PROOF BREATH CHRISTINE BORLAND

Art Gallery of York University v ...... Contents

Foreword - Loretta Yarlow

‘Vulnerable’ - Michael Tarantino

Exhibited Works

Notes

Spider Texts

Appendix

List of Works Foreword In the 1997 Münster Sculpture Project I saw Christine Borland's remarkable work The

Loretta Yarlow Dead Teach the Living, consisting of seven Director/Curator luminous plastic heads mounted on plinths, situated like a memorial in an outdoor garden. The haunting presence of these reconstructed portrayals of anonymous beings remained with me. Although I had known Christine’s work through exhibitions at the Sean Kelly Gallery in New York and the Lisson Gallery in London, it was the sight of this impressive work that prompted me to invite her to Toronto for a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of York University. Christine was happy to consider a future exhibition here, but it was not until she began work on Bullet Proof Breath at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia in 1999 that an exhibition began to take shape. We originally began discussions about a collaborative exhibition with Michael Tarantino, during his tenure at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford, England. Now, as an independent curator based in Brussels, Michael helped bring this project to fruition as guest essayist. I am extremely grateful to him for his very personal and insightful text. We agreed to assist the artist in re­ fabricating Spirit Collection: Hippocrates, a major installation first shown at Dundee Contemporary Arts in 1 999. Three York students committed themselves to working with the artist at the university science laboratory during the summer of 2001, bleaching almost one-hundred plane tree leaves that Christine sent to us from Scotland. After the bleaching process all that remained of the leaves was their skeletal structure. Each of these ghostly leaves was sealed in a separate glass vessel filled with an alcohol based preservative solution. We consider ourselves fortunate to be the first public gallery in Canada to premiere Christine Borland’s important work. I am so pleased Christine was able to come to Toronto, first in November 2000, and again a year later, to share her ideas with us. She was extremely generous with her time while in our community and in participating in the many decisions concerning this exhibition and catalogue. It was a complete pleasure to work with her, and I am very grateful for her commitment. I want to thank York students Laurie Nordlund, Mark Campbell, and Janice Leung who worked so diligently in the re-fabrication of Spirit Collection. Their technical skills and patience involved weeks of labour in the university’s science lab. I am grateful to the lenders who kindly enabled us to realize this exhibition: Elayne and Marvin Mordes, Donna and Howard Stone, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, and the Sean Kelly Gallery. I am indebted to Cécile Panzieri, Director of the Sean Kelly Gallery, for sharing her extensive knowledge of Christine Borland’s art and for giving generously of her time and providing organizational assistance throughout the entire project. I also want to thank Janet Samuel and Pam Vander Zwan at the Fabric Workshop and Museum for their crucial assistance with the transport and installation of Bullet Proof Breath. I am indebted to the staff of the Art Gallery of York University who worked very hard, as always, in elevating this project to a level that is rare for a gallery our size: Kathleen McLean, Assistant Curator; Karen Pellegrino, Administrative Assistant; and Julie Yoo, Education Coordinator. To AGYU Advisory Board member, Laura Rapp, and her husband, Jay Smith, I want to acknowledge their hospitality to our visitors and for so generously supporting the production of this catalogue. Robert Johnston in Glasgow deserves special thanks for his role in the design and supervision of this attractive catalogue. I would like to thank my colleagues Marti Mayo, Director, and Lynn Herbert, Curator, at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston for their early commitment to this exhibition and for introducing Christine Borland's work to the Houston audience. This exhibition and catalogue were made possible with the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Council, and the Henry Moore Foundation.

Vulnerable (i) ‘Casanova likened a lucid mind to a glass, which does not break of its own accord. Yet how easily it is shattered. One wrong move is Michael Tarantino all it takes.'

(W G Sebald, Vertigo, p. 56)

We had guests over for dinner. It was so incredibly hot outside that we were serving cold salads. The wine, chosen accordingly, was a Chilean chardonnay. It was served in four glass goblets, copies of the kind of seventeenth century glasses which were always turning up in still-lives. Usually, we look at the oysters or the dead geese. But the glasses are truly extraordinary, a series of designs, shapes and imprints that one would not associate with such an unwieldy material. Glass can be wrought as subtly as metal or wood. And yet it retains its sense of transparency, of delicacy, of fragility. Which is why I was so distraught when I broke one of them when washing up the dishes later that night. The water was extremely hot and I had a pair of rubber gloves on to protect my hands. But io

_ what I gained in protection I lost in sensitivity. It hardly felt like I was putting any pressure on the glass when my thumb went through it, breaking off a moon-shaped piece along the lip. The anger and violence that erupted from me did not seem to be in any proportion to what I had done. I’d just broken a glass. A valuable one, for sure, one with sentimental value, for sure, but still, just a glass. Of course it rendered the other three useless (in my mind), as one rarely had a dinner for three. And they were too 'special' to use alone or just among the two of us. Still, why was I so angry? Breaking that glass, breaking anything, always depresses me. I suppose it is the sense of loss, of not being able to go back. One could repair wood, fabric, whatever, but glass seemed irredeemable. And so, at the end of the day, it reminded me of death. Of the past. Of memory. The only thing that might have taken me out of my reverie would have been if I had pierced my own hand with the shard of glass, initiating a stream of sobering blood. But it had popped out of place like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. It was like losing a book. You had read it, felt it, but it was gone now, irreplaceable. Another copy wouldn’t do. There's something about a glass shattering, which signifies utter despair. I was so angry I wanted to pick up the other three glasses and smash them. But I didn’t. I just took the broken one, put a flower and some water in it and placed it on the windowsill. The broken side was facing out.

(ii) A glass sheet is covered with dust, tracing a human spine. The bones of a broken arm are Bullet Proof Breath, 2001 attached to two walls at right angles. A pair of shoes rests on the floor, pierced by a bullet. An apple has been shot by a .45 calibre gun. A watermelon drops to the ground, smashing into many pieces. A bullet rips through a sheet of glass, leaving intricate patterns of destruction behind. The ribs and vertebrae of a bison are set out on a table. A cup is shattered into a thousand pieces. A vessel, a body, a species ... disintegrate. What all of these pieces of Christine Borland have in common is the sense of containing an identity and destroying it at the same time. In each case, we can point to the body or the object that existed, at one point, as a totality. But what we are presented with is only the moment of its demise. We reconstruct that body, those objects, by our knowledge of what it was, what it represented. In a number of these works, the bullet of a gun is the means by which something is shattered or pierced. A bullet shatters pieces of porcelain, destroying them forever. The dream of the single vessel, emerging from the potter's wheel, confirmed in the heat of the kiln, shattered in a moment of violence. A hand blown piece of glass, designated by the title Bullet Proof Breath, splits into a series of intricate veins (simulating bronchia, the branches of the lungs). Several of the most prominent bronchia are wrapped with the delicate, golden silk extracted by scientists and without consent, from a golden orb weaver spider-the Nephila of the accompanying video piece Nephila Mania, which records the process.

sawiS

Destruction and representation in Bullet Proof Breath only seem to be at odds with each other. The starting point is a web constructed in silk by a spider. To enable the 'silking' process whereby its silk is extracted, the spider is knocked unconscious by a blast of carbon dioxide, blown down a straw by the scientist. It is then possible to examine, to reconstruct the spider’s stratagem (sic) in order to attempt the development of a new, at best bullet-proof, material. Yet, the bullet-proof vest is an anomaly, like a star wars missile defense system. It offers a false degree of security, a sense that we are invulnerable, that the forces of the outside world cannot penetrate us. If we examine a surface that has been pierced by a bullet, we see that the term ‘bullet-proof’ is an illusion. A spider constructs a web to entrap its prey, to kill it, to store it, to devour it. A bullet enters a person, a tree, a deer, a piece of glass, to destroy it, kill it, to leave a wound, or trace. The web is a means to an end. The bullet is the end itself.

'... where flowing ceases, death appears. Not some metaphorical death, but a real, physical one. The body, whose parts no longer set any streams in motion, and in, on, across, and out of which nothing flows anymore, is a body that has died. Simone de Beauvoir wrote, "orgasm in old age is like an ebbing away.'”

(Klaus Theweleit, Male Fantasies)

Which is to say that a work like Bullet Proof Breath, which connotes both living and dying, is a reminder of violence and survival.

(iii) ‘There was only a small shining spot in the darkness. The light, from God knows where, bounced off it, revealing nothing but a smooth surface. And then it moved. And I noticed that what I had seen was but a tiny part of a much larger area. It was someone's head. As he moved out of the shadow, I saw that he was enormous. He was not wearing a shirt and the folds of fat on his stomach looked like the layers on a caterpillar as it slithered along the ground. I thought of that old joke that your stomach is too big if you can’t see your sex. He moved towards me and finally, his head emerged from the dark. He was smiling, the kind of look that said he expected to see me. His head was shaven, as smooth as I have ever seen a skull. It looked like it was balanced on a pair of huge shoulders, as if bending forward or leaning to one side, would send the head tumbling to the ground. It didn’t seem to be a part of the body itself. The head was perfect. The body was excessive.

