# Eduardo Kac [ekac.org](https://www.ekac.org/) ( b. 1962 ) ## Description Brazilian-American artist and theorist who moved from early holopoetry and telecommunications/telepresence art in the 1980s–90s into transgenic "bio art," using biotechnology itself as an artistic medium; also an active essayist and historian of the fields he works in (holography, robotic art, telepresence). ## Key Tags #installation #conceptual #contemporary #holography #bio-art #language ## Essential Works - *Genesis* (1999) - transgenic/interactive work translating a biblical sentence into DNA and back via a custom-encoded "artist's gene" - *GFP Bunny* ("Alba", 2000) - a rabbit genetically modified to express green fluorescent protein, framed as a transgenic artwork and the center of major public controversy - Holopoems (1983– ) - a body of holographic visual-poetry works exploring text as a spatial, time-based medium rather than a fixed page - Ornitorrinco series (1989– ) - telerobotic works exploring telepresence, remote sensing, and dialogic interaction over telecommunications networks ## Details Began in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1980s with holopoetry, treating holography as fundamentally time-based rather than purely spatial, then moved into telepresence and telerobotic art (the Ornitorrinco series) exploring remote interaction over networks predating the consumer internet, before turning in the late 1990s to transgenic "bio art" using DNA and living organisms directly as artistic material. Also conducted and published an interview with [[Nam June Paik]] around Paik's 1988 satellite broadcast "Wrap Around the World." ### Concepts and Theories %% none yet %% ### Creative and Technical Practices %% none yet %% ### Collaborators - [[Nam June Paik]] - interviewed Paik in 1988 around his satellite broadcast "Wrap Around the World" ### Institutional Affiliations and Associated Movements %% none yet %% ## References ### Primary Sources Bibliography Selected essays and interviews by Kac, all self-published at ekac.org - "Satellite Art: An Interview with Nam June Paik." *O Globo*, July 10, 1988. [link](https://www.ekac.org/paik.interview.html) - "Ornitorrinco: Exploring Telepresence and Remote Sensing." *Leonardo* 24, no. 2 (1991): 233. [link](https://www.ekac.org/ornitorrinco.abstract.html) — introduces "telepresence" as a new art category. - "Photonic Webs in Time: The Art of Holography." In *New Media Technologies*, ed. Ross Harley, 123–39. AFTRS, 1993. [link](https://www.ekac.org/photonic.Webs.ISEA_95.html) - "Aspects of the Aesthetics of Telecommunications." In *Siggraph Visual Proceedings*, 47–57. ACM, 1992. [link](https://www.ekac.org/telecom.paper.siggrap.html) - "Recent Experiments in Holopoetry and Computer Holopoetry." In *Display Holography* (Proc. SPIE 1600), 229–36, 1991. [link](https://www.ekac.org/recent.experiments.html) - "Holopoetry, Hypertext, Hyperpoetry." In *Holographic Imaging and Materials* (Proc. SPIE 2043), 72–81, 1993. [link](https://www.ekac.org/Holopoetry.Hypertext.html) - "Telepresence Art." In *Teleskulptur*, ed. Richard Kriesche, 48–72. Kulturdata, 1993. [link](https://www.ekac.org/Telepresence.art._94.html) - "Beyond the Spatial Paradigm: Time and Cinematic Form in Holographic Art." *BLIMP*, Fall 1995, 48–57. [link](https://www.ekac.org/Holotime.Blimp.html) — surveys holographic cinema/video in Russia, Japan, France, and the US. - "Interactive Art on the Internet." In *Mythos Information; Welcome to the Wired World*, 170–79. Ars Electronica / Springer-Verlag, 1995. [link](https://www.ekac.org/InteractiveArtontheNet.html) - "Ornitorrinco and Rara Avis: Telepresence Art on the Internet." *Leonardo* 29, no. 5 (1996): 389–400. [link](https://www.ekac.org/ornitrara.html) - "Origin and Development of Robotic Art." *Art Journal* 56, no. 3 (1997): 60–67. [link](https://www.ekac.org/roboticart.html) - "Robotic Art Chronology." *Convergence* 7, no. 1 (2001): 87–111. [link](https://www.ekac.org/robotichronology.html) — covers 1955–1996. - "Live from Mars." *Leonardo Electronic Almanac* / *Leonardo* 31, no. 1 (1998): 1–2. [link](https://www.ekac.org/MARS.html) - "Biopoetry." *Cybertext Yearbook 2002-03*, 184–85, 2003. [link](https://www.ekac.org/biopoetry.html) - Additional essays on dialogic/interactive art, telepresence ecology, and gravity/levitation art collected at [ekac.org](https://www.ekac.org/). ### Secondary Sources Bibliography %% none yet %%