Christy Rupp Swimming in the Gene Pool

Imagine a world where you trip over E. coli, stare into the eyes of giant insects, and come face to face with the pesticides that cling to your food. You have now entered the world of Christy Rupp. Since the 1970s, this prolific artist has been creating sculptures that make invisible hazards, such as pollution and the results of genetic engineering, visible.

Swimming in the Gene Pool — the inaugural exhibition of Kidspace at MASS MoCA — included Rupp’s sculptures of water creatures, viruses, bacteria, and a new work, genetically engineered insects and “labels” for genetically altered food. With this sculpture, Rupp made a powerful case that in the world around us things are not always what they seem. Eleven of Rupp’s sculptures included in the Kidspace exhibit depicted what she calls genetically engineered insects — fantastic creatures that focus our attention on the unseen and potentially dangerous consequences of genetic engineering.

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Christy Rupp, Swimming in the Gene Pool, 2000