The Immortalisation of Kira and Rama is an ArtScience project that was researched and developed during a three month residency in 2000 at SymbioticA, Centre of Excellence in the Biological Arts.  The project aimed to isolate and display living cells isolated from the skin of two fetal calves (Kira and Rama) in a custom Egyptian-inspired bioreactor along with various relics from the calves’ bodies (teeth, hide, slides of organs, hearts). The project was inspired by the way in which contemporary technologies, such as cell and tissue culture, alter our perceptions of life and death, as viable cells can be obtained from bodies of organisms that have been dead for over a day.  Maintained in the correct conditions, these cells can live for numerous months and even be frozen in liquid nitrogen to be revived months, or even years, later.  Through further manipulation such as the introduction of viral DNA, or exposure to chemical agents, the cells can also be immortalised, enabling them to replicate potentially indefinitely.

The project has strong links to previous works that investigated the use of Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) in cell and tissue culture (see A Shrine for Algernon). FBS is a protein rich serum used in cell culture that is derived from the blood of fetal calves.  Fetal calves are most commonly used to produce the serum, as they are a bi-product from meat production.  Through the use and display of fetal calf cells, the project aims to draw attention to the fact that as consumers we are complicit in a range of often unseen practices of consumption.