BIOETHICS

DE-EXTINCTION

ENDANGEREDNATURE

SPECIES PRESERVATION

As our current society is becoming mostly driven by the aspiration to constantly innovate it is starting to lack the ability to analyze the cultural understanding of what we are experiencing in the process of innovating. Old definition and stereotypes of original and fake, natural and synthetic, alive and dead are becoming obsolete as new discoveries in the field of synthetic biology are being made. Looking specifically at the de-extinction proxies that have somehow received a bad reputation due to the movement of Vitalism the paradox of what we categorize as a synthetic and therefore unsustainable material becomes evident.

The research behind the Phylogenetic Atelier project showcases the process and findings of the The Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback project - the template project from Revive and Restore that offers a blueprint for most of the de-extinction aspirations. By portraying a speculative scenario of a future venue that showcases a possible intersection of practices such as laboratory work, museum environment and a luxury artisan gloves workshop it tackles the ethical and philosophical dilemmas concerning our fascination with producing new replacements for extinct or endangered biological matter and their application in our current world.

The project was developed as a commission from the Science Gallery Dublin, part of the TrinityCollege Dublin in collaboration (based on the research) of the organization Revive&Restore, California.

Photo Credits: Science Gallery Dublin