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| Dog[LAB]01 This installation presents five robot dogs that have been hacked and transformed into transgenic and chimerical animals. They are autonomous and evolve in their artificial grass circle. We can observe the behaviour of these hybrid animals as if we were visiting a laboratory. All these animals are strange and imaginary and yet they are based on real cloning experiments… It is an ironical way to point out the excesses and dangers of cloning. Each dog has his own personal detail card showing his name, his genetic origin and his characteristics. They have the general morphology of a dog but some have bovine coats provided with horns (mad cow disease?), pork skin (xenotransplantation? unless it's a cross with the famous nude mouse?), or quavering bleats (ESB? Dolly's clone?), meowing (research for the perfect pet combining cat and dog?), strange skin either clear like a jellyfish or phosphorescent such as GFP Bunny, Eduardo Kac's famous rabbit, using Green Fluorescent Protein, well known for marking cells. Welcome to the brave new world… To allow the dogs to be reprogrammed, some hardware modifications are necessary: 1. a MAX232 chip has been soldered inside the robot to allow the communication with the serial port of a PC (as well as a plug and a switch on his back). 2. an internal 2MB flash memory, that will contain the new program, has been added. 3. a boot loader has been installed to allow the robot to read the flash memory and to start on this new program instead of its original program, which is no longer used… all the movements have to be reprogrammed with the 16 motor drive (12 real servo for the paws, and 4 cc motors: neck, head, mouse and tail), as well as the sounds (ADPCM format, 8bit, sample rate: 8KHz), the light of its eyes (green, yellow, red) and all the sensors (3 touch sensors, 1 light sensor, 2 sound sensors,1 voice recognition with 8 different commands, balance sensor (right, left, back, butt, face…). 4. Now, the program written in C on the computer can be downloaded through the RS 232 port. "Context", "CC5X", "ICSDK" and "HyperTerminal" are used to compile and download the C program into the robot via the serial port, and to communicate with it. COPYCAT: GENETIC ORIGIN: Dog 50% Cat 50% CHARACTERISTICS: This hybrid animal is the perfect mix between two domestic animal species, one canine and one feline. This new species combines the independence and cleanliness of a cat as well as the affectionate and playful nature of a dog: the universal pet is born... After "Cc" the first cloned kitten in December 2001 at Texas A&M university, it's now possible to clone your favourite dying or dead pet and to produce a pet "à la carte". DOLLY: GENETIC ORIGIN: Dog 50% Ewe 30% Cow 15% Sheep 5% CHARACTERISTICS: Since "Dolly", the first mammal cloned in 1996, both sheep and bovines specimens have encountered difficulties for their cloning (BSE: Mad Cow Disease, Progeria, premature ageing, abnormal size and various pathologies). This species aims to cure all the side effects of cloning and deterioration of DNA. GFP PUPPY: GENETIC ORIGIN: Dog 99% GFP 1% CHARACTERISTICS: This animal has all the normal characteristics of a dog but he also has a phosphorescent coat. This peculiarly has been obtained by transferring, into the genome of the animal, the coding gene of the "Green Fluorescent Protein", present at the natural state in jellyfish, and commonly used to mark the cells. After the fluorescent mouse and "Alba", the famous rabbit of Eduardo Kac, "GFP Puppy" marks the beginning of a new age of animal cloning, that of more evolved and complex species. XENODOG: GENETIC ORIGIN: Dog 50% Pig 45% Nude 5% CHARACTERISTICS: While the pig is an animal of sufficient intelligence and sociability to make the perfect pet, it is also the best species to supply organs for xenotransplantations. This animal has also the same genetic defect as the nude mouse that prevents him from growing hair and from immunologically rejecting human cells and tissues. JELLYDOGGY: GENETIC ORIGIN: Dog 90% Jellyfish 5% Chameleon 5% CHARACTERISTICS: The genome of this animal has been enhanced with the gene of a hydrozoan (jellyfish family) as well as the gene of the chameleon, well known for blending in with his environment. This peculiarly enables him to adapt to an aquatic life. |
