Dan Phiffer

An artist is collecting stray DNA from the streets of New York City, and using it to conjure up 3D-printed versions of its original "donor".

It is likely that you are not in the habit of picking up stray pieces of gum and hair from the pavement or on benches, but apparently Heather Dewey-Hagborg doesn't mind the ickiness. Her show, In Stranger Visions, "calls attention to the impulse toward genetic determinism and the potential for a culture of genetic surveillance" through a combination of technology and art.


She said: "The project began with me, going about my daily life in the city, and coming across samples of human DNA everywhere I looked. Hairs, nails, cigarette butts, chewing gum, we are shedding our DNA all over the place all the time, and we don't even notice."

Extracting DNA from these samples in a lab -- she uses Genspace, a DIY biology lab in Brooklyn -- Dewey-Hagborg looks for specific genetic indicators known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These are gene expressions which we know lead to certain physical characteristics, from male pattern baldness (Rs6152) to an increased risk of coronary heart disease (Rs1333049).

The SNPs that Dewey-Hagborg focused on were more benign, and purely related to physical appearance -- "for example, gender, ancestry, eye color, hair colour, freckles, lighter or darker skin, and certain facial features like nose width and distance between eyes" -- and, with a computer program that she wrote (based on the University of Basel's Morph Face), translates those into 3D virtual models of what those people possibly look like.


The process doesn't create a perfect clone of the DNA's original owner. Dewey-Hagborg said: "They will have similar traits and ancestry, but might look more like a possible cousin than a spitting image of the person themselves. The reason for this is multifold, but the primary reason is the research on facial morphology, the way human faces differ, is still in very early stages. A lot of this information comes from what are called genome-wide association studies, research that looks at hundreds or thousands of genomes and tries to find correlations. So it logically follows that the more genomes we sequence, the more correlations we will find. I think we will get close but you can't discount the role environment plays in expression of genes."

As well as computer models, Dewey-Hagborg also 3D-prints lifesize faces with a Zcorp printer to display in the In Stranger Visions exhibition. Alas, though, nobody has yet recognised themselves in one of the portraits.

Her work isn't just a demonstration of a concept, however -- it's meant to be a meditation on the future of what she calls "genetic surveillance". She said: "As embodied creatures we leave genetic material around all the time -- it's part of what makes us human. The possibility of genetic surveillance is the possibility of analysing these artefacts to extract incredibly personal, intimate information -- things you may not even know about yourself." "Additionally, the potential for genetic surveillance comes from the collection of genetic material in law enforcement, through services like 23andme as well as medical science and the increasing number of databases storing this information. If I have your genome sequence, theoretically I can do more than just know very personal things about you. I can clone you. I can impersonate you. It's a sci-fi scenario but it is a reality now."