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VICTIMLESS LEATHER: ‘A Prototype of
Stitch-less Jacket grown in a Technoscientifi c
“Body” 2004’ by Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr
Stem cells continue to excite
Stem cell research, and research involving human embryonic stem cells in particular, continues
to offer hope for patients suffering from a range conditions, reports Dr Peter Charlish
T
he fate of an item in an exhibition at the laboratory within the school of anatomy and consultation with the exhibit’s creators, a senior
Museum of Modern Art in New York in human biology at The University of Western curator at the museum, Paola Antonelli, took the
2008 spoke reams about attitudes Australia, in consultation with Verigen, a Perth- decision to switch off its life support system. The
towards stem cell research. The exhibit, entitled based subsidiary of Genzyme that specialises in New York Times quoted Ms Antonelli as saying
‘Victimless Leather’, consisted of a layer of living tissue-engineered cartilage for clinical that she felt “cruel” when she did so.
mouse stem cells supported by a biodegradable applications. This bizarre episode illustrates the sometimes
polymer matrix in a form of a miniature coat. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, surprising depth of feeling that human beings
The exhibit was maintained in an incubator with depending on your point of view), the life can display towards other living things, and also
nutrients: The New York Times described it as support system in the incubator was too perhaps echoes the strong moral objection that
“unsettlingly alive”. The exhibit was created by efficient. The stem cells rapidly began to grow some people have to research using embryonic
SymbioticA, which describes itself as an artistic out of control, clogging the incubator. In stem cells.
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