The scene described above is taken from Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1978) when Willard (Martin Sheen) comes across Kurtz (Marlon Brando) for the first time. It’s not a totally accurate description, being a combination of what I remember and some embellishments added after the fact. (For instance, in the film the reason we only see Brando's head is because Coppola was horrified when the actor showed up in the Philippines for the filming carrying twice as much weight as he had when he accepted the part.) But what is particularly clear to me is how that head, the figure of Kurtz, which had been the object of the film’s narrative, the voyage into

Joseph Conrad’s ‘heart of darkness', seemed to be disarticulated from the body. That one shot, the mysterious first shot of Brando's head, seemed to represent the entire film. Now, take some of Christine Borland's heads. The Dead Teach the Living: seven white plastic heads on concrete columns. L'Homme Double: six clay heads on wooden stands. Second Class Male/Second Class Female: two human skulls (on a shelf), two bronze heads (on plinths). The heads are displayed, or represented, in a number of ways and seem to multiply, to generate their own double, in front of our eyes. In The Dead Teach the Living, regardless of which position the spectator occupies, the heads are turned in different directions: facing us, their profile to us, or turned away from us. In Second Class Male/Second Class Female, the bronze heads, based on the skulls of a man and a woman, also face each other. Behind them, however, placed on a shelf on a wall, they, in turn, are regarded by the 'original' skulls. (This strikes me, in an eerie way, like being watched by your parents, your guardian angel, your god, and your genes). L’Homme Double is also constructed upon a series of glances and evasions. What each of these pieces share, however, is the notion that the viewer must physically navigate the space in which these heads/skulls are situated in order to ‘animate’ them. Once we put together the lines of vision, we need to project ourselves into it. We need to make those heads move off of the shelves, out of the shadow. Borland's work is about transformation and generation. The notion of the parent watching the child is not so removed from what drives pieces like L’Homme Double or The Dead Teach the Living: the idea that a head, a body, a person, a character can be constructed from the remains of the past, whether that be composed of physical evidence like a skull or a gene or intellectual evidence, such as medical documents, racial typecasting, etc. The eerie notion that the heads may be locked in a series of gazes or evasions forces the spectator to examine how they have achieved the status of ‘characters', of individuals. Like the spot on Brando's head bathed in light, we make a leap of faith. We make a visual, an intellectual construction from what we see. Absence exists on the same level as presence.

(iv) This is me in what's left of the library. If you could magnify this picture sufficiently you could see motes levitating around me— cold ashes of books. This picture was made on the day I got the bullet-proof vest. It was one of the happiest days of my life, this life. A bullet-proof vest significantly increases your (well, my) chances of survival. The sniper has to shoot you in the head to kill you. Which is why I cut my hair so short, to make my head smaller. Sometimes I feel like a fucking Joan of Arc, except I have no army and voices to guide me.’

(Alexander Hemon, A Question of Bruno, p. 129)

The narrator is looking at a picture taken in Sarajevo. The ‘cold ashes of the books' raining down on his head, combined with the seeming invulnerability that the bullet proof vest endows, is an extraordinary combination of fear and bravado. The books have been burned, reduced to unreadable fragments, still in the process of disintegrating, from shelf to floor. The vest makes the wearer feel immortal, as he runs from point A to point B, dodging the bullets of the Serbian sniper in the hills ... When I wrote these lines, it was before September 1 1, 2001. Before the events in New York, described by some as the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is now one week after those events. And what strikes me, once the horrible aftershocks have been assimilated (only a turn of phrase ... of course, they never will be) is a scene described by a friend, wandering around the city, one day later. She felt entirely disconnected to what had happened. Like most of us, it was beyond her imagination, even though she had witnessed it, had seen one of the planes crash into the World Trade Center. The day after, as she walked to work (there was no work, of course) there were flakes of ash and paper raining down on the streets of New York. It was uncannily quiet. She described it to me as if a library had exploded, taking all of its accumulated knowledge and suppositions with it. As I listened to her description, it reminded me of Sarajevo. I had seen that library that Hemon describes, many months after it had been destroyed. There were no more floating pages. There was only the sense that one had to start at zero. To rebuild the library. But what would the first book be?

Michael Tarantino, Brussels, October, 2001

Bullet Proof Breath was developed when I was invited to undertake a commission for the Fabric W orkshop and Museum in Philadelphia. In the series of works Home Made Bullet Proof Vests (page 52) I had refered to the unlikely bullet-proof materials of diamonds and cotton wool. The discovery that the American military were researching spider silk to be developed as a bullet-proof material was the impetus for this new piece. Initially, I had hoped to keep live Golden Orb Weaver spiders at the Fabric Workshop, to extract their silk for use in a sculptural piece. During 1999, along with several representatives from the Fabric W orkshop and Kenn Gardner from DuPont Central Research and Development Experimental Station in Delaware, I visited the Smithsonian Notes National Zoo in Washington. There we met the zoo Director and arachnid expert Dr. Michael Robinson who answered questions about the practicalities of our ideas. He told us that the diet of the young spiderlings consists of fruit flies; the adults eat crickets.These insects also have to be bred and are fed to the spiders by being thrown, live, into their webs. For housing, terrariums can be made very sim ply-the spiders need only an air supply and a twig on which to spin a web. Despite his encouragement we decided against keeping the spiders ourselves, and worked instead in collaboration with Kenn Gardner from DuPont. The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington is the only zoo in the USA which houses an open, uncovered exhibit of Nephila, Golden Orb Weaver spiders. These spiders, native to Papua New Guinea, spin a large, dramatic orb web which is a vivid golden colour in the wild. The silk for these large webs is being studied by companies like DuPont for potential development, using recombinant DNA technology, as a textile which can be produced without the need for polluting chemical processes.

The young black widow spider kept in a plastic terrarium in Dr. Robinson’s office.

Being hungry, she had spun a relatively large web; unlike the orb weavers’, this is chaotic in structure. The zoo actively encourages conducive habitats for spiders and insects in the grounds.

Lunch has been found for the Director’s black widow.

Around ten adult spiders live in the exhibit, which is open to the public seven days a week. They are encouraged to spin webs between strings which run from floor to ceiling. As long as they are regularly fed, the spiders are not inclined to stray from their enclosure. They co-exist relatively happily, as they do in the wild, with only the occasional incident of web-invasion while feeding. It is still unclear why the webs are golden; diet and the amount of sunlight to which the spiders are exposed appear to play a part. W ebs are often darned after they are damaged by prey. In the wild the spiders consume the old webs before spinning a new one.

The spiders respond enthusiastically to the vibrations of a tuning fork held close to the web. The vibrations appear to correspond to those caused by trapped prey.

A cricket is thrown into the web. In order to locate the position of the prey accurately by sensing vibration, the spider must first return to the centre, the web’s ‘hub’. The spider quickly attaches a silk guideline to the hub then rushes down it to bite and stun the prey. Next she attempts to pull the cricket free of the web to be carried back to the hub, wrapped in silk and stored.

If the prey is too large and overpowering to be pulled free and dragged back to the hub unwrapped, it will be wrapped at the capture site, cut free, then pulled back.

During wrapping, the spider's legs make a continuous cycling motion. The spiderlings are taken to a separate enclosure. There the smaller ones inhabit the lower level, graduating to the upper levels as they mature, ready to be moved inside to the display.

In order to extract the silk from the spiders, it was eventually decided that they would be silked by Kenn Gardner who brought his equipment from his laboratory at DuPont in Delaware to the Fabric W orkshop in Philadelphia. Live Orb Weaver spiders were ordered from Carolina Biological Suppliers, where they are raised in enclosures similar to those at the zoo. They were sent by FedEx to the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia.

Each one had been packed in its own plastic air bubble then placed in a polystyrene box.

The spider is first placed in a glass and knocked unconscious with carbon dioxide, breathed down a straw (refer to images on pages 80-81). Under a microscope, the spider is placed upside down on a petri-dish and her legs taped down with low-adhesion tape, out of the way of her abdomen. The strong drag-line silk is produced spontaneously on touching the spider’s abdomen with tweezers. The thread is then hooked up to a piece of card (or whatever it is to be collected on). The receptacle spins slowly, attached to a motor running at several revolutions per second. The dragline is released from the spider's undulating abdomen. It is possible to continue for approximately an hour, gathering up to 10m of silk before she runs out (for further details refer to the images of the film Nephila Mania on pages 1 4 -2 8 ).

The spider is released unharmed and, after eating, can immediately produce enough silk to spin a new web. Spider Texts

