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 its demonstrated failure. This project took many forms including video, installation, and performance.
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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 food in the global food trade. CAE wanted this interventionist performance to demonstrate how the "smooth space" of global trade enables the very "contaminations" the authorities say it guards against. CAE/da Costa/Shyu constructed a portable, public lab to test foods for common genetic modifications. Members of the public brought us foods that they found suspect for whatever reason, and we tested them over a 72-hour period to see if their suspicions were justified.
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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 Museum, Washington DC. In this work, CAE/da Costa/Pentecost and selected students attempt to reverse-engineer the genetically modified canola, corn, and soy plants through the use of nontoxic chemical disrupters. In this theater of live public experimentation, we attempt to transform artificial biological traits of adaptability into ones of susceptibility, as well as establish a model for contestational biology..
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GenTerra 2001-03. Critical Art Ensemble and Beatriz da Costa.
GenTerra was a live exploration of the variety discourses on transgenics in relation to environmental risk and human health policy. Participants manipulated transgenic bacteria in an effort to develop a more nuanced understanding of risk assessment regarding the uses of recombinant DNA.
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Cult of the New Eve, 1999-2000. CAE, Paul Vanouse, and Faith Wilding.
Debuted at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toulouse, France. This project examines 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 socio-economic constellations, and placed it in the context of the least legitimate of all social constellations—a cult—in order to give the public a new perception of this peculiar strain of social representation. In addition to Toulouse and the other venues that follow, Cult of the New Eve was performed at Brussels 2000 and at Steirische Herbst at esc Gallery.
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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 of a fertility clinic (BioCom) . Live on screen via the Internet is a “customer” who is interested in finding a sperm donor. The Representative gives his pitch (using the language of eugenics) as to why the young university students should donate to the clinic and how much money they could make. In the audience is a confederate who volunteers to make a donation. The customer looks him over and gives an OK generally to the horror of the audience. The performance ends as they go off to sign a contract.
The Society for Reproductive Anachronisms, 1999-2000
Performed at Expo Destructo, London (also performed at 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 of activists who spoke to people about the dangers of medical intervention in the reproductive process.
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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. This performance also brought the scientific processes of reproductive technology into the public domain.
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Critical Art Ensemble 2009