In her 2012 TED Talk, Ellen Jorgensen, microbiologist and co-founder of Genspace, said: “For less than $1,000 you’ll be able to sequence a human genome in less than a day. But who gets to do it? We know and trust the professionals. Are they the only ones allowed to work with biotech? There are many benefits to a more open approach. If you open up the science and allow diverse people to participate, it can really stimulate innovation.”
Inspired by Ellen’s question, HW’s creative director, Kari Mulholland, pitched a suite of three films capturing how communities were actually engaging with open biotech, and what that engagement could make possible.
The first was a short documentary about artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg, who extracted DNA from hair, gum and other traces people left in public spaces to create her series Stranger Visions. The film premiered on TED’s blog, was featured by outlets including Radiolab and Colossal, and toured internationally as part of Heather’s exhibition of the work.
The second was a social media animation teaching general audiences how to extract DNA from a strawberry. It drew more than a million views in its first weekend.
The third was a promotional film for a Kickstarter campaign to fund a genetic barcoding project in Alaska. The campaign was fully funded.