From a detail of an engraving depicting The Dancing n'a (no. 3632 Pretenkabinet) of a P Brueghel drawing by onduis, part of the collection at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam The Roman Empire— Pliny the Elder. Pliny went on to describe the spider as a Diiodorus Siculus— Diodor of Scily— recorded ferocious creature that is most dangerous in the (c. 60 BC) in Bibliotheca Historica a dreadful summertime. He also stated that spiders couple plague of spiders in Abyssinia. The land was at backward and produce maggots that look like the time of writing deserted and barren, but it eggs, take three days to hatch, and reach full had been “rich in fair pastures,” and well size in twenty-eight days. In other words, Pliny populated. In the space of one season, however, copied Aristotle without taking the trouble to all this was changed by climatic disturbances look for himself. As often, he misread that caused great numbers of spiders to spring Aristotle’s passage concerning the female who up: rejjio phalantyiis infesta, venomous spiders spins the web while the male has a share in infested the region. They were so dangerous what is caught. Pliny has it that the female does and their bites so dreaded that the inhabitants the spinning while the male does the hunting. were compelled to move to other lands. On the diversity of spiders, Pliny added few Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) was an assiduous new observations beyond the writings of collector of knowledge about plants and Aristotle: “There are several kinds, but they animals. He brought together facts and fables, need not be described as they are well known.” superstitions and anecdotes true and false in In the works of Aristotle and Pliny, as well as one great thirty-seven-volume compendium, in those of some of their contemporaries, a the Historia Naturalis. His encyclopaedic but number of names were used which are still in use indiscriminate compilation of material today: Lycosa, Tetrajjnatha, Dysdera, Tarantula, unfortunately did not distinguish fact from and Plmlanpium (now a “harvest spider ). fiction and he liked to embroider both with his However, it is not really possible to match their own fantasies; although entertaining, much of vague descriptions with today’s classification, for it was useless. they did not have our concept of species. Pliny said that to observe spiders handling large prey is a spectacle worthy of the amphi­ theatre. He described the method used by a Europe from the Fifteenth Century to the spider to defeat a snake; the spider is poised in Start of the Twentieth Century: Middle Apes her web in a tree while the snake lies coiled in to Renaissance the shade beneath. From her aerial position the After the tall of Rome in AD 395, there followed spider launches an attack by throwing herself a period of more than a thousand years, the so- upon the head of the snake and piercing its called Dark Ages, during which time little was brain with her fangs. “Such is the shock,” apparently written on spiders. The two great relates Pliny “that the creature will hiss from classical actors, Aristotle and Pliny, continued to time to time, and then seized with vertigo, coil be the principal authorities on natural history round and round, unable to break the web of centuries after their works were written. But of the spider. The scene ends only with its death.” the two, the writings of Aristotle had become badly distorted by the Middle Ages because of is lost that it hath do, the spider bathe many fete translation front Greek into Arabic and then into at leste VI or VIII and it sitteth in the myddes of Latin. In fact it was Pliny who was recognised as the webbe redv to take suche fives and vermin as the foremost authority throughout medieval cometh in it, and their moistour they sucke and times. His mixture of truth and fiction fitted well thereby they lette, whan they engender the with the many travellers’ talcs and the early female licth under with her belv upward, and printed book, which were generally of a very thev lav eggs and of those eggs come vonge uncritical character. Aristotle’s Historici spvnncrs whiche spvnne incontinent. Animalium was not fully appreciated again until PI i ni with Dioscorides tellcfieth [tclleth] that the fifteenth century, when, following the fall of the white and pure webbe is very soverayne to Constantinople in 1453, his Greek manuscripts manv tilings, and specially to be layde to a were released and could be accurately translated frcsche wounde for it staunchcth the blode, it mto Latin, most notably by Theodore of Gaza kepeth it from swelling, from filvng, and it (Venice, 1476). comfortheth the wounde. An early work on natural history w'as that of Plinius, for the stinge or bitte of the spinner is the German naturalist Konrad von Magenberg, gode the bravnc of a capon with a lytcll peper who wrote the Buch der Natur(1475). Von dronke in swere wyne. Also the ralowe of a lame Magenberg followed Pliny in stating that spiders is gode to be dronke with swete wyne for the originated from decaying matter, that they grew' bitte of the spinner. Also flics brayed in peces from seeds that were carried by the rays of the and layde to the bitte of the spynner swageth sun, and that if a person swallowed a spider these the payne and draweth oute all the venym. seeds w'ould remain in his or her saliva. The first important biological work in Eventually, the traditional adherence to English, The Noble Lyfe & Natures of Man, of Ancient Authority was dropped in preference to Bestes, Serpentys, Towles & Tisshes yt be Most the evidence of one’s own eyes. At first slowly in Knowen, was written in 1521 by Laurence the sixteenth centmy, and then more rapidly in Andrewes. It has a number of references to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the spiders. It was derived from Hortus Sanitatus study of spiders was reborn as the craft ot (1491), which contains one of the first printing spread across Europe. Entrenched illustrations of a spider-in an orb-web beliefs about spiders such as the dangers ot According to Jones-Walters, only two copies of tarantism were questioned and natural the Noble Lyfe exist. Andrewes wrote: phenomena such as gossamer were debated. A spynner or spyder is so named because it spinneth a gret dele of webbe ot threde, and it The story ofTarantism worketh always and whan it bathe all done with a The longest and most famous epidemic of blast of wynde it tcreth asunder and all the labour spider bites occurred in Italy during the Middle Ages. By all accounts the country was midsummer madness or mass hysteria. A gripped in a kind of mania for over three Neopolitan physician, Dr. Thomas Cornelius, hundred years. According to Pietro Matthiole wrote in 1672 that the tarantati were either of Sienna, it was near the town of Taranto in malingerers, wanton young women, or half­ Southern Italy that the first case of tarantism wits. He added that many people, especially was recorded in 1370. The species of spider women simulated being bitten and then that was alleged to cause the bites was the danced and raved under the pretext. original tarantula, Lycosa tarantula. The victims, the tarantati, sought relief from bites by doing the tarantella, a lively dance that was The Spider is Investigated supposed to flush the venom from the body. In 1695, Georges Baglivi, an eminent Italian The symptoms suffered by the tarantati were physician, was the first respected academic to said to include severe pain and swelling, accurately describe and illustrate the spidei muscle spasms, vomiting, palpitation, fainting, thought to be responsible, Lycosa tarantula. priapism (involuntary erections), shameless He was confident that tarantism was a true exhibitionism, acute melancholia, and clinical condition resulting from the bite of this delirium, leading to death if untreated. particular spider. Indeed, his description of the Apparently, the victims died either laughing or symptoms was highly credible. He discussed crying. Unfortunately, the drugs of the time the treatment, and noted the greater frequency were of no use, and even alcoholic intoxication of the disease in the month of July. Georges could not bring relief. The only cure was music Baglivi distinguished true from pretend and dancing — which had to be prolonged and tarantism and also mentioned some different strenuous, resulting in copious sweating. kinds of tarantula, for example the black Samuel Pcpys was intrigued bv these strange "■ uvea'' which had the appearance of a grape events, and he mentioned tarantism and the ( uva). However, he mistakenly said that the musical cure in his Diary ( 1662). He wrote spider dies soon after biting the victim. that a Mr Templar, a great traveller, had Dr. Richard Mead, who was interested in informed him that “all harvest long there are poisons, wrote in 1736: fiddlers who go up and down the fields everywhere in expectation of being hired by The bite of the tarantula is harmless in winter those who are stung.” Victims were offered a but in the dog days of the summer the victims choice of tune. But different writers on the ate seized by a violent sickness and they dance subject were for many years unable to agree on for three or four hours, then rest, continuing whether the whole thing was true or false. for three or four days by which time they are Descriptions of authentic cases of tarantism generally freed from all their symptoms, which alternated with equally confident denials that do nevertheless attack them about the same the attacks were anything more than time the next year. Dr. Mead commented that the affected, or to have survived in some remote parts of Spain, ta.ranta.ti, while dancing “talk and act southern Italy, and Sardinia. In Sardinia, obscenely, and take great pleasure in playing tarantism was known as arza but was claimed with leaves and swords.” to be always caused by real bites, unlike the Oliver Goldsmith recorded in An History of more institutionalised tarantism is southern the Earth and Animated Nature (1795) that Italy. In Sardinia, the local cure involved while visiting Italy he attended the dances and, putting the poor victim into a refuse heap up to for scientific reasons, caused a servant to be his neck. If a man, he would be surrounded by bitten by Lycosa tarantula. There was no serious seven women dancing around the dung heap as result; nothing more than tense itching. exorcists. If he laughed, that was a sign of Subsequently many other medical scientists recover)'; if he couldn’t laugh he would die. carried out tests, which undermined the belief that Lycosa tarantula could possibly have caused great suffering to masses of people in Europe. The Real Culprit Their observations repeatedly found that no Today after examining all the evidence, it seems serious result ensued from the bite of this spider. that a spider was actually part of the story but However, there can be no doubt that the that the wrong species had been blamed. Thus dances did actually occur; indeed they are part the real culprit was not Lycosa tarantula, of history. So if the spider was not really to recognised today as a kind of wolf spider, but in blame, then the most likely explanation is that fact Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, the the dances were in effect an antidote to the Mediterranean black widow species, known in bleak conditions of life that followed the Black parts of southern Europe as the malmignatte. Death. It was a period when superstition, The symptoms that had been described were ignorance, repression, war and disease all therefore accurate in terms of the malmignatte, contributed to fear and insecurity. Earlier, with the bite of which has a systemic effect on the the coming of Christianity, revelries had been whole body of the victim. Furthermore the banned. Thus, the “choreomania” of tarantism, malmignatte has always occurred in southern indulged in ever)' summer, gave people just the Italy. It can be abundant in the fields but is shy excuse they needed to relieve all their neuroses, and less obvious that the larger Lycosa frustrations, monotony and nymphomania! tarantula. Probably when the harvesters were Having possessed Italy, where it was at its looking for a culprit they found the wrong height in the seventeenth century, the mania species. Of course, the study into spiders and spread to southern France, Spain, Istria and the identification of the different kinds was Dalmatia. By the eighteenth century the mass then in its infancy. George Baglivi was close to hysteria was in decline, though the dance called the truth when he described the different tarantella remained popular and still is so in “varieties” of tarantula — his “uvea” was Italy. Even today, pockets of tarantism are said undoubtably the malmignatte. Different Spiders Have Different Venoms operations w'ere performed. For example, black The black widow of North America, the widow' spider bites often caused abdominal malmignatte of southern Europe, the arana rigiditv, but this w'as frequently misdiagnosed as brava of Chile, the arana del lino of Argentina, a perforated appendix, or peritonitis. The first the arana capnlinn of Mexico, the red-back of serious medical investigation into spider bites in Australia, the Kapito of New Zealand, and the the United States, published in 1889, was by button spider of South Africa are all closely Riley and Howard. Their book reflected the related examples of the thirty or so species that general scientific opinion at the time, w'hich belong to die worldwide genus latrodcctus. Their doubted the existence in the United States of distribution is in those parts of the w’orld where any spider that could possibly cause dire effects grapes grow'. None of them is larger than a in a healthy body. But Dr. C R Corson w'as one thumb nail, and mostly the female’s appearance is of many other physicians w'ho responded that globular, resembling a grape, shiny black and red. spiders of the genus Latrodectus were indeed The males are tiny and do not bite. very poisonous and that their bites had been The black widow found in the United States, followed by severe illnesses and, in some cases, Latrodectus mactans, accounts for about 50 death. He said that this spider had a venom percent of the total spider bites in the country, whose toxicity, considering its size and the though many go unrecorded. This spider is quantity of the poison, exceeded that of any most abundant in California, w'here the other living thing—at least when the poison w'as number of recorded cases during the period administered in tender parts of the body. He 1726-1943 (before the availability of an pointed out that the spider inhabited privies, antivenom) w'as 578, with 32 deaths. More which in those days w'ere commonly outdoors. than 80 percent of the victims were male. Consequently, the site of the bite in a goodly Nowadays, deaths are much less