Ruth Maclennan

'We saw it – like a flash'
2003
Video
Running time 46 minutes

We like science programmes. The space-time of television and radio conjures up stories and images of science, a recent and compelling example being the stories of the deciphering of the human genome. Science is broadcast. Theories are discovered by personalities, beautiful models of structures are built, images move and change, systems are made into animated diagrams, and stories are dramatic encounters between opposing forces. Images of ideas impress themselves on our minds, and make up a rich lexicon of symbols. This is the aural and visual landscape in which science is experienced and debated. But we can select, retrieve and rearrange the archive, and perhaps uncover alternative narratives, suppressed visions, gaps and slippages.

The following extracts are from radio and television broadcast records, 1953–2003:

‘I once dreamt of the structure and when I woke up it was so sad that I hadn’t.’
‘It was like reaching to the top of a mountain and falling in love at the same time.’

‘That act of looking has spiritual value. I don’t think it’s that different from what an artist does.’

‘It’s possible we are only a means of propagating DNA.’
‘Could you have built the model without her data?’
‘No I don’t think we could’ve.’

‘Watson and Crick were a pair of butterflies.’

‘In the free market we don’t have ethics we have
economics.’

‘I cannot penetrate to the molecules of the brushstroke.’
‘Southern blotting.’

‘genetic power is the most awesome.’
‘the lack of humility before nature displayed here is staggering.’

‘Wouldn’t want to write a novel with four letters, think I’ll write a human being instead.’

‘We saw it, like a flash.’
‘I don’t think it was intellectually that clever, we were just there at the right time.’
‘It was slightly lonely.’
‘I think young people are more apt to do important things because they have more free time.’

‘you take your genes with you when you migrate.’
‘the development of DNA testing is probably the most significant development since fingerprinting.’

‘I can see nothing – and I have spoken to many people up and down the country – that detracts from the prospect of everybody at birth possibly being sampled for their DNA.’

‘The chances of your DNA sample matching a crime sample is a lot more likely than winning the lottery and your freedom could depend on it.’
‘Next time it could be you.’
‘the database is processing hundreds of swabs.’

‘Clearly the world of genetics is transforming the people we know, the people we think we are, the people we think we might be.’

‘Francis likes to talk.’

‘I was just someone to talk to.’

‘Looking back on it I think I was a bit mad.’
‘his inquisitive nature has been evident since childhood.’

‘I remember where I was standing.’
we deserve credit for choosing the problem.’

‘those who don’t believe that DNA is important will be seen as quacks.’
‘One can imagine keeping your genetic information on the back of a credit card.’

‘It doesn’t matter whether you like what you see or not.’

‘The mouse that laid the golden egg.’
‘they hope the kid will be transgenic.’
‘technological enchantment.’

‘A pig would be designed to create an organ just for us.’
‘Astrid is a transgene.’
‘DNA has set us free.’

‘What about the gene for intelligence?’

‘Should DNA stand for Do Not Accept?’
‘Testing uniqueness.’
‘genes pulling invisible threads.’
‘chromosomes for cop, chromosomes for criminal.’

‘the biological fingers are reaching up into culture.’

RM

The artist would like to thank Michael Clark of the Wellcome Trust, Roly Keating, Philip Martin, Alex Cowan, Caroline Thomson and Robert Seatter and all at the BBC who have helped with the project, Robin Banerji, Richard Wentworth and Vivien Lovell.