Aesthetics of the Living

The topic of de-extinction is in vogue after the announcement made to regenerate the Passenger Pigeon using DNA strands. Following my thoughts in a previous post (Strands of Life) I recollected an exhibit of 1981 in Ottawa, Canada, titled ‘Aesthetics of the Living – No 1: The Pigeon’. The work was the product of the newly established Ottawa Valley Aesthetic Club, the brain child of Philip Fry. In 1981 I was one of his students that partook in this work that tackled the manipulation of animal characteristics through the process of selection and combination based on naturally occurring variations. This is a common historical human practice on agricultural crops and domesticated animals and there is overwhelming evidence that all earth’s landscapes have been altered, shaped and influenced by humans, even those places where people had not inhabited, such as the Pacific Giro and plastics found along extereme altitude paths in the Himalayas rarely frequented by humans and now the melting of the ice caps. In fact we have begun to effect the Earth’s orbit with space junk. Agricultural selections are usually based on producing larger yields and greater variety of a favorite grain or fruit, similarly domesticated animal selection was based on desired service, whether beasts of burden, food source or hunting companions. Throughout these selections however there was also a sense of aesthetic pleasure in form and coloration. These traits are most obvious in our companion breeds such as horses, dogs and cats. Pigeons, long bred for utilitarian function such as carrier pigeons, homing pigeons and food, have played not an insignificant role in our history. Some however are bred only for our aesthetic pleasure even at the expense of the bird’s self-reliance and health. The animal at this stage is therefore transformed into an object of art rather than one of evolutionary selection, meaning our preferences trump those the natural world would impose. Beauty, or at least attractive qualities targeted to specific species, are part of the natural selection, such as flowers demonstrate in correlation to their pollinators for the purpose of reproduction. Michael Pollan suggests that plants may be controlling us as well through this process and not the other way around. Certainly dogs and cats and roses are not going to be added to the endangered list any time soon.

In 1981, the Ottawa Valley Aesthetics Club found an Italian gentleman, living in the city, that was an avid pigeon aficionado who had 13 breeds in his garage converted into an impressive dovecot. Each member of the club took on one breed and the task to conduct a thorough research on its provenance and step by step breeding copulations to arrive at its reproductive characteristics. In order for a breed to be accepted as such it must be able to reproduce determined characteristics with each new generation. Large posters with this information where hung above the cages where the birds where displayed in a gallery space.  All the breeds are traceable to the Columbia livia or Rock Pigeon, the same bird common to our urban spaces. The pigeons were indeed quite beautiful and the show was a popular success.

      pages from Parachute - contemporary art, fall 1981, isssue 24.


The announcement of the DNA sequencing for the purpose of recreating an extinct species such as the Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius different species from the Colunbia livia,is interpreted as either a wonderful occurrence or a plausible dangerous milestone. I outlined some of the concerns in the earlier post (Strands of Life).  What the OVAC exhibit portrayed was the ability of humans to place their preferences above those of nature. Doing so would tamper with the progressive small steps of evolution where changes are determined according to environmental pressure and generally occur in context with the rest of nature. In natural selection, changes the species undergo, are subtle, occur over long periods of time and necessary for the creature’s survival. We have inverted the process where DNA species development is not the result of environmental pressures but rather becomes a catalyst with unpredictable consequences and this, given our meek record of empathizing with the rest of life, is a matter of deep concern. Are we ready as a species to make room and restore the habitat each creature deserves? How can we claim so if our population is growing exponentially way beyond the Earth’s carrying capacity? Is it simply a mia culpa action to relieve our cumulative guilt? I would love to see some of the extinct creatures back but only once we have reeled in our consumeristic and destructive life style and embraced a planetary consciousness. After all what would be the point in bringing back a species when we are in the process of destroying the very environment that supports the desired biodiversity?