Exploring the Science of Reproduction Through Art
A new art exhibit at the Academy ponders current issues around assisted reproductive technology like in vitro fertilization.
Published March 25, 2004
By Fred Moreno
Academy Contributor

The age-old question often asked by children “Where do babies come from?” has taken on new meaning in recent years as high-tech ways of reproduction—from test-tube conception to cloning and steps in between—have gone from idea to implementation. Throughout history, images of the fetus have appeared in medical texts and art. This includes Leonardo’s anatomical drawings, wax figures in museums like La Specula in Florence, and “babies in bottles” in human evolution displays.
How contemporary artists today are considering the vast array of issues rising out of the rapidly-changing world of creating life is the subject of a new exhibition in the Gallery of Art & Science at the New York Academy of Sciences. “REPROTECH: Building Better Babies?” brings together a dozen artists who are investigating the positive and negative possibilities of reproductive technologies in their work.
Represented in the exhibition are Gwen Akin and Allan Ludwig, Suzanne Anker, Chrissy Conant, Adam Fuss, Mark Kessell, Greg Lynn, Gina Marie, Steve Miller, Joseph Nechvatal, Nicholas Rule, Sandy Skoglund, and Virgil Wong. Suzanne Anker, artist and chair of the Department of Art History at the School of Visual Arts, is curator.
Digital Darwinism
“In an age of digital Darwinism, reproductive technologies are, to say the least, controversial,” said Ms. Anker. “For some people, they evoke futuristic fantasies and for others, they represent the fear of science out of sway.”
She noted that the artists in the show use reproductive technology as a means to explore ideas of identity, heredity, and even destiny.
“The exhibition focuses on artistic reactions to such areas as the status of the unborn, in-vitro visualizations of the soon-to-be born, genealogical and breeding directives and manipulations, and other scenarios for the future of life—artificial and otherwise,” Ms. Anker said. “When virgins can give birth and corpses can be fathers, what’s next?”
Also read: Neural Harmony: When Art Meets Neuroscience