I was commissioned by the BBC in 2019 to create a piece of art for their tech based science show Click at their London studios for a live show. What I didn’t realise was that I would also be making history! I wont go into too much detail, as much of the information about the project is contained within the program itself, which is linked below, but that day I would become the first person in the world to paint a picture using synthetic DNA that contained stored data.
Massive Attack had commissioned a series of spray paint cans containing this unique paint as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations. My role within the show was to produce a piece of art using some of the DNA paint to help demonstrate potential uses for the technology in front of a live studio audience. I wanted to stay true to the initial concept artwork featuring the beetle, but with some simple details, like a helix, some DNA sequencing and a cracked microscope slide to add a bit of flare in keeping with the theme of the piece. The album is seminal and has a lot of personal memories attached to it. I used Tear Drop often when sound checking huge p.a’s because I rated it so highly, so I wanted to give it the respect it deserved.
The idea behind the size of the piece was that a painting this large covered in this paint could store the total sum of all of the data ever produced by Humanity throughout it’s entire written history. Mind blowing really. In total I only had about 3 hours to work on the painting which is why some other materials had to be used too, so it’s by no means perfect, but I’m told they kept it in one of the editing rooms on site so they must have liked it.
Following on from the live show, I was interviewed in my studio space as part of a TV special that would further explore this incredible technology. I’m always reluctant to do interviews without clearing the edits. I’d be lying if I said I was happy about the cut for the interview as I actually said a lot more than the token quote presented in the show. It was a little cheeky of them to steal quotes of things I said for the narrator to repeat, but this is another lesson in editorial oversight when dealing with the press. They always write what THEY want.
Drama ensued after the show with a legal case against the BBC from Massive Attack about using the technology before it had been released. I can understand why that would have caused a fuss, but it’s certainly not my problem. It has since been confirmed by both Dr Robert Grass who invented the technology with his team, and one of the producers of the show that I am the first person to use this technology in this way.
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