By David Moye, AOL News
Controversial 20th-century novelist William S. Burroughs was best known for his novel "Naked Lunch," and now two "bio-artists" are hoping to turn the remains of his last lunches into art.
Adam Zaretsky and Tony Allard are the creators of "Mutate or Die: A W.S. Burroughs Biotechnical Bestiary," an ongoing project that basically turns a piece of Burroughs' poop into a piece of art.
Burroughs died in 1997 at the age of 83 in Lawrence, Kan., and the poop being used belongs to a family friend and is covered in epoxy, presumably until it could be used for a higher purpose such as this.
Adam Zaretsky and Tony Allard are the creators of "Mutate or Die: A W.S. Burroughs Biotechnical Bestiary," an ongoing project that basically turns a piece of Burroughs' poop into a piece of art.
Burroughs died in 1997 at the age of 83 in Lawrence, Kan., and the poop being used belongs to a family friend and is covered in epoxy, presumably until it could be used for a higher purpose such as this.
Zaretsky, who has a background in biotech, and Allard, a college professor in San Diego, say their plan is to "take a glob" of the preserved poop, isolate the DNA and make lots of copies of it.
After that, they will soak the DNA dust in gold dust and load it into a "gene gun," a modified air pistol used to insert DNA into plants, worms, rats and humans for experiments.
After that, they will soak the DNA dust in gold dust and load it into a "gene gun," a modified air pistol used to insert DNA into plants, worms, rats and humans for experiments.
The DNA dust collected from the poop will be loaded into the pistol, which will then be shot into a mix of blood, poop and semen and then, according to the artists, be declared either a "living bio-art," a "new media print," a "living cut-up literary device" or a mutant sculpture.
Allard admits the concept is, for many people, like poop itself: not easy to grasp even if you're fully aware of its purpose.
"The main response we get from people is, 'Are you serious?' " he told AOL News. "But this is not your typical art project. We see this as a paradigm shift from representational art, since, in this case, the art is in the living organism."
The idea for turning Burroughs' poop into art dates back to October 1996, when Allard was living in Kansas City, Mo., and tried to get the author's DNA sequenced at the scanning electron microscope at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
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