Utility Pets
"Utility Pets" (2003) by Elio Caccavale, is a series of speculative products investigating the ethical consequences of xenotransplantation.
Utility Pets
Utility Pets is an experimental project that uses products to draw attention to the ethical consequences of xenotransplantation - the transplantation of animal organs into humans. In an imagined not so-distant future, shortly after birth, people will be given a piglet with their own DNA engineered into it. The pig, known as a knockout pig in the scientific jargon, is a form of a living insurance policy - an organ bank. This project explores what kind of new objects might be needed if the pig lives in the home with its owner's family.
The Utility Pet products include:
One: A pig toy with a microphone and a radio handset allowing the owner to listen to the pig enjoying itself.
Two:
A smoke-filtering device allowing a person to smoke in front of the pig
without it suffering the consequences of passive smoking.
Three: A low-resolution TV exclusively for pigs, which they can control themselves.
Four:
A comforter - a psychological product made from the snout of a pig,
which helps people come to terms with the contradictory feelings
generated by this complex situation.
