morality calculus

Morality Calculus is a provocative bioart installation by artist Yuning Chen that interrogates the prevalent mechanistic view of life in synthetic biology, in collaboration with biologist Dr. Elise Cachat. Through the creation of hybrid bread fermented with yeast-human cells, the artwork embodies the act of reducing complex lifeforms to mere collections of engineering parts, akin to 'lego bricks.'

The installation poses the questions: If living organisms are perceived as mechanical vessels containing functional genetic components, how do we 'calculate' the moral status of a yeast-human cell? Is it a mere combination of the moral status of source organisms, defined by the ones with higher moral status or affected by the resulting traits they exhibit?

These queries are further complicated by the vast ecology of shadow organisms that have contributed to the cell adhesion experiment for the yeast-human cell, by providing resistance genes, gene-editing enzymes, or serums for culturing media. Often being backgrounded by the effective components they provide, the search for these organisms in the databases has been highly challenging. The hidden labourers shown in the exhibition hint at the multitude of life at stake in the artwork's central question: the moral implications of simplifying complex lifeforms into functional units.

In essence, Morality Calculus invites viewers to confront the ethical dimensions of synthetic biology's mechanistic world-view, provoking discussions on the moral status of engineered lifeforms and the often-overlooked contributions of countless more-than-human labourers to scientific endeavours.

The Morality Calculus Tasting Event

Accompanying the exhibition of the lab-baked hybrid bread, the artist will host an immersive tasting experience that invites participants to explore their personal "morality calculus." This event allows participants to collectively reflect on and debate the incalculable - the intricate ethics of reducing life to engineering components. The multi-sensory experience will engage attendees in tasting and deliberating over foods fermented by fictional hybrid organisms, analogous to those involved in the bread-making experiments. As they consume choreographed representations of hybrid organisms, audiences will be prompted to examine their own moral calculations and the implications of pursuing a parts-based view of life itself.

Through the visceral act of consuming these conceptual hybrid lifeforms, participants are challenged to grapple with the ethical quandaries posed by the artwork. How do we calculate the moral value of genetic material combined across different living beings? What hidden ecologies and unseen lifeforms contribute to such hybrids? By making choices about which organisms to metaphorically ingest, the audience confronts the complexities of assigning moral worth within the mechanistic frameworks of synthetic biology.

booking link via Summerhall: https://www.summerhall.co.uk/sh-event/morality-calculus-tasting-event/2024-04-24/

Photo credit: Yuning Chen, Model: Zunaira Aman

Acknowledgement

This project is a collaboration between the Centre for Engineering Biology and Design Informatics, Edinburgh College of Art, and funded by BBSRC Transition Award Flexible Funding (BB/W014610/1). This project is presented by Summerhall Gallery and ASCUS Lab. Special thanks to the generous help from members of the Cachat Lab and the Rosser Lab, the guidance and support from the creators of Crossing Kingdoms, especially Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, the artist’s PhD supervision team Dr Larissa Pschetz, Dr Rachel Harkness and Prof Jane Calvert, the spatial and technical support from Design Informatics and to Luca Cocconi, Zunaira Aman and Qi Li for moral support and installation assistance.