Heirloom
by Gina Czarnecki with John Hunt and Lola and Saskia Czarnecki-Stubbs, Medical Museion, Copenhague

As part of the 'Trust Me, I'm an Artist' project, Medical Museion, Copenhagen, presents a work by Gina Czarnecki in collaboration with John Hunt and Lola and Saskia Czarnecki-Stubbs

Schedule:
Exhibition : 25 May - 28 August 2016
Ethical panel discussion: May 25th 7.00 pm to 9.30 pm
Workshop Cellcraft 1 for artists and curators, Friday May 27th 11 am - 4 pm
Workshop Cellcraft 2 for everyone, Sunday May 29th, 11 am - 4pm

Location:
Medical Museion
Bredgade 62
Copenhagen

Link for the event : http://www.museion.ku.dk/heirloom

Artist website :
http://heirloom.ginaczarnecki.com

In Heirloom, Gina Czarnecki grows skin portraits of her daughters from their own cells onto glass casts. The growing portraits are bathed in a liquid that feeds them and prevents infection. When the growing cells reach the thickness of tissue paper they are removed, preserved, and displayed. Heirloom subverts the notion of the portrait, representing a person not in paint or oils, but with their own biological material. As the cells grow, are removed, and grow again, does the link between portrait and sitter lie in the physical resemblance or the cellular material? The starting point of Heirloom was the idea of personalized medicine and having your teenage face back in the future. The artwork was realized in collaboration with professor of Clinical Sciences John Hunt; using Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine this could lead to new possibilities for facial reconstruction and cosmetic modification. Gina Czarnecki and John with professor Caroline Wilkinson have also become interested in the possibilities of saving information about the 3D structure of the face along with youthful skin cells in biobanks - could everyone have their own facial heirloom? In other words, using art with science, society is dared to think differently about what might be possible. Placing Heirloom alongside Medical Museion's exhibition The Body Collected invites us to compare how scientists and artists use bodily materials to produce new insights (http://www.museion.ku.dk/bodycollected) The project is supported by: Arts Council England, The creative Europe Programme of the European Union, The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research and Arbejdsmarkedets Feriefond.

The project 'Trust Me, I'm an Artist: Developing ethical frameworks for artists, cultural institutions and audiences engaged in the challenges of creating and experiencing new art forms in biotechnology and biomedicine in Europe' is led by artist Anna Dumitriu in collaboration with ethicist Professor Bobbie Farsides. The project is run by Waag Society in collaboration with Brighton and Sussex Medical School, The Arts Catalyst, Ciant, Kapelica Gallery / Kersnikova, Medical Museion, Capsula and Leonardo/Olats.

The Trust Me, I'm an Artist project is supported by funding from the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Le ArtSciLab du département ATEC de l'Université du Texas à Dallas soutient et participe à Trust Me, I'm an Artist par le biais des projets de publication expérimentale des Leonardo Initiatives qui incluent la chaîne Meta-Life sur la plateforme Creative Disturbance associée à Audiolats ainsi que le site web du projet Meta-Life.

The UT Dallas ATEC ArtSciLab supports and participates in the Trust Me, I'm an Artist project through the Leonardo Initiatives projects in Experimental Publishing including the Creative Disturbance platform channel on art and biology associated to Audiolats and the Meta-Life project website.