frequent. But proportion of the male patients was the penis. in nineteenth century America there were many What seemed to happen in these cases w'as that talcs of extreme fear concerning the effects of the spider w'as attracted to vibration caused by a the black widow spider bites. One storv, related stream of urine splashing on tire w'eb. by Charlotte Taylor ( 1860 ), W'as that of a man In an extensive collection of spider-bites “stung” by a black widow' while out hunting. cases, Dr. Browning (1901) recorded that on Following the bite, he gave away his watch, July 26, 1900, at Fullerton, California, Dr. bade his friends goodbye, and made Clark attended a patient who had been bitten preparations for an early demise. on the penis by a spider in an outhouse and During the early years of colonisation in who w'as suffering great pain at the site of the North America, the medical profession w'as bite. The doctor’s examination revealed two unfamiliar with the symptoms of spider bites. tiny pink spots on the glands. Severe pain and On the frontier many bites were w'ronglv muscle spasms developed in the victim’s diagnosed, and sometimes unnecessary abdomen, legs and back, and there w'as difficulty breathing, with perspiration, somewhat relieved. The pain in lesser degree vomiting, a temperature of 105 degrees, returned after the bath and in the evening I was restlessness, and delirium. In his suffering, the able to eat but the following night my sleep was patient would throw himself onto the bed, then much disturbed by unpleasant dreams. I left the onto a chair, and then roll on the floor, over hospital after three days but found that recovery and over again. From the start he seemed to be was not complete; a feeling of wretchedness possessed with the idea that he was fatally remained for a couple of days. bitten and would inevitably die. In fact, death did occur, approximately thirteen hours after the bite, despite various treatments. The next Classes of Venom day the water closet was opened up to reveal The syndrome resulting from a spider bite three or four shiny black, medium-sized spiders (envenomation) is termed araneism, or, in the with red spots. particular case of the black widow bite, The American arachnologist W J Baerg, of latrodectism. Fayetteville Arkansas, made a brave gesture to scientific injur)'when in 1922 he arranged for himself to be bitten by a black widow. He Neurotoxic Venoms survived the bite but suffered considerably and The black widow ( Latrodectus spp.) is the best reported later: known example of a spider with a neurotoxic venom. I he venom acts to block the The first test proved very difficult and ended in transmission of nerve impulses to the muscles, failure; it is not always easy to make the black causing rigidity and cramp. It overstimulates widow bite. The second test resulted in all I the transmitters acetylcholine and could wish. The spider dug into the third finger noradrenalin, causing paralysis of both the of the left hand and held on till I removed her sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous about 5 or 6 seconds later. The pain at first was systems. The combined effect is to impose a faint but very soon began to increase into a sudden and severe stress on the human body. sharp piercing sensation. In less than one hour But the effects differ on other animals. Tests the pain had reached the shoulder and within have discovered that the cat is very susceptible two hours the chest as affected; the diaphragm to the venom, while dogs are quite resistant seemed partially paralysed, breathing and and high doses are necessary to cause death. speech became spasmodic. After 5 hours the Sheep and rabbits are almost entirely resistant. pain extended to the legs and after 9 hours I By contrast, some large animals are very was taken to hospital. A severe nausea and susceptible. Venom extracted from one black excruciating pain not only kept me awake but widow caused the death of a horse, while the kept me moving throughout the night. In the injection of a preparation from a macerated morning I took a hot bath and found the pain black widow killed a large camel (thus, Latrodectus is both venomous and poisonous). operations, or difficult birth deliveries, would In insects, which arc the regular prey of usually claim that they were tolerable in Latrodectus, the venom causes rapid paralysis, comparison with the agony of a black widow which prevents escape or retaliation; the spider spider bite. begins to suck the body juices while the prey is In medical terms, the symptoms of black still alive. widow spider bites are systemic (the effects are felt throughout the body) and include accelerated heartbeat, increased blood pressure, Prey Capture breathing difficulties, and muscle paralysis. If In hot, dry places, black widow spiders death does occur it is usually because the (Latrodectus) may actually exist on a diet of breathing muscles are paralysed and the victim scorpions caught in their tough webs. suffocates. Black widow venom is claimed to be fifteen times more potent that that of a rattlesnake. However, because the quantity Eating Vertebrates injected is so minute, the mortality' of untreated There have also been many records (e.g., Robert victims is no more than 5 percent, compared Raven) of the much smaller black widow and with 15 to 20 percent in cases of rattlesnake bite. red-back spiders ( Latrodectus) hoisting mice, lizards, and snakes into their webs. The Occurrence of Venomous Spiders. Early human cultures probably thought of Much Feared Spiders venomous creatures as a kind of punishment Many spiders whose bites are dangerous are meted out by evil gods. In the past, snakes and actually timid and quite unimpressive. Perhaps scorpions were undoubtedly feared more than the best example is the black widow spider spiders. But today, as snakes become less (Latrodectus spp.) When disturbed, black common and venomous scorpions are relatit ely widows often let themselves fall from their localized in their distribution, only spiders can webs and pretend to be dead. Usually they bite be said to be thriving alongside man. And, as only when accidentally pressed against the luck would have it, the kinds of spiders that body of the victim. However, the bite can be adapt readilv to manmade environments tend extraordinarily painful, less so at the actual site to include the poisonous or, more correctly, of penetration than in the chest, lower venomous species (venomous means delivering abdomen, and legs. Many muscles go into or injecting venom; poison means toxic). spasm or cramp. The pain has been described as In Chile, a country where venomous snakes being similar to having one’s flesh torn away by are virtually absent, fatalities caused by spider a pack of wild dogs. It is said that patients who bites are by no means unknown. In Southern had previously suffered from painful illnesses or California, as many as four-hundred spider bites are reported to doctors each year; most of the anything better than a few threads strung victims are children or farm labourers working together at random. On chloral hydrat, an in the fruit plantations. In Brazil, in the region ingredient of sleeping pills, spiders “drop off ofSào Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, approximately before they even get started.” 45 percent of accidents from venomous or NASA scientists believe the research dem­ poisonous creatures are the result of spider onstrates that web-spinning spiders can be used bites. One hospital in Sâo Paulo treated 1,136 to test drugs because the more toxic the spider bites in 1983; 60 percent of the bites chemical, the more deformed was the web. were caused by the much-feared Brazilian The scientists believe their previous work on wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer). the geometry of crystals will help them to Even in a country like Great Britain , where the devise computer programs that can analyse chance of meeting a dangerous spider is slim, web-building objectivity in order to predict the the risk is nevertheless increasing because of toxicity' of new medicines. “It appears that one introductions from abroad. of the most telling measures of toxicity is a decrease, in comparison with a normal web, of the numbers of completed sides [of a web]; the A Spot of Speed Puts Spiders in a Spin greater the toxicity, the more sides the spider (From www.cling.gu.se [The Educational Programme in fails to complete” the scientists say'. Computing Linguistics, Goteborg University]) Paul Hillard, spider specialist at the Natural Scientists at the United States National History' Museum in London, said îesearchers Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) first discovered the effects of psychotropic have turned their attention from the mysteries of drugs on spiders during experiments at the end the cosmos to a more esoteric area of research: of the 1960s. The researchers fed caffeine to what happens when you get a spider stoned. spiders in hope of making them spin webs in Their experiments have shown that common the late evening rather than during the early house spiders spin their webs in different ways dawn. The result was eccentric webs rather according to the psychotropic drug they have than earlier spinning, he said. been given. Spiders on marijuana made a reasonable stab at spinning webs but appeared to lose concentration about halfway through. Spider-bite Horror Those on Benzedrine —speed —spin their (From The Book of the Spider by Paul Hillyard) webs with great gusto, but apparently without much planning leaving large holes” according Huge, poisonous spiders are invading the town to New Scientist magazine. of Antofagasta. They arc attacking the Caffeine one of the most common drugs inhabitants. Their bite inflicts great wounds like consumed by Britons in soft drinks, tea and the gash of a knife. Twenty persons, including coffee, makes spiders incapable of spinning nine children, are already in hospital suffering from such wounds. Nothing like these spiders she became hysterical. She was vomiting and a has, apparently, ever been seen before. They are physician was called. He treated her for of an unknown species. An “SOS” has been nothing more than hysteria but despite that she received by the public health authorities in subsequently recovered. Santiago, Chile, from doctors declaring She was fortunate. themselves powerless in the face of this invasion ... “Large and black” is the further On foggy mornings, Charlotte’s web was truly a brief telegraphic description. thing of beauty. This morning each thin strand was decorated with dozens of tiny beads of water. Thus ran a vivid newspaper report from Reuters The web glistened in the light and made a pattern Agency in April 1934. More realistic reports of loveliness and mystery, like a delicate veil. have come from medical sources in the United States. For example, the case of a fifty-five-year- E B White, Charlotte’s Web old California physician who was bitten by what was thought to be a black widow spider: Perhaps the highest achievement of the spider’s craft is the orb web; its qualities of design and The creature came from beneath the seat of a material are truly remarkable. Usually it is privy and bit him three times on the testicles. constructed at night, the spider relying on touch Fiery, excruciating pain followed, and the alone, without any visual feedback. It is quite stomach muscles became as stiff as a board. The ingenious how the line is initially laid across a physician diagnosed his own case and decided gap, for example between two bushes, or over a upon the treatment. Unfortunately, antiseptics small stream. In many hot countries, giant orb and narcotics were powerless to relieve the pain webs, six feet wide and more, festoon the and complications ensued. He lost his appetite, telegraph wires and are suspended across paths. suffered paralysis from a stroke, because of These great round webs are the work of golden- raised blood pressure, and finally died from a silk or giant wood spiders (Nephila species), diseased appendix and peritonitis. which have bodies two to three inches long and legs span up to eight inches across. Such webs are Another case told of a fifteen-year-old girl tough and can ensnare small birds and bats. They who took straws from a haystack during warm will strongly resist any person walking through. weather on Rhode Island. As she did so, a black spider with “very shiny eyes” ran on to the back of her hand. That Webs ns strong ns Fishnets afternoon the affected hand, as well as the arm, In Two Tears Among New Guinea Cannibals began to twitch and pain. The pain gradually (1906), the natural-history collector Mr. E A shifted to her stomach, increasing in intensity Pratt wrote this account of natives fishing with until the mid-morning of the third day when spiderweb nets: One of the greatest curiosities that I noted during covering of stout spider-web. Having placed this my stay in New Guinea was the spiders’ web hoop on the surface of the water, buoying it fishing-net. In the forest at this point (near Yule upon two light sticks, they shook it over a Bay), huge spiders’ webs, six feet in diameter, portion of a nest of ants, which formed a large abounded. These were woven in a large mesh, kind of tumour on the trunk of a neighbouring varying from one inch square at the outside of the tree, thus covering the web with a number of web to about one eighth inch at the centre. The struggling young insects. This snare was then web was most substantial, and had great resisting allowed to float down the stream, when the little power, a fact of which the natives were not slow to fish, which were between two and three inches avail themselves, for they pressed into the service long, commenced jumping up at the white of man this spider, which is about the size of a bodies of the ants from underneath the hoop, hazel-nut, with hair)', dark-brown legs spreading apparently not seeing the intervening web on to about two inches. At die place where the webs which they lay, as it appeared nearly transparent are thickest they set up long bamboos, bent over in the water. In a short time one of the small fish in a loop at the end. In a very short time the spider succeeded in getting its snout and gills entangled weaves a web on diis most convenient frame, and in the web, when a native at once waded in, and the Papuan has his fishing-net ready to his hand. placed his hand under the entangled fish. With two of these web-hoops we caught nine or ten of He goes down to the stream and uses it with these fish in a quarter of an hour. great dexterity to catch fish of about one pound m weight, neither the water nor the fish E W Gudger was particularly interested in sufficing to break the mesh. The usual practice the accounts of spiderweb fishnets. He learned is to stand on a rock in a backwater where there from Captain C A Monkton (1918) that such is an eddy. There they will watch for a fish, and nets were used by the natives of the Trobriand then dextrously flip it up and throw it onto the Islands, near New Guinea, to catch sluggish bank. Several men would set up bamboos so as fish weighing up to three pounds. The net was to have nets ready all together, and would then made by winding three or four strong webs arrange little fishing parties. It seemed to me across the fork of a branch. Gudger quoted a that the substance of the web resisted water as letter sent to him by Monkton: readily as a duck’s back. One peculiarity of the spider web was that in the An ingenious method of fishing was water it appeared quite invisible to the human described by H B Guppy in his book The eye; the fork one could see but not the actual Solomon Islands and Their Natives (1887): net. The net also did not appear to be very perishable, as I have seen natives take one from They first bent a pliant switch into an oval hoop, a wall where they have been resting for some- about a foot length, over which they spread a days, make a patch or so, and go off fishing. The accounts by Pratt and Guppy of fishing The energy-dissipating thicket of threads in with spiderwebs were ridiculed by other writers, three-dimensional webs is missing in orb including A S Aleck in his book A Naturalist in webs, such as that of the garden cross spider. Cannibal Land (1913). However, Meek did These two-dimensional structures work in a observe that the New Guinea natives captured very different fashion — and it is in these webs enormous birdwing butterflies “with nets made that the coevolution of remarkable structures most ingeniously with spiders’ webs.” Indeed, and building material can be seen most in view of the large weight of evidence the vividly. Because there is no dense tangle to doubters were probablv mistaken. From the stop the inseet, a few broken strands would testimony of so many writers it seems that the allow it to fly straight through the web. Thus, fishing nets are, or were, quite genuine. All of a two-dimensional web requires more refined the above accounts probably refer to the golden materials and architecture than those used in silk spiders, or giant wood spiders, of the three-dimensional webs. Probably the best genus Ncpbila. known of all two-dimensional designs is the polar mesh typified in the orb web of the garden cross spider. The web is a familiar Sheets and Three-Dimensional Webs one. Firm, dry threads radiate from the center From Scientific American, March 1992 (p. 73) like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. Laid down Other three-dimensional webs include tangle- in a tight spiral fixed to these radii is one long webs, frame-webs and mesh webs. Tangle-webs, thread of sticky silk. The functions of this, such as those of the black widow spiders, and any, web are diverse — including service Latrodcctus are somewhat irregular, but three as an early-warning system against predators, structural levels can be recognised: an as a burglar alarm and, for a courting male, as uppermost complex of supporting threads, a harp and dance floor. But its over-riding central zone of tangle threads, and a lower zone function is to trap. of vertical trap threads. The trap threads, under To be an effective trap, the web must be able tension, are beaded with gluey droplets near to stop the hurtling insect comparable, from their attachment to the ground. Insects crawling the web’s perspective, to a guided missile —and over the ground may break the attachment and, retain it long enough for the spider’s inspection getting stuck to the line, find themselves lifted and bite. These functions are aided by the basic off the ground toward the spider waiting among architecture of die web. But the two-dimensional the tangle-web. The impressive dome-web of orb web cannot ensnare prey by dissipating the the subtropical Cyrtopbora has a sheet of fine victim’s energy through breaking strands, as does netting, resembling a horizontal orb web, the three-dimensional web. Instead the main surrounded above and below with an irregular work of dissipating and absorbing the insect s mesh of threads functioning as a maze that kinetic energy is done by the inherent properties knocks down flying and jumping insects.) of the silk, in particular die capture thread. This fiber is strong at great extensions, for it “In the spring of 1881 I was a few feet must not break, and soft at small extensions, for distant from a couple of individuals who were it must not provide the trapped insect with quarreling,” George Emery Goodfellow, a purchase. Its silk must stretch without rapid physician in Tombstone, Ariz., scribbled in his elastic recoil — otherwise the prey would be diary more than a century ago. “They began flung back, trampoline fashion, whence it came. shooting.” Two bullets pierced the breast of The silk must also be elastic enough to contend one gunman, who staggered, fired his pistol, with the continual stretching and relaxing of a and crumpled onto his back. network buffeted by wind and distorted by Examining the body, Goodfellow found flexible supports, such as blades of grass. that, despite fatal injuries, “not a drop of blood Indeed, because the threads of the capture area had come from either of the two wounds. are highly sticky, any substantial sagging or “From the wound in the breast a silk flapping about could quickly cause them to handkerchief protruded,” he noted. But when adhere to one another, an event that would he tugged on the handkerchief, he found the create gaps in the even mesh of the trap and bullet wrapped within it. Evidently, the bullet provide loopholes for potential prey. had torn through the man’s clothes, flesh, and To be effective, therefore, the orb web needs bones but had failed to pierce his silk strong capture threads that show great energy­ handkerchief, Goodfellow recounted in his absorbing deformation yet spring back rapidly “Notes on the Impenetrability of Silk to without sagging; a tall order, since the Bullets.” combination of these properties is normally Fascinated by this, he documented other absent from silk. Although they are strong, cases of silk garments halting projectiles — typical spider threads, such as those in the including one incident in which a silk bandanna web s radii, generally break when they are tied around a man’s neck kept a bullet from extended beyond 25 percent. Such threads severing his carotid artery. “The life of this man have great stiffness at smaller extensions, but was, presumably, saved by the handkerchief,” when relaxed they sag for quite some time Goodfellow wrote. before resuming their original length. The strength, toughness, and elasticity of silk continue to intrigue scientists, who wonder what gives this natural material its unusual Physical Sciences and Technology: Artificial qualities. Finer than human hair, lighter than Spider Silk cotton, and — ounce for ounce — stronger than From Science News Online, March 9, 1996 steel, silk tantalizes materials researchers seeking to duplicate its properties or synthesize ‘Scientists vie to synthesize the precious strands it for large-scale production. of the golden orb weaver’ Visions of wear-resistant shoes and clothes; By R ic h a r d L ip k in stronger ropes, nets, seatbelts, and parachutes; and rustfree panels and bumpers for Jelinski. One must determine the fiber’s automobiles all dance through researchers’ molecular architecture, understand the genes minds. So do improved sutures and bandages, that yield silk proteins, and learn how to spin artificial tendons and ligaments, and supports the raw material into threads. for weakened blood vessels. Soldiers and police Working with chemist Alexandra H long for bulletproof vests of spider silk. Simmons and physicist Carl A Michal, both at While many insects secrete silks of varying Cornell, Jelinski proposed in the Jan. 5 quality, the dragline silk of the golden orb­ Science a model to explain dragline silk’s weaving spider, Ncpbiln clnvipcs, has attracted strength and elasticity. the most scientific attention. Researchers Scientists had known for years that, of the 20 marvel at its high tensile strength and ability to natural amino acids, only 7 alanine and stretch without snapping. It is tougher, glycine, with lesser amounts of glutamine, stretchier, and more waterproof than the leucine, arginine, tyrosine, and serine — serve silkworm’s strands used today in fine garments. as silk’s primary constituents. Their exact Spider dragline silk “exhibits a combination sequences and structural relationships, of strength and toughness unmatched by high- however, had remained elusive. performance synthetic fibers,” says David A Jelinski and her colleagues have used nuclear Tirrcll, a materials scientist at the University of magnetic resonance (NMR) to show how the Massachusetts at Amherst. natural silk fiber’s main components hang Even though it’s lighter, dragline silk has together. The fiber is made up of two alanine- proven itself in many ways superior to Kevlar, rich proteins embedded in a jellylike polymer. the strongest synthetic polymer, agrees Lynn W Jelinski’s group found that the crystalline Jelinski, a biophysicist at Cornell University. structure of one of the proteins is highly “The question is whether we can use our ordered and the structure of the other is less understanding of dragline silk proteins to ordered. These proteins stick to the glycine- produce a bio-inspired material.” rich polymer, which makes up about 70 Dragline silk provides a frame for spiderwebs percent of the material. and enables a dangling spider to plummet down Based on the NMR studies, Jelinski argues and nab its prey. Because the orb weaver’s that dragline silk’s strength and elasticity derive survival depends on dragline silk, some 400 from a blend of ordered and disordered million years of evolution have fine-tuned a components. The silk’s amorphous polymer, “remarkably tough and versatile material,” says resembling a “tangle of cooked spaghetti, John M Gosline, a biologist at the University ot makes the fiber elastic, while the two types of British Columbia in Vancouver. protein give it toughness. Now, several research groups are vying to Moreover, Jelinski holds that the synthetic spin the first artificial spider silk, a feat that silk of the future shouldn’t be “too regular” requires a three-pronged approach, says in its molecular patterning. “Nature’s randomness,” she says, “would give the At the US Army’s Natick (Mass.) Research, material extra strength.” Development & Engineering Center, David L For the spider dragline silk, scientists believe Kaplan and his colleagues also have set up a they have identified the entire genetic sequence, program to fabricate spider silk. which measures more than 22,000 base pairs. But Using techniques similar to those of Lewis, they disagree about how much of that sequence Kaplan’s team has identified what they believe needs to be cloned to make proteins good are the critical portions of the dragline silk enough to spin into top-quality synthetic threads. genes, then fashioned polymer fibers based on Long stretches in the sequence may be those several hundred base pairs. They’re inconsequential to the material itself, func­ banking on the idea that they don’t need to tioning as regulatory genes for the spider’s own replicate the entire set of genes. Rather, by purposes. Some scientists believe that as few as focusing on just the portions of proteins 300 base pairs may suffice to make a good silk, believed to make silk tough, they think they but others hold that several thousand or even can produce silklike threads. the entire sequence is needed. Plants and fungi, as well as bacteria, could Randolph V Lewis, a molecular biologist at serve as hosts for artificial genes. Kaplan says the University of Wyoming in Laramie, has that if a robust plant could express a dragline identified genes for dragline silk’s two main silk gene, perhaps silk proteins could be proteins. His team recently cloned portions of harvested in vast quantities, processed into a those genes and implanted them in the liquid polymer, and spun in factories. bacterium Escherichia coli. He has coaxed the “Now we’re spinning silk fibers from the bacterium into producing silk protein in synthetic proteins,” he says. The Army’s solution, which he squeezes through a fine interest in artificial silk lies in making durable tube to make synthetic silk fibers. and protective clothing, parachutes, and war “I think soon we’ll be able to make a close paraphernalia — perhaps even bulletproof vests analog of spider silk,” says Lewis. “Will it be to replace existing Kevlar ones. identical to silk? Probably not. But it may still “We want a biologically inspired synthetic fiber be an excellent fiber.” with many uses,” he adds. “It should be as tough Lewis says he doubts there’s anything as natural silk but easier and cheaper to make.” magical about the way spiders spin silk. Cloning the entire silk protein is not “They’re not even good at making fibers,” he necessary, agrees John P O’Brien, a chemist at says. “Spiders vary the silk’s consistency too DuPont Co. in Wilmington, Del. “We think much. A manufacturer wouldn’t tolerate so we can mimic most of natural silk’s properties much variation.” with much simpler polymers and produce them Ideally, he wants to do more than just large-scale. replicate natural silk strands. “I want to control “Silk has a lot in common with reinforced silk’s properties,” Lewis says. rubber,” he adds. “This allows us to use theories of rubber elasticity to design the synthetic fiber’s architecture.” To reduce the length and complexity of the synthetic protein, DuPont chemist Stephen R Fahnestock says his group has honed in on four short amino acid sequences from one of the two major proteins. Bv implanting a synthetic gene for those sequences, his team has coaxed bacteria and yeast into producing a novel protein, which DuPont is spinning like conventional polymers into fibers. “They’re not quite like natural spider silk,” says O’Brien, “But they’re still good when woven into multifilament yarns.” Kenn FI Gardner, a biophysicist at DuPont, points out that spider silk, both the natural and new synthetic versions, is essentially a form of nylon. “That’s our business,” he says. “What’s particularly interesting to us is the way these organisms make silk nylons in environmentally benign ways,” O’Brien says. “They process proteins from water-based solutions, without using petroleum products or organic solvents. From a manufacturing point of view, this is very' attractive.” Given the “consumer love affair with natural fibers,” he adds, “we want to offer substitutes for natural fibers that are free of associated problems, such as poor wash-wear performance, stretching, wrinkling, and shrinkage.” “Ideally, we’re aiming for a better-than- natural alternative fiber.”

