense, Van Abbemuseum, Design Academy Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2014 © C-LAB

Context

Crossing the Boundaries

The aim was to have human keratins expressed in cacti cells morphologically similar to hair and for these to be produced externally. Genetic engineering, in particular transgenics, is a method of genetic exchange through 'anti-sexual' manipulation, by directly intervening with the natural reproductive processes (sexual) and in crossing specie boundaries.

The artwork draws on cacti's fleshy stem and swaps protective spikes with soft human hair. Metaphorically it creates an image that captures a 'perversion' of the 'asexual' and sterile engineering process. The work was subtly introduced as an intervention to the cultural climate surrounding genetic engineering in 2001.
The Cactus Project (2001), En Vie – Alive, Espace Fondation EDF, Paris, France, 2013 © C-LAB
The Cactus Project (2001), En Vie – Alive, Espace Fondation EDF, Paris, France, 2013 © C-LAB

Reflections

Material Transmissions and Identity

"[W]hy should we still call this hair human? Doesn't it belong now to the cactus and not in a trivial sense either? Or better still, doesn't it become just a standard biological part, to use a revealing phrase from the biological engineering laboratory at MIT? In this case, as in so many others, what makes it standard is not its elemental composition but its technical transmissibility: the apotheosis of Fordism put into service as an organizing principle for life?"

— Paul Lewis, The Edge Effect: Art, Science, and Ecology in a Deleuzian Century in An [Un]Likely Alliance: Thinking Environment[s] with Deleuze/Guattari

Media

Selected

Believe It or Not, Fake Biotech Firm Is Key Marketing Ploy for Crichton Novel, MJ. Trachtenberg & B. Steinberg, the Wall Street Journal, New York, USA, 2006

Eurêka, L'Art Transgénique la Science au Service de L'Art Scientific News Program, Aired on Vox Channel, Québec, Canada, 2007

Die Kac Storie Insig Magazine, Cape Town, South Africa, 2007

Featured Artist Boog City Newspaper, Issue 32, New York, USA, 2006

Haarstraubend Ute Eberle, Facts Das Scweizer Nachrichtenmagazin, Switzerland, 2005

The Artists in the Hazmat Suits Randy Kennedy, New York Times, New York, USA, 2005

Smile, You’re at the Science Festival The Scotsman, Scotland, 2005

Hot from the Biology Lab Comes a Cactus With Hair Anna Millar, Scotland on Sunday, Scotland, 2005

Cactus Is Real Hair Raiser at Science Festival Fiona McGlynn, Edinburgh Evening News, Scotland, 2005

Bioart – Nghe Thuat Moi Hay Chung Hoang Tuong? Nhan Dan Newspaper, Vietnam, 2005

Au Poil Courrier International, Paris, France, 2005

Grow Your Own Wings Mark Blacklock, Bizarre Magazine, London, UK, 2005

Hot Sites - The Cactus Project: Genetoy USA Today, Mclean, USA, 2004

Laura Cinti: Le Monde Entier Est Un Cactus Esther Quintero, Les Mutants, France, 2004

Van oerkip tot stralend konijn Merlijn Schoonenboom, de Volkskrant, The Netherlands, 2003
Believe It or Not, Fake Biotech Firm Is Key Marketing Ploy for Crichton Novel, MJ. Trachtenberg & B. Steinberg, the Wall
Believe It or Not, Fake Biotech Firm Is Key Marketing Ploy for Crichton Novel, MJ. Trachtenberg & B. Steinberg, the Wall Street Journal, New York, USA, 2006
Haarstraubend, Ute Eberle, Facts Das Scweizer Nachrichtenmagazin, Switzerland, 2005
Haarstraubend, Ute Eberle, Facts Das Scweizer Nachrichtenmagazin, Switzerland, 2005
Cactus Is Real Hair Raiser at Science Festival, Fiona McGlynn, Edinburgh Evening News, Scotland, 2005
Cactus Is Real Hair Raiser at Science Festival, Fiona McGlynn, Edinburgh Evening News, Scotland, 2005
Grow Your Own Wings, Mark Blacklock, Bizarre Magazine, London, UK, 2005
Grow Your Own Wings, Mark Blacklock, Bizarre Magazine, London, UK, 2005

