Bud, 2002 by Rob Kesseler (British). Glass and genetically modified soybeans. "Farmers, gardeners and scientists have long sought to improve the quality, yield and resilience of plants through various forms of modification. But nothing has caused more debate and divided opinion than genetic modification. The potential benefits in contrast to the irreversible dangers of interfering with the very building blocks of life are not always easy to untangle. Bud reflects this duality and appears as both a trophy and time bomb."-Rob Kessler

Jelly Baby 3, 2004 by Mauro Perucchetti (British). Polyurethane. 9 of 9. Perucchetti works in polyurethane, a notoriously difficult resin made of many small, unstable urethane molecules in long chains. He creates works which are water-clear, strong and last forever. On one level, this work uses the jelly baby as a metaphor for cloned humans, which are identical to one another yet potentially not like other humans. On another level, it speaks to our increasing tendency to see human beings as chemical assemblages that temporarily stabilise the bases of DNA into long durable and comprehensible chains for the duration of our lives.

Barber DNA, January 2003 by Robin Blackledge, (British). Neon/Scientific Glass. "The origin of the familiar barbershop sign (a spinning red and white spiral) is said to be derived from the original sign of the barber surgeon in the middle ages. Bandages, soaked with blood from surgical operations were hung from poles outside the premises of the barber surgeon, advertising their practice. The wind played its part in wrapping the bandages around the pole, hence its development into the modern barber shop sign. The spiral helix in DNA sequencing is a poignant link to surgical metaphors of the past, while in itself revealing each layer of our genetic story." -Robin Blackledge

Anagram (detail), 2005 by Julie Cockburn, (British). Mixed Media. Commissioned by the Wellcome Trust. Julie Cockburn produced this work as her response to the history of the Human Genome Project. It is based on a colour chart, used by designers to explore all the tones available to them. Cockburn has used these basic building blocks as a substrate for the building blocks of life: The As, Cs, Gs and Ts that make up human genome sequence. Like the replication machinery of the human cell, she has also thrown in some mistakes, words such as Joy and Heaven, reminding us that this data has more than an abstract existence: it is human.