Jonathon Keats

Keats made his debut in 2000 at Refusalon in San Francisco, where he sat in a chair and thought for 24 hours, with a female model posing nude in the gallery. His thoughts were sold to patrons as art, at a price determined by dividing their annual income down to the minute.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/10/31/DD25908.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=April 23, 2012 |first=Jesse |last=Hamlin |date=October 31, 2000}}{{cite news|author=Kenneth Baker |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/10/28/DD63484.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=April 23, 2012 |date=October 28, 2000}}

In 2002 Keats held a petition drive to pass the Law of Identity, A ≡ A, a law of logic, as statutory law in Berkeley, California. Specifically, the proposed law stated that, "every entity shall be identical to itself." Any entity caught being unidentical to itself was to be subject to a fine of up to one tenth of a cent. Deemed "too weird for Berkeley" in an Oakland Tribune headline, the law did not pass.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/13/BA200448.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=August 13, 2002 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Meredith |last=May}} However it did become a topic of debate in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial race, garnering cryptic words of support from the Mitt Romney campaign[https://web.archive.org/web/20160116063248/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7750811.html The Boston Globe] and sparked a copycat petition drive in Santa Cruz, California.{{cite web|url=http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/March-April-2003/scene_marapr03_slater.html |title=Legal Affairs |publisher=Legal Affairs |access-date=December 2, 2011}} In the same year, amidst tightening post-9/11 security, Keats initiated a series of anonymous self-portraits of visitors to the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, created by fingerprinting them as they entered the building.{{cite news|author=Joel Selvin |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/05/03/DD122042.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=May 3, 2002 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite news|author=Kenneth Baker |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/04/16/DD58324.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=April 16, 2002 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} And at Modernism Gallery in San Francisco, he premiered his first musical composition, "1001 Concertos for Tuning Forks and Audience".{{cite news|author=Kenneth Baker |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/10/15/DD92671.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=October 15, 2002 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}

Keats copyrighted his mind in 2003, claiming that it was a sculpture that he had created, neural network by neural network, through the act of thinking. The reason, he told the BBC World Service when interviewed about the project, was to attain temporary immortality, on the grounds that the Copyright Act would give him intellectual property rights on his mind for a period of seventy years after his death.{{cite news|last=Shiels |first=Maggie |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3217423.stm |title=BBC World Service |work=BBC News |date=October 27, 2003 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} He reasoned that, if he licensed out those rights, he would fulfill the Cogito ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am"), paradoxically surviving himself by seven decades. In order to fund the posthumous marketing of intellectual property rights to his mind, he sold futures contracts on his brain in an IPO at Modernism Gallery in San Francisco.{{cite news|author=Ryan Singel |url=https://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,60757,00.html |title=Wired News |magazine=Wired |access-date=December 2, 2011 |date=October 10, 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011013918/http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0%2C1284%2C60757%2C00.html |archive-date=October 11, 2008 |df=mdy }} The project attracted interest in Silicon Valley.{{cite news|author=Silicon Valley San Jose Business Journal |url=http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2003/10/27/daily11.html |title=San Jose Business Journal |publisher=Sanjose.bizjournals.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |date=October 27, 2003}} It was later included in News of the Weird{{cite web |last=Alkon |first=Amy |url=http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/news_of_the_weird/Content?oid=3932 |title=News of the Weird |publisher=Charlotte.creativeloafing.com |date=December 31, 2003 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616212040/http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/news_of_the_weird/Content?oid=3932 |archive-date=June 16, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} and Ripley's Believe It or Not.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bCsKAAAACAAJ&q=%22ripley%27s+believe+it+or+not%22+2004 |title=Ripley's Believe It or Not |access-date=December 2, 2011|isbn=9781893951730 |publisher=Miles Kelly |date=September 2004 }} In 2012, the project was exhibited in London at the Wellcome Collection.[https://archive.today/20141024224216/http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions/brains/brains-the-book/essay-exhibiting-the-brain.aspx The Wellcome Collection][https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/inside-story-of-the-brain-at-new-exhibition-768103 The Mirror (UK)]

Keats is most famous for attempting to genetically engineer God in a laboratory.{{cite web |author=SF Weekly |url=http://www.sfweekly.com/2004-08-18/news/god-of-the-flies/ |title=SF Weekly |publisher=SF Weekly |date=August 18, 2004 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=August 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817035630/http://www.sfweekly.com/2004-08-18/news/god-of-the-flies/ |url-status=dead }} He did so in order to determine scientifically where to place God as a species on the phylogenetic tree.{