CHRISTY RUPP

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD

Welded Steel, Plastic, Seeds. 12x9x9", 2000.

Genetically engineered seed is bad for people and the planet. The science of genetic engineering has changed everything. From now on we’ll never know if things we eat are formed from generations of nature’s success stories, or a nightmare from a dark closet. Because Insects reproduce rapidly, they naturally select to outlast threats to their survival. I chose them as a subject for sculpture because they are rapidly impacted by their environment. If a plant is engineered to target a specific insect pest, all will die except for the ones who have a resistant trait and they will give birth to generations also immune to the toxin. To stay ahead of the insect pest curve, we will have to constantly be adding toxins to our manufactured seed “product”.

Bee with Toxic Pollen. Welded Steel and Paper. 14x12x8". 2000

When you spray a field with a traditional pesticide at least you can wash it off. When it’s engineered into the plant it is in the cell- and it will end up being digested by your body.

The “Terminator” seed initially sparked my interest in genetically manipulated foods. The idea seems crazy that a seed could be manufactured to produce a one-time harvest, only to short-circuit it’s own biological need for reproduction . Genetic engineering is a preoccupation with destruction, allowing life forms to be defined by death.

By turning living crops into intellectual property, biotechnology increases corporate control over food resources and production. Rather than alleviate world hunger, genetic manipulation is likely to exacerbate it by increasing growers’ dependence on the corporate sector for seeds and the materials needed to grow them.

Fake Companies

Because in this country, engineered foods are not labeled, it is possible for consumers to eat all the latest organisms whether they want to or not. Many groups are workingto change the laws which currently benefit large food manufacturers over consumer choice. In the mean time I became an advertising consultant for a fictitious food manufacturer. Labeling plastic containers, I launched several trial balloons in my effort to promote consumer awareness through anxiety producing artworks.

Our new corporate branding effort has been a pr whirlwind, and we’re hoping to launch the IPO as soon as we can get some of the lawsuits from consumers taken care of.