A-Positive

Eduardo Kac

A-Positive , 1997

Co-workers & Funding

Special thanks to Steve Waldeck, Dr. William Dam, Anna Yu, and Carlos Fadon.

http://www.ekac.org/apositive.html

Mnemosyne

Last updated: 2010-10-23

Documents

A- positive

image/gif

425 × 283

Description

A-positive, a dialogical event created by Ed Bennett and myself, probes the delicate relationship between the human body and emerging new breeds of hybrid machines that incorporate biological elements and from these elements extract sensorial or metabolic functions. The work creates a situation in which a human being and a robot have direct physical contact via an intravenous needle connected to clear tubing and feed one another in a mutually nourishing relationship. To the new category of hybrid biological robots we ascribe the general epithet "biobots" . Because of its use of human red blood cells, the biobot created for A-positive is termed a "phlebot".

Eduardo Kac

Keywords

genres
- bioart
- installations
  - interactive installations

Technology & Material

Material

In A-positive, red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to tissues,

and then provide the remaining oxygen to the biobot. The biobot extracts the oxygen

to support a fragile and erratic flame (above). Since the oxygen content of each person

is different, each individual dialogue with the biobot will yield a unique flame

with differentiated behavior and life span.

Exhibitions & Events

ISEA 1997 [The Eigth International Symposium on Electronic Arts]

1997

Bibliography

Dixon, Steve. Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theatre, Dance, Performance Art and Installation. Leonardo Books, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007.
Dixon, Steve. »Metal Performance: Humanizing Robots, Returning to Nature, and Camping About.« TDR 48, no. 4 (Winter 2004).
Kac, Eduardo. »Art at the Biological Frontier.« In Reframing Consciousness, edited by Roy Ascott, 90-94. Exeter: Intellect Books, 1999.
Kac, Eduardo. »Origin and Development of Robotic Art.« Art Journal 56, no. 3 (1997): 60-67.
Kac, Eduardo. »A-positive.« In ISEA ´97 Program Guide, edited by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 62. Chicago: ISEA, 1997.
Kac, Eduardo. A-positive: Art at the Biobotic Frontier. Chicago: 1997.

6 publications