Kathy High - Becoming Animal

"What is our animal nature? Embracing Animal is a multi-media/ inter-species ersatz scientific installation of exchanges between people and animals.

In Embracing Animal, three transgenic lab rats, model HLA-B27, were given special housing and made available to the public’s view. Transgenic rats are microinjected with human DNA, allowing them to share our human genes. Transgenic rats are referred to as powerful ‘tools’ for the study of human health as they are, in many ways, physiologically close to humans." (High, 2006). Her work raises questions of What is our true animal nature? How do we identify and transform? And honoring our kinship with our transgenic animal partners.

The rats were bred with a small amount of human DNA to give them them autoimmune diseases including inflammatory bowel disease which relates closely to what autoimmune disease the artist has. "I bought them to conduct research and to treat them holistically with alternative medicines, environmental enrichment, good food, and play. I want to relate to them because I, too, have autoimmune problems. I identify with the rats and feel as though we are mirroring each other. The rats and I are all retired breeders. I feel some kind of kinship with them. If they ache when being touched, I understand this is from my own fevers. I also know that they do not know how to behave as pets. They are extensions, transformers, transitional combined beings that resonate with me in ways that other animals cannot - because of that small addition of human DNA. The rats and I are engaged in like systems and routines of health and sickness." (High, 2008:466) Over time she develops some form of connections with them, mainly from feeling isolated with them in her office.

Transanimals are a metaphor for the fabricated 'alien', and this relates to Donna Haraways OncoMouse. Donna Haraway says "OncoMouse is my sibling, and more properly , male or female, s/he is my sister. Her essence is to be a mammal, a bearer by definition of mammary glands, and a site for the operation of a transplated, human, tumor-producing gene - an oncogene - that reliablt produces breast cancer". OncoMouseis the first patented animal in the world. She makes a metaphor into a material act, as she is an invention of her natural "habitat, her scene of bodily/genetic evolution, is the techno-scientific laboratory and the regulatory institutions of a power nation-state.".

Over 95% of all laboratory research animals used in biomedical research are rodents (mice and rats) and birds. Rats, mice and birds were from excluded from the animal welfare act as it would increase costs for more regulations and more lawsuits. 

The rats were transported to a exhibition into housing that had tubes and huts, like living in a small village. The rats will be on exhibit at the museum. 

"There house will become my artwork. They will no longer be lab products, but art products, again on display, again used as research. Does this change their status in the world? They are still workers and products for sale. In fact, while they may be now considered "art objects" instead of "lab products", the fragility and unpredictability of working with these small creatures make me aware of my own fragile situation. It does that for all of us as we constantly monitor and check, discuss illnesses, and compare our own bodies to theirs."

"Though a process of empathy, and identification, and in a gesture of revolt, our act of caring for transgenic rats honours our confused relationship. Our exchange with  rats was obsessive care. We should make them live forever, cure their diseases in a real transgression, in an exchange unmeasured in power/ Their immortality will celebrate our kinship with transgenic animals and the work they do, using their body parts and ours. I will replace their body parts with mine as they continue this passage, this exchange, perpetually." (High, 2008:471)

"Modern medical imaging accomplishes what began in the eighteenth century as a desire and a search for illuminating every dark corner, especially for seeing the insides of the human body. Modern man has since been rendered somatically transparent, in gestures that extend into putting into full view not only the hidden but the ultimate microscopical, the DNA fingerprinting, the biochemical profiles, the immune cellular probes and markers." (High, 2008:471)

In her installation created an experimental playground by having the rats cages on display, while also have monitors at the bottom of reflective tubes. It was to feel the tension of exchanges, transitions and transplay, surveillance to make the unseen seen. Visitors were given the opportunity to explore and be given information into transgenic. The concepts were introduced to the public, as well as the rats which would of been unseen. "The installation honored our relationship and our kinship with transgenic animals (housing our DNA) and made them visible." (High, 2008:473). The environment in labs are very different to what Kathy exercises in her rat exhibits. Whilst the rats are confined  environments, offering limited stimulation. Because of this that do not nurture the skills to become strong and skillful, and instead develop to be even more sick despite being tested for drug research and development. The conditions of Kathy vary, as they came from clean rooms to a more dirty environment, where they were constantly engaging with the public and performing. This however proved to make them stronger. "To break from the obsessing nature of immunological disorders, and to break the innate immunological tolerance cycle, one must develop the ability to distinguish "self'from "non-self." Extending beyond our mirroring, the rats engaged with distractions, learned new relationships, and developed changing reactions that established a separation of self from non-self, which encouraged tolerance for external aggravations, and perhaps encouraged a similar immune response." (High, 2008:474). 

