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The Centre for PostNatural History

I find the Centre for PostNatural History equal parts fascinating and provocative:

The Center for PostNatural History: An Introduction from Rich Pell on Vimeo.

Their mission: “dedicated to the advancement of knowledge relating to the complex interplay between culture, nature and biotechnology. The ‘postnatural’  refers to living organisms that have been altered through processes such as selective breeding or  genetic engineering to meet human desires. The mission of the Center for PostNatural History is to acquire, interpret and provide access to a collection of living, preserved and documented organisms of postnatural origin.”

The ‘postnatural’ isn’t a new term, but I love the idea of this as the theme for a museum; it destabilises the sense of natural history so often associated with museums, and really throws the interweaving of technology and nature into focus. Having just finished a marathon writing effort on my book, I can see many significant connections between the postnatural and what my work on Artificial Culture tries to do in terms of popular culture. More on that in a later post.

For more information on the postnatural, there’s a good interview with the Centre’s director Richard Pell over at Make Money, Not Art.


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