0.1%: An Exhibition at NAVEL Demystifying How Genomics Inform Identity

‘Products of Nature (2019)’ by Em Minyard Oppman | Image courtesy of NAVEL

NAVEL presents collaborative program 0.1% from Thursday, Nov. 7 to Monday, Nov. 11, at the NAVEL space in downtown Los Angeles. NAVEL supports “a diverse community of cultural workers through accessible public programming, educational initiatives and space residencies.” The 0.1% program explores questions raised by the rise of consumer genetic testing companies like 23andMe, popularized in recent years by the “lifelogging” movement.

CalArtian Amanda Vincelli (Art MFA 17) co-curated the exhibition with Dr. Yewande Pearse, who served as the program organizer. The show includes works by ArP (Alessia Petrolito), Em Minyard Oppman, Fred Schmidt-Arenales, Isabel Prade, PHILTH HAUS, Zhiwan Cheung, Charlie Tweed, Cameron Duguid and Dr. Dan Lloyd.

“Our DNA – the script of our lives – is 99.9% the same across the human species,” states the official press release. “But differences in the remaining 0.1% hold important clues to who we are as individuals – a reality that begat the ‘quantified self’ movement. The movement, also known as “lifelogging,” describes the trend towards using technology to acquire data on aspects of a person’s daily life, with the goal of improving physical, mental, and/or emotional performance.”

0.1% kicks off with an opening lecture, Race, Genetics and the 0.1%, on Thursday, Nov. 7, presented by Dr. Aaron Panofsky and Dr. Terence Keel from the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. On Sunday, Nov. 10, attendees can join an exhibition walk-through with curators Dr. Yewande Pearse, a neuroscientist, and Vincelli; participating artists Em Minyard Oppman and; and Trinity College Professor of Philosophy Dr. Dan Lloyd.

The program is complemented by a collaborative zine created with science media company Massive Science about the impact of genomic studies across racial, gender and political axes.

“With evermore access to our genetic information, the 0.1% exhibition explores what it means to uncover the genetic roots of who we are and who we could be,” state the organizers.

See here for more information and the full program schedule.