After the exhibition the artist took care of the rats until they died. 

Here is a exerpt of an e-mail from Dawn Hayman, animal communicator, Spring Farm Cares: postmortem telepathic conversation with the rats:

"The work that we did with people was what was important to us. Being a part of a living

exhibit was ok, sometimes stressful, but mostly ok. But the highlight of it all was introducing

people to rats in general and us in particular. . . .

 Usually, humans do not see rats in a favorable light. . . . so they do not reap the benefit of our

genius, heart, love, and observations. We live close to the planet and are aware of many things that

humans are not aware of. In the laboratory setting, of course, we are. . . separated from our natural

connection to the Earth and her vibrations. Therefore, as rats, we were also trying to reconnect to

our spiritual heritage and truth. . . . much like the humans who came to see us in our exhibit. We

are nor certain what humans learned from us, but we know that they did learn something. We

learned that humans are very closed off from the communications of nature and the Earth. Anything

we could do to help them was very good. We were glad for the time we had with you."

Transmission 

"The lab technician looks down at her hand. She is shaking. She starts sucking her middle finger, which is bleeding. The rat looks at her with a smirk. The transfer had occurred. She had succeeded. She 'd bit the hand that fed her, through the latex gloves. Punctured the skin ever so slightly and then tongued the wound. Transferring genetic material. They would then be blood sisters. Bonded. Twins." (High, 2008:476)

Burial Globes: Rat Models

The five transgenic rats she had worked with was part of her work in 2009 where their ashes were held in globes the shape of white blood cells in ordered to be remembered. "There are over 80 million lab rodents used every year in scientific research in this country alone. These pieces are symbolic gestures to ritualize their work with humans and bring us closer together – as we are all animals and sentient beings working together." (High, 2009) This piece is a very good almost resolution or reflection to her project. It aids this connection with the rats, and the importance of nurture and hospitality, as even after their death they are not treated like lab rats, but of pets or even to some extent there are parallels to how humans treat loved ones after death. The whole process down to the rats personal names (Echo, Flowers, Tara, Matilda and Star) represented that these transgenic animals where able to become more than an experiment, but as Kathy phrases its 'sisters'.

 

My Conclusion

These progressive projects discussed the importance of the kinship between us and other organisms, particularly those transgenic animals, which share a part of us with them. There is a certain attachment humans can get with other creatures through nurture, despise our unwillingness or disgust to begin with. Like humans and how our purpose on the earth has changed, so has certain animals including rats, who have a strong history of carrying disease to now helping medical developments.  It also discusses the ethics behind animal testing, and how we have conditioned them to be more ill or weak, even though we are using them to develop treatments. The rights of rats and many animals have been taken away in comparison to the animals that are under the animal welfare laws, and whilst in some experiments they are stripped away from this, High gives this right back to them and discovers how the rats become their own and develop. This project was enlightening and proved purpose to the experiment, but also the rats gained respect, and a positive connection with those involved. 

Relating to my project this is another aspect I have found interest in and explored in relation to my hybrid project, and the discovery of how artists have explored the ontological relationship between human and animals. We are animals ourselves in the sense we can share our own DNA with them, and develop a relationship, on a biological level. 

Sources

High, Kathy (2006) Embracing Animal. At: http://kathyhigh.com/project-embracing-animal.html

High, Kathy. Playing With Rats. In Costa, Beatriz da, and Kavita Philip. Tactical Biopolitics. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2008. 

High, Kathy (2009) Burial Globes: Rat Models. At: http://kathyhigh.com/project-burial-globes.html

Other Sources

http://kathyhigh.com/pdfs/writing-bio-art/High-K_TacticalBiopolitics.pdf

http://kathyhigh.com/pdfs/writing-about-kh/Hosting_The_Animal.pdf

http://kathyhigh.com/pdfs/writing-catalogs/Becoming_Animal_Interview.pdf