What do you call a transgenic rabbit that glows green when you expose it to blue light? A funky pet? A lab animal? A violation of animal rights? Here’s a clue: its creator is the Chicago-based artist Eduardo Kac. He says the rabbit, called Alba, is his way of getting involved in the debate on the ethics of gene technology. But that’s not how others see it. In fact, since Alba’s creation, Kac has managed to attract the combined wrath of animal rights activists, the anti-biotech lobby, even the French lab where Alba was born. Gretel Schueller asked…
But is it art?
6 January 2001
