Not just a 1-dimensional show

The IU Health Center isn't the only place to get your cheek swabbed on campus anymore. Now, cheek swabbing is available in the School of Fine Arts Gallery.\nFrom 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, the SoFA Gallery will open a month-long exhibit: Human Nature II: Future Worlds.\nThe performance piece in the opening reception Friday will feature artist Paul Vanouse swabbing participants' cheeks and using the DNA to work it into an artistic piece. \nThis exhibit will feature work by artists currently "synthesizing information about scientific research in the areas of genomics, medical research, biotechnology and genetic engineering," according to a press release.\nGallery Director Betsy Stirratt has been working on this exhibit for two years. \n"The exhibit is primarily in response to life sciences," Stirratt said. "Well-known contemporary artists make art related to the sciences."\nOne of the rooms in the exhibit will be dark, featuring an installation piece with live bacteria by Eduardo Kac. \n"He has his own string of live bacteria that can be manipulated by people on the Internet; it is very interactive and I like it a lot," said senior Anthony Bowers, an assistant at the gallery.\nStarting at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Kac will lecture on "Telepresence and Bio Art," followed by a book signing. \nSince the 1980s, there has been a resurgence of artists addressing themes related to nature and science. Artists have also been incorporating concepts and implications of stem cell research and cloning into their work, according to a press release from the SoFA gallery.\n"The paired exhibitions that comprise Human Nature bring together artworks by artists who take it upon themselves to engage with imagery and concepts derived from life sciences research," Jean Robertson, professor of fine arts at the Herron School of Art at IUPUI, said in a press release.\nRobertson further stated that scientists aren't the only specialists who can understand the current issues in the field.\nThe goal of the Human Nature exhibit is to create a forum for understanding through visual means, scientific ideas that directly relate to new political, economic and ethical changes within the world. \nOther artists in the exhibit, include Suzanne Anker, Jaq Chartier, Christa Erickson, Richard Krueger, Susan Robb, Evan Sutton and Elona Van Gent.\nOther lectures will take place throughout the month. On March 1, Barbara Stafford will lecture on "The Return of Grammars of Expression: Schematizing Nature and the Body." \nOn March 8 Eric M. Meslin along with Mark Pescovitz and Richard B. Miller, will present a Public Forum on "Selling it or Giving it Away: A discussion about tissue research, ownership and consent." \nStirratt said she will have to wait until the end of the exhibit's showing, March 9, to decide what her favorite piece is. \n"After two years it is finally happening," she said. "I am happy to have the showing and work with well-respected artists like Eduardo Kac."\nBowers agrees, saying the natural world is incorporated into the exhibits -- his favorite part. \n"People should see it," Bowers said. "There are very well-renowned artists and it is a great opportunity to see art on the edge of what is being made right now and you can see it in Bloomington"