Kathy High (USA) is an interdisciplinary artist working in the areas of technology, science, speculative fiction and art. She collaborates with scientists and artists, and considers living systems, empathy, animal sentience, and the social, political and ethical dilemmas of biotechnology and surrounding industries. She has received awards including the Guggenheim Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and National Endowment for Arts. High is Professor in Arts, and has a lab at the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy. She is project coordinator for the urban environmental center, NATURE Lab, with the community media organization The Sanctuary for Independent Media, and is also on the board of directors. She is also on the GENSPACE board of directors (Brooklyn) and REFRESH advisory board.

Piece’s synopsis

Attempted exchange project with David Bowie, that includes photography and a letter. It is a performative piece about taking on someone else’s identity through sharing their gut microbiome via a FMT. Photographs were offered to David Bowie in exchange for a poop sample. The offer was never completed as Bowie died in 2016. Looking at research in fecal microbial transplants and gut biomes to better understand the important function of bacteria in our bodies, this project embraces metaphors of interspecies love. As a patient with Crohn’s disease, High’s interest in gut microbiota starts with her own body. This series of images is part of a work called "You Are My Future" that explores the immune system as an autopoiesis system, capable of maintaining itself.

Photographer: Eleanor Goldsmith

Make up artist: Jeanna di Paolo