Publications

Selected

Singularity: Subversive Bioart LiQin Tan, Guangdong People's Publishing House, China, 2019

Arte Transgenica. La Vita é il Medium, Mario Savini, Pisa University Press, Italy, 2018

Gene Editing, Law, and the Environment, Life Beyond the HumanIrus Braverman, Routledge, UK, 2017

Cactus Dan Torre, Reaktion Books, London, UK, 2017

World of Art: Sculpture Now Anna Moszynska, Thames and Hudson, 2013

Met huid en haar: Kunst en esthetiek in de eenentwintigste eeuw Louis van den Hengel, ABG de Academische Boekengids, The Netherlands, 2009

This Mortal Flesh: Incarnation and Bioethics Brent Waters, Brazos Press, USA, 2009

An [Un]Likely Alliance: Thinking Environment[S] With Deleuze/Guattari Paul Lewis, ‘The Edge Effect: Art, Science, and Ecology in a Deleuzian Century’, Bernd Herzogenrath (ed), Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK, 2008

Ethics and the Visual Arts Gail Levin, Elaine A. King, Allworth Press, USA, 2007

NEXT, Michael Crichton, Harper Collins Publishers, London, UK/New York, USA, 2006

Det Menneskelige Eksperiment Gert Balling & Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Museum Tusculanums Forlag, Copenhagen University, Denmark, 2006

Art et BiotechnologiesL. Poissant, E. Daubner, Presses de l’Universite du Quebec, Canada, 2005

Bioart: Transformations Du Vivant  E. Daubner, L. Poissant, Presses de l’Universite du Quebec, Canada, 2005

From Human to Posthuman Brent Waters, Ashgate, Hampshire UK/Burlington, USA, 2006

Verbeelding Van Wetenschap: Images of Science Drs. L. Hanssen, Deining Maatschappelijke Communicatie, Netherlands, 2004

The Molecular Gaze, Art in the Genetic Age Suzanne Anker, Dorothy Nelkin, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York, USA, 2004

Sztuka, Jakiej Nie Znamy Olga Sobolewska, Wiedza i Zycie (Knowledge and Life), Warsaw, Poland, p. 42-45, August 2004

"Cactus Project", Een Transgeen Kunstwerk - Een Interview Met Laura Cinti Jan Vandorpe, Succulenta, Issue 04, The Netherlands, p. 174-176, June 2004

Een broeierige flirtage – genomics en de artistieke verbeelding Martijntje Smits, Nederlandse Vereniging voor Bio-ethie, Jaargang 13, nr. 1, The Netherlands 2006

Wildnis Christoph Kuffer, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland, 2004

Art, But Not as We Know It New Scientist, UK, p.44 - 47, 28 February 2004
Arte Transgenica. La Vita é il Medium, Mario Savini, Pisa University Press, Italy, 2018
Arte Transgenica. La Vita é il Medium, Mario Savini, Pisa University Press, Italy, 2018
Met huid en haar: Kunst en esthetiek in de eenentwintigste eeuw, Louis van den Hengel, ABG de Academische Boekengids, Th
Met huid en haar: Kunst en esthetiek in de eenentwintigste eeuw, Louis van den Hengel, ABG de Academische Boekengids, The Netherlands, 2009
NEXT, Michael Crichton, Harper Collins Publishers, London, UK/New York, USA, 2006
NEXT, Michael Crichton, Harper Collins Publishers, London, UK/New York, USA, 2006
Art, But Not as We Know It, New Scientist, UK, p.44 - 47, 28 February 2004
Art, But Not as We Know It, New Scientist, UK, p.44 - 47, 28 February 2004