Unless otherwise stated, all excerpts selected from Ihe Book oj the Spider: A Compendium of Aracbno-Facts and Eipjbt-Lcjjfled Ijtrc by Paul Hillyard (Avon Books ISBN 0-380-73075-8) Appendix *

TREASURY OF HUMAN INHERITANCE

DYSTROPHIA MYOTONICA E» ALLIED DISEASES

605 Barnes's Case

(Progressive Muscular Dystrophy)

t o

T t 't- -r O

± • • o ® ® 4- 4, 4. 4- 4- _L_ I I 1 I I TT 1“ I» I» T- I t 1- I I' 1* Sf. | t I I 1s I' • ®0O O oo® I ® o o o ® 4, 4' 4' I 4- 4- 4- 4- 4- I J— Vr I I 7- T - . Î I l t I t tl ' l •T- "T1 Is I' T T" I ® • ® ©o o © oo a® O © © O ® ® • • ® 0 0 4- 4/4 /4- 4/4^ 4/ 4/ 4' 4/ 4- 4- -l' I I I t t Is "I" I /f I 'Î' ^ I 1 ^ 1 • • • ®oo O® O O IO O IM C O • 0 0 4' 4- 4/ 4/ 4^ 4^ ^ 4- T- 4 ® ------r ---1--- n — 4 4 4 0 o O• ® ® ® 4 4 • if 4 ;] I _J_ In I » | » | « T" ^Ht - t I T T 4 r 4 I V t 4 4 4 0 € • ® ® 9 9 • • ) • • • 4 4 4 4o 4 ---r „ ] l I 1 I l " I I» I" I I I 4 I' ^ 1" I I I' 4 4 4 ’ l l 4 4 4 4 o • © • o • ® • • • • • • 4 4 4, 4 4 4 4 4t— 4r 1-i 4- 4 vl' 4' r t'T' •• 4- 4 TREASURY OF H UM AN INHERITANCE TREASURY OF HUMAN INHERITANCE DYSTROPHIA MYOTONICA H ALLIED DISEASES DYSTROPHIA MYOTONICA Et ALLIED DISEASES

G05 Barnes's Case 60S Barnes's Case IProgresvvr Muscular Dystrophy) (Progressive Muscular Dystrophy)

COLOUR KEY CASE NOTES

Muscular Dystrophy

Row 1 1 from left, was mcknamed ’Dock»' on accounl of Ins gait; he had born of powerful physique w ith long body and short legs, in later years he had d ill.e u lty m getting about and Asymptomatic Sad a buggy w ith a very low step into which he could haul himself; he had increasing paralysis of his legs up to his death.

Row 2. 2 from left, was known to be paralysed for many years before his death. History Unknown 3 from left had normal children and grandchildren. 4 from left, realizing the nature o f h.s disease, became addicted to alcohol.

Row 3 ? and 3 from left became affected in m iddle age . no details of their cases were available. Paralysed 4 from left, had been a powerfully built youth capable of unusual feats of strength ; he became adipose and showed first signs o f weakness at 45. 5 from left was known to have suffered from the disease for many years. 7 from left, had Herculean strength and powers of endurance ,n youth . bier je was own as ‘ Harry the Rapp’ on account of his stam ping gait ; progressive weakness o f h,s kgs was In cip ien t Disease noted from the age of 40 . he became adipose.

