Sterile, 2014
goldfish, dimensions variable

image courtesy the artists

–

Sterile (2014) is an installation by REVITAL COHEN and TUUR VAN BALEN which revolves around albino goldfish specifically designed to be born without reproductive organs. For this project 45 goldfishes were created by Professor YAMAHA ETSURO in his laboratory in Hokkaido, Japan. Even if it sounds totally abnormal, work with such modified fish is for the scientist, simply part of the daily research routine. Parallel to the fishes, the artists present a machine – put in stand-by mode –capable of extracting sperm and eggs to reproduce sterile fish infinitively.

As with much of REVITAL COHEN and TUUR VAN BALEN‘s works, Sterile (2014) ‘translates our times of automated and standardized production technologies, into a provocative installation that involves scientists in the development of the work in order to push the boundaries of material and process.

➝ Sterile (2014) is part of the exhibition Beastly that will open at Fotomuseum Winterthur on Friday, May 29, 2015.

–