Genocentric is an exhibition of new and evolving work by artist Louise Mackenzie in collaboration with Northumbria University, Newcastle University and Edinburgh University, exploring affective responses to working with life as biotechnological material. Taking as a starting point the concept of ‘life as subject’, Mackenzie has developed a means to store her thoughts within the DNA of living organisms and in a series of works, attempts to tease out the agency of the organism. Genocentric explores a perceived imbalance between the privileged placed of technology, media and code on the one hand and the use of life as material on the other. The work shifts focus to the unknown futures of working with life as material and in doing so, develops a relationship to the organism that questions our distance from the subject through layers of technology.

Louise Mackenzie’s research is kindly supported by Northumbria University, the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University and the Centre for Speech Technology Research, Edinburgh University