Row 4 4 from left, had been adipose and myopathic. 7 from left had painful cramp in his calves and lumbar region al 50. this was M o w e d by loss Deaf o f power n his legs a. 70 his hands and arms became affected : he had Herculean strength « the disease and could carry a piano on h,s back unable :a . 72 he w largely bedridden on account of greal muscular weakness ; al 80 he was able lo walk with Clinches 'w a stin g had occurred -n hrs hands and Ihe M oors o. h,s forearms were weak Muscular Dystrophy/Obcsc pectoral and all shoulder girdle muscles were good but his biceps and triceps were weak , the mos^seyere weakness in his lower I,mbs was in Ihe ilio-psoas muscles ; all tendon jerks were

ftro m W t is recorded as exhibiting a ■ forme fruste' type of myopathy, without adiposity ; at 68 he was thin and had signs of atrophy in both hands . his knee-jerks were sluggish Number of other siblings © 10 from left became aware of a tendency 10 fall over obstacles w ith d ifficu lty in rising, at 30 40 ■ later weakness in her arm s w ith atrophy in the small muscles o f her hands, was noted ; all her tendon jerks were abolished; she showed moderate adiposity. 11 from left, had m yopathy and walked badly in her later years t Male 12 from left, was adipose and myopathic. . .;_ hc 13 from left had severe rheumatism at 34, after which, marked weakness in his lower limbs was noted earlier h.s muscular strength had been m uch above the average ; at 66 he could lust walk alone and was able to m ount stairs w ith the help of h.s hands ; he had widespread Female atrophy, the greatest loss being in the quadriceps and iho-psoas muscles, no psudo-hypertrophy had occurred . his pectoral muscles remained good . he was adipose and myopathic. 19 from left, was discharged from the army for paralysis of his legs ; he died myopathic m

Number on upper line indicates age o f onset 2(Hrom left, had a waddling gait and had to put his hands on his knees to help him rise from - f a chair ; he died myopathic in 1914 + . Number on lower line indicates age of death JS from left, had difficult» in walking from the age of 11 ; no pseudo hypertrophy had occurred 21 from left, had a waddling gait ; he died myopathic, in an infirmary, after years of paralysis ’ at 47 she walked w ith crutches ; atrophy was most advanced in her lower extremity, seeo 22 from left, died from cancer . she had been myopathic and used sticks to enable her get particularly in flexion o f the hips.

23 from left, had been adipose and myopathic, he had required support in walking and often Row 6 2 from left, was not fat. had no demonstrable loss of power and had fair fe ll; he died fr o m 'd ro p s y 'in 1892. . np cc development : her knees and ankle-jerks were abolished and she was thus possibly an incipient 24 from left had weighed 20 stones and was very fat. but had no muscular weakness. 25 from left, became affected in her legs at 60, at 63 she was unable to rise unaided from her *3fiom left. ha d a fin e m usculature. showing true hypertrophy, with no evidence o f weakness chair ; she was adipose and died from 'd ro psy' at 70. all tendon jerks were absent in her lower extremities. . . . f th. , ae 26 from left, died after a prolonged period o f progressive paralysis ; she could not stand alone 5 from left showed signs o f weakness in her leg w ith increasing tendency to fall from the age for some years before her death ; she was fat and had weighed 18 stones ( 2 a 21 she weighed 9 1/2 stones at 29 this had increased to 13 1/2 ; weakness was noted £ £ £ * £ > * Ilio-psiasmuscles ; he,glutei, hams,rlogisand Row 5 2 from left, noticed pain in his left calf on walking, w ith increase o f size at 42; later shoulder girdle remained normal ; she was unable to walk upstairs . her knee and ankle jerxs both calves wasted and weakened . he was fat at 49 w ith slender lower lim bs he waddled, fell easily and was unable to rise w itho ut support; he had d ifficu lty in m ounting stairs; at this age “ Tram S ta g e d 13 had no loss of power bu, he, knee and ankle-jerks were absent his arms were normal but they wasted from the age of 54 ; at 57 the disease had progressed ; wasting was noted in his arms and legs and all tcndon-|erks were abolished. ssrra-™ -. - — * 4 from left was avrare of weakness in her legs 3t 45 . she waddled, could not stand on her toes or rise from a chair, and her calves were relatively enlarged, her knee-jerks and ankle-jerks honTM l/ag^lh^^wn with a iu h cm u w ie so f his lower extremities above the normal were absent and she weighed 13 1/2 stones ; at 54 her w eight had increased to 15 stones ; size ; his knee-jerks were sluggish, ankle-jerks were ab0™ ; . . d n0 signs 0f she walked w ith a stick and her arms were weakening. 19 from left, has infantile hemiplegia, w ith Jacksonian epilepsy . 12 from left, began to show weakness in his hip muscles at 29 ; at 31 he had a typical myopathic gait and absence of tendon-ierks ; some degree of adiposity was noted. myopathy. 17 from left, at 35. had pain in his thighs and calves towards the end o f the day but he was 34 Ï 2 le ft was adiprMc'and myopathic a, S2 : he firs, showed signs o f weakness a, about a strong man and aware o f no weakness ; his knee jerks were absent and his arms were very 45 ; his knee-and ankle-jerks were absent. mvoDathy. muscular ; at 45 slight failure o f power was evident and ? true hypertrophy o f his calves was noted ; the man himself was still unconscious o f any weakness . he had a tendancy to adiposity. 19 from left, had severe cramp in his thighs and calves on exertion ; pseudo hypertrophy was noted in both thighs . he had no atrophy but definite loss of power ; he showed signs of r 2ahom left, showed no evidence o f weakness bu, her knee- and ankle-jerks were absent a, myotonic contraction suggestive of Thomsen s Disease ; at 44 his gait was normal ; his knee and ankle-jerks and the tendon reflexes in his arms were abolished ; no loss of power was 22. demonstrable in his arms ; he was adipose ■or further parbculars o f this extremely interesting history Ihe original account ^ 20 from left, had marched tw enty miles a day easily in the war in 1 9 1 5 .4 years later he got more lhan 160 individuals were examtned m m an, ease mpeate ^ pains in his calves and tired a fter a few miles ; at 40 all his muscles were much above the normal size ; the extensors o f his knees and flexors of his hips were weak ; he was adipose ; all his tendon-jerks were abolished ; some atrophy in the muscles o f his hands occurred prior to his death from heart disease at 48 24 from left, had never been able to walk, but could just drag himself along the floor 29 from left, began to walk badly at 15 . she went to America and was said to have been bed­ ridden from the age o f 36 . she was m yopathic and j)robably adipose 30 from left, had progressive weakness of the legs from the age of 57 ; at 73 his legs were severely affected 3nd he walked with two sticks ; his hands were normal ; the tendon-jerks Bibl. No. 128 were abolished in his limbs ; he was adipose

Appendix: References

pp. 80-81 Details of spider-silking process p. 82 The Tree of Temperance, showing benefits caused by healthy living Coloured lithograph, 1872 Courtesy Wellcome Institute Library, London

Cast of the air tubes and their branches Drawing by Dr. M Lange

P- 83 Left Bronchus, source unknown

The Tree of Intemperance uncatalogued material Courtesy Wellcome Institute Library, London pp. 84-8 7 Treasury of Human Inheritance, Barnes's Case, 2001 Screen print, edition of two 4x15' Courtesy of Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow & Lisson Gallery, London p. 88 Lithocircus Magnifien Model by Hermann Mueller Neg. no. 318866 Photo: Charles H Coles Courtesy Dept, of Library Services, American Museum of Natural History p. 89 Gorgonettamirabilis Haeckel Protozoan glass model Neg. no. 321137 Photo: Boltin Courtesy Dept, of Library Services, American Museum of Natural History List of Works

p. 37 Bullet Proof Breath, 2001 glass, spider silk, 14x12" plexiglass vitrine, painted steel pedestal edition of four Collection The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia pp. 3 8 -4 0 Spirit Collection: Hippocrates, 1999 100 glass vessels, leaves, Kew solution, wire

dimensions variable Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery, New York

p. 41 Shoes with .10mm hole, 1996 size five women's shoes with hole in right shoe 10 fi x 3fl x 3 " each Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery, New York

pp. 4 2 -4 3 Webs of Genetic Connectedness, 2000 Three sheets of shot, laminated glass, pine supports

unlimited edition dimensions Variable Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery, New York

pp. 4 4 - 4 5 Set Conversation Pieces (Sailing Ships, Liver Birds, Convoluvus), 1998 three hand-painted bone-china pelves and fetal skulls presented on glass shelves wrth wooden brackets

dimensions variable Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery, New York

pp. 4 6 -4 9 English Family China Studies, 2001 five ink jet prints on watercolor paper each (framed): 13 x 18" Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery, New York & Lisson Gallery, London

pp. 5 0 -5 1 Second Class Male/Second Class Female, 1996 two human skulls, documents, two bronze heads, two circular plinths, plaster skulls, plaster moulds, two shelves

dimensions variable Collection Howard and Donna Stone, Chicago

p. 52 Home Made Bullet Proof Vests, 1994 vest with jewellery collection, vest with cotton wool, tailor s dummies

dimensions variable Collection Elayne and Marvin Mordes, Baltimore Christine Borland-Curriculum Vitae

