curated by Jens Hauser

The exhibition Fingerprints… at the Schering Stiftung’s project space will showcase the performative installations and live laboratories by US-American biomedia artist Paul Vanouse. Curated by Jens Hauser, the exhibition presents the world premiere of the “Suspect Inversion Center”, an operational laboratory in which Vanouse creates identical “genetic fingerprints” of criminals and celebrities from his own DNA. It also features new motifs of the “Latent Figure Protocol”, as well as the “Relative Velocity Inscription Device” – a cynical molecular race reflecting on biologically legitimized racism, in which bits of DNA, instead of bodies, compete by testing their “genetic fitness”. The exhibition marks a continuation of the Schering Stiftung’s effort to promote the public discussion about the role of images in art and science.

Vanouse’s biotechnological installations do not only challenge the codes and images of contemporary knowledge production but also question the methods behind (natural) scientific findings in general: What do uncritically accepted commonplace catchwords such as “genetic fingerprint” conceal? To what extend does the technical construction of alleged naturalness notarize clichés and prejudices? Vanouse diverts biotechnologies and scientific imaging techniques from their intended uses, and amalgamates auratic iconography with technical images. Employing gel electrophoresis as artistic medium, he intentionally applies a method that bears analogies to photography: while photography allowed viewers to draw seemingly objective conclusions about human qualities based on physiognomic characteristics of the body, today, increasingly questionable social conclusions are derived from ontologized body fragments such as genes.