Typosperma
Oded Ezer
Typographer/artist Oded Ezer says,
The main idea of the ‘Typosperma’ project was to create some sort of new transgenic creatures, half (human) sperm, half letter. These imaginary creatures are cloned sperms, that typographic information has been implanted into their DNA.
A frequent topic of concept art is (hypothetical) aesthetic genetic modification. In at least one case, that of Alba, Eduardo Kac’s fluorescent bunny, such plans have been carried out to create an actual living “artwork.” This project is a little different. The modified “organisms,” sperm, have a lifespan of mere days – if you can even call it “lifespan,” since they’re just chromosome-carrying vehicles. Their whole point is to fertilize an egg. One of the diagrams on Ezer’s site shows the modified sperm approaching an egg (gamete); what will happen when they fuse? Is the idea to generate a modified baby with some further typographic alteration? Are these even human sperm?
Ezer leaves the big picture ambiguous, since the point (I presume) is to generate questions. Burdened by their bulky typographic inclusions and the little “serifs” on their flagella, these sperm are about as streamlined as a 1975 Winnebago. Sperm this abnormal don’t win races. The world is safe from transgenic typographic babies. . . for now.
The line between geek and freak gets finer every day. Heh. I do admit that thought-stunt bioprojects have a kind of quizzical attraction. But is it art? Or science? Or mere wankery? I suppose simply prompting those questions means that it is a successful project, n’est-ce pas?
Diet tapeworm plates and birth control typosperma — making the world a better place one oddity at a time.
Like your site and really like your artwork.