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5.3 Books.Indd MH AB NATURE|Vol 458|5 March 2009 OPINION the radiolarians. But it is also replete with works Artistic responses to Darwinism less well known as Darwinian. Arnold Böcklin’s Meeresidylle (1887) refer- Darwin: Art and the Search for Origins geological and religious accounts of Earth’s ences the evolutionary continuity of human- Shirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany history in support of anti-evolutionist posi- ity with creatures of the sea. It was painted a Until 3 May 2009. tions. But the attitude of his contemporary, few years after the Swiss artist forged a friend- Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904), shifted ship with Anton Dohrn, a former student of in favour of Darwinism as he became more Haeckel who established a zoological institute When he boarded HMS Beagle, familiar with it — as his sublime late series on in Naples, Italy. The institute’s mission was to Charles Darwin made room hummingbirds and orchids shows. collect empirical data substantiating Darwin’s in his luggage for a copy of Some of the most interesting artistic ideas. Böcklin’s work was steeped in mythology, Alexander von Humboldt’s responses to Darwinism happened in German- and few critics understood it. Karl Scheffler was Personal Narrative, the speaking countries in the intellectual wake an exception: in 1921 he proclaimed Böcklin to account of the German explorer’s 1799–1804 of Humboldt. The exhibition includes many be “the painter and poet of Darwinism”. journeys in Latin America. Humboldt’s view of works by Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), the Ger- The exhibition also contains works by the natural world was a major influence on the man scientist and artist who promoted Darwin’s the convinced Darwinist, Gabriel von Max young Darwin, until his own experiences led theories in continental Europe with his exqui- (1840–1915). As a friend of Haeckel, von Max him to a different interpretation. Where Hum- site illustrations of sea creatures, particularly was a passionate naturalist, but eventually boldt the romantic saw unity and harmony, departed from Haeckel’s view that humans were Darwin the scientist saw strife and struggle. the pinnacle of Darwinistic achievement. He With the spread of illustrated print maga- came to prefer the pet monkeys he used as mod- zines, artists of the time could hardly over- els, painting them carrying out human activities look the debate among scientists, theologians (as in Monkey Before A Skeleton; pictured, left) and philo sophers over Darwin’s destabilizing such as teaching or learning. In another famous theories of evolution and ruthless natural image, his monkeys are portrayed as art critics selection. The exhibition Darwin: Art and (see Nature 438, 289; 2005). SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE, FRANKFURT SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE, the Search for Origins, running until 3 May at A successful artist in his day, von Max made the Shirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, enough money to accumulate a vast collection looks at how artists responded in the century of more than 60,000 zoological, anthropo- following the publication of Darwin’s On the logical and ethnological objects. Sold to the Origin of Species. German city of Mannheim in 1917, renowned Some of the works are straightforward prehistorian Carl Schuchhardt described it as attempts to promote one side of the argument, “the richest and most interesting private col- but most incorporate concepts that evolu- lection in the field of science since the death of tionary theory made inevitable, such as ‘deep Goethe”. Part of this collection is included in time’. Not all of the displayed works embrace this thought-provoking exhibition. ■ Darwinism; for example, those of Frederic Alison Abbott is Nature’s senior European Edwin Church (1826–1900) tried to reconcile correspondent. strong ‘biosteel’ will make biodegradable cables The body as a commodity with multiple industrial applications. In another case study, the use of cryonics to freeze bodies Biofutures: Owning Body Parts and biology and culture, and users may create their offers a chance to explore the control of bio- Information own links with digital bookmarks that can be logical clocks in the lab and how this relates to by Robert Mitchell, Helen J. Burgess managed with password protection. wider economic and financial temporalities. and Phillip Thurtle Each theme is subdivided into two chapters The section on culture discusses the role of Penn Press: 2008. $39.95, £26 (DVD-ROM) based on case studies that have been marked by biology-based art as a form of science, a form controversy. In the law section, the case of John of critique and a disrupter of natural bounda- Moore in the United States is highlighted by the ries. An extended commentary on the fictitious It is appropriate that a commentary on the resulting dispute over the patenting of cell lines narrative of the films Jurassic Park and Resident possible futures and dangers associated with derived from his tissue. The DVD also inves- Evil tells us about different possible futures. owning parts of the body — a discussion tigates the creation of the patient lobby group Each case study takes about 30 minutes to anchored in biology as information — should PXE International to promote research on the read and listen to, with an accessible range be presented as a hypertext DVD rather than as genetic disease PXE, pseudoxanthoma elasti- of clips, interviews and images on each page. a conventional book. Biofutures deploys multi- cum, and the tensions this created between the Pitched at undergraduate students, it is designed media information sources, including video, community and individual patient rights. to be used as a teaching aid, bolstered by addi- text, interviews, film clips, web links and ani- Biology is discussed through the case of tional detailed reading. Most sections provide mations, all accessed through a central menu. the Nexia spider goat, the transgenic goat that background material, often filmed in labs, such The interactive format allows for nonlinear contains spider genes that produce a silk-based as the creation of immortal cell lines that are key exploration of the three main themes of law, material in the goat’s milk. The lightweight but to understanding the John Moore case. 33 © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
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