Born: 1965, Darvel, Ayrshire, Scotland

Lives and works in Kilcreggan, Helensburgh, Scotland

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

2002 ‘Christine Borland’, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston ‘To be Set and Sown in The Garden', Permanent Sculpture Commission, Glasgow University, Glasgow ‘Christine Borland, Survey’, Presentation of 7 Projects throughout 2002/03, Kunstverein Munich ‘Significant Notes', Aarhus Kunstforening af 1847, Aarhus, Denmark ‘Dragon Doll' with Claire Barclay, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow 2001 ‘Nephila Mania', Fabric Workshop & Museum, Philadelphia ‘Christine Borland’, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto ‘Hoxa Sound’, ‘The Constant Moment’, Orkney, Scotland ‘Christine Borland’, Lisson Gallery, London ‘Fallen Spirits’, Anna Schwarz Gallery, Melbourne 2000 ‘Spirit Collection’, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York ‘Treasury of Human Inheritance', Galeria Toni Tapies/Editions T, Barcelona, Spain ‘Christine Borland’, Galerie Cent 8, Paris, France 1999 ‘What Makes for the Fullness and Perfection of Life, for Beauty & Happiness is Good. What Makes for Death, Disease, Imperfection, Suffering is Bad’, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland ‘Christine Borland', Galerie Eigen & Art, Berlin 1998 ‘Christine Borland', De Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Museum fiir Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Switzerland Fundaçao

Serralves, Oporto, Portugal ‘Christine Borland', Galerie Cent 8 ‘L’Homme Double’, Project Room, Aarhus Kunst Museum, Aarhus, Denmark 1997 ‘Christine Borland’, Galerie d’École, FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier, France ‘Christine Borland’, Lisson Gallery, London ‘The Dead Teach the Living’, Skulpturen Projekte, Munster, Germany 1996 ‘From Life’, Kunstwerke, Berlin ‘Second Class Male/Second Class Female’, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York ‘Christine Borland’, Galerie Eigen & Art, Berlin

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2002 ‘Mirroring Evil', Jewish Museum, New York ‘Mendel, The Genius of Genetics’, Mendel Monastery, Brno, Czech Republic ‘Happy Outsiders’, Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw ‘Iconoclash, Beyond the Image Wars', ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany ‘Remarks on Colour', Sean Kelly Gallery, New York ‘New, Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary British Art’, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh ‘Medicate’, Art Gallery & Museum, Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa ‘The Hygiene Show', The School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London 2001 ‘Open Country-Scotland', Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, Switzerland ‘Circles 4 ’, Centre for Art & Media Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany ‘Humid’, Spike Island, Bristol, England: travelling to the Melbourne Festival at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne & Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand ‘Devoler’, Institut d ’Art contemporain, Villeurbanne, France ‘Paradise (Lost)’, École Supérieure d’art, Perpignan, France ‘G3’, Casey Kaplan, New York ‘Here & Now: Scottish Art 1990-2001, Aberdeen City Art Gallery & Museum, Scotland ‘W orking Drafts: Envisioning the Human Genome', TwoTen Gallery, The Wellcome Trust, London ‘Space’, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow ‘Gene(sis): Contemporary Art explores Human Genomics', Henry Art Gallery, Seattle & touring 'From Beuys to Hirst: Art W orks at Deutsche Bank', Scottish National Museum of Modern Art, Edinburgh

2000 ‘Spectacular Bodies’, Hayward Gallery, London Biennale de Lyon, Halle Tony Gamier, Lyon ‘Paradise Now’, Exit Art, New York ‘Warning Shots', The Royal Armouries, Leeds ‘A Shot in the Dark’, Lisson Gallery, London 1999 ‘High Red Centre’, CCA, Glasgow Sampled, The Use of Fabric in Sculpture’, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds ‘Rewind the Future’, Chac Mool Contemporary Art in collaboration with Lisson Gallery, West Flollywood, USA

1998 ‘Artranspennine98’, Tate Gallery Liverpool, Liverpool Manifesta 2, Casino de Luxembourg, Luxembourg ‘In Your Face’, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh ‘Nettwerk-Glasgow’, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo, Norway ‘To be Real', Yerba Beuna Centre for the Arts, San Fransisco ‘Close Echoes’, City Gallery, Prague, travelled to Kunsthalle Krens, Germany ‘Artists Editions’, The Modern Institute, Glasgow ‘New Art from Britain’, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria ‘Here to Stay', Arts Council Purchases of the 1990s 1997 Life/Live', Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal Material Culture’, Hayward Gallery, London Flexible’ Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich Turner Prize Exhibition, Tate Gallery, London Letter & Event', Apex Art C.P., New York ‘absence/presence’, Kopavogur Art Museum, Iceland ‘W ish you were here too', 83 Hill St., Glasgow ‘Connections Implicites’, École nationale supérieur des beaux-arts, Paris ‘Picture Britannica: Art from Britain’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia travelling to Art Galley of South

Australia, Adelaide & City Gallery, Wellington, Australia ‘Building Site', Architectural Association, London

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

New: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary British Art, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 2002 Mirroring Evil: Nazi imagery I Recent Art, Norman Kleeblat, The Jewish Museum, New York, 2002 Mendel: The Genius of Genetics, Artakt, An exhibition at the Abbey of St Thomas, Brno, Czech, 2002 Happy Outsiders from London & Glasgow, Galerie Sztuki, Warsaw, Poland, 2002 Paradise Now, Picturing the Genetic Revolution, Exit Art, New York, The University of Michagan, The Tang Museum, Skidmore College, USA, 2001 Progressive Disorder, DCA, Dundee, Scotland & Bookworks, London, 2001 * Nothing, Graham Gussin & Elle Carpenter, 2001 Here & Now, DCA, Dundee, Scotland, 2001 * Open Country - Scotland, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, Switzerland, 2001 Humid, Spike Island, Bristol, England and a separate publication by the Melbourne Festival at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2001 Christine Borland, The Dead Teach the Living, De Appel, Amsterdam/Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Switzerland, Fundaçao Serralves, Oporto, Portugal, 2000 * Spectacular Bodies, Hayward Gallery, London, 2000 Partage d'Exotismes, Biennale de Lyon, Halle Tony Gamier, Lyon, 2000 Warning Shots, The Royal Armouries, Leeds, UK, 2000 Artranspennine98, Tate Gallery Liverpool, Liverpool, 1998 Manifesta 2, Casino de Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 1998 Nettwerk-Glasgow, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo, Norway, 1998 Close Echoes, City Gallery, Prague, travelled to Kunsthalle Krens, Germany, 1998 New Art from Britain, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, 1998 Here to Stay: Arts Council Purchases of the 1990s, 1998 Sculpturen Projekte 3, Münster, Germany, 1997 Christine Borland, FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier, France 1997 * Letter & Event, Apex Art, New York, 1997 absence/presence, Kopavogur Art Museum, Iceland, 1997 Connections Implicities, École nationale supérieur des beaux-arts, Paris, 1997 Pictura Britannica: Art from Britain, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia, 1997 Flexible, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, 1997 Life/Live, Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal, 1997 The Cauldron, The Henry Moore Sculpture Trust, Leeds, UK, 1996 Sawn Off, Stockholm, 1996 Material Culture, Hayward Gallery, London, England, UK, 1996 Nach Weimar, Kunstsammlung, Weimar, Germany, 1996 More Time, Less History, Fundacio Serralves, Oporto, Portugal, 1996 Full House, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany, 1996 From Life, Tramway, Glasgow/Kunstwerke, Berlin, 1996 * Christine Borland & Craig Richardson, Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK, 1993* Guilt by Association, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 1991 Self Conscious State, 3rd Eye Centre, Glasgow, Scotland, 1990

* Denotes one or two person publication Loretta Yarlow Kenn H Gardner Robert Johnston Michael Tarantino Marion Boulton Stroud and all the staff at the Fabric Workshop & Museum Pam Vander Zwan without whom the production of Bullet Proof Breath would not have been possible.

Special thanks to Grace, Ross and families Borland & Sinclair

Kathleen McLean and the installation team at the Art Gallery of York University, Toronto Lynn Herbert, Marti Mayo, the staff, and installation team at C.A.M. in Houston, Texas Cecile Panzieri, Director, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York Pilar Corrias, Director, Lisson Gallery, London Matthew Suib Jin W o n Han The Glass Department, Rhode Island School of Design Murray Robertson at Glasgow Print Studio Rose Thomas Stuart Purdy Kate Hargreaves Bert Ross Neil B eggs

Photographers: Alan Dimick, Ruth Clarke, Uwe Walther, Aaron Igler, Dave Morgan, Arend & Dilger, Colin Ruscoe, W it McKay (New York),

Peter MacCallum, Christian Mostar

And to Glasgow School of Art, where she is a Research Fellow Art Gallery of York University N145 Ross Building 4700 Keele Street Toronto, Ontario Canada M3J 1P3 tel: (416) 736-5169 fax: (416) 736-5985 e-mail: [email protected]

Christine Borland: Bullet Proof Breath & 2002 Art Gallery of York University, Toronto

National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Tarantino, Michael Christine Borland: bullet proof breath / Michael Tarantino.

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Art Gallery of York University, Nov. 1, 2001 -Jan. 20, 2002 and at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Mar. 22— June 23, 2002. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-921972-37-7

1. Borland, Christine, 1965- -Exhibitions. I. Borland, Christine, 1965- II. Contemporary Arts Museum (Houston, Tex.) III. York University (Toronto, Ont.). Art Gallery IV. Title.

N6797.B67A4 2002 709’.2 C2002-902020-4

The Art Gallery of York University is supported by York University, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.

Design: Robert Johnston Printing. Beith Printing Company Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland

Available through D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers 1 55 Sixth Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10013 tel: (212) 627-1999 fax: (212) 627-9484