The Case Chakrabarty—Intellectual Right of Ownership and the Genetic Colonialism of the 21st Century Lecture, 12-04-2007

As part of their artistic research on biobanking, Ursula Hans Bauer and Wolfgang Konrad discussed intellectual property rights and 21st century genetic colonialism.

At that time, the Norwegian government planned to build the world’s largest plant gene bank in the middle of the Antarctic ice desert. All plant gene banks were to be united in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the island of Spitsbergen. An atomic bomb-safe bunker was built under the ice, creating a kind of modern “Noah’s Ark”. The plant world, according to those responsible the gene bank, can be recreated in the event of an apocalypse.

The lecture explored the topic of “Nature Construction” beginning with artists and scientists expeditions in the 17th century, all the way to the first patent on living organisms and the designs of the world genebanks. Hansbauer & Konrad also provided a look at project steps completed in Büchsenhausen.