Patricia Piccinini, na primeira pessoa: We’re at a very exciting time because we’re at that point when we can start to determine the ways that we can make stem cells become something
E sobre ‘Still Life with Stem Cells’: There are some recognisable features but on the whole they’re not really human, they’re much more amorphous. I wanted the child to be interacting in a very loving and caring way with these forms. I’m not setting a horror scene; it’s a very domestic work.
I like the sense that they’re exciting and frightening at the same time because that’s what stem cell research is really all about. It’s about finding cures for disease but at the same time it’s really changing the way you see the body, how we conceive of ourselves and how we conceive of body parts.
And that was part of the work for me as well - that they wouldn’t just be blobs, they’d actually be entities with a kind of personality.
(...) the idea that we’re just about to create the first synthetic organism. I guess that’s the real work that inspires me to make works.
I’m not crazy, this is already living in our environment I’m just responding to it.
* In 1999, Science journal recognized the process of extraction of stem cells from human body, - the third significant discovery in biology of 20 century after opening of DNA and decoding of human’s genome.
(...) stem cells have ability to turn into muscle, bone, nerve and in all of other forms of tissues.
(...) The genome of this stem cell is situated in so called “zero point”. Mechanisms, which determine specialization of the future cell are still not switched on, which means that potentially the cell can become any kind of cells, depending on body needs.
(...) stem cells can repair practically any damage by changing into certain kind of cells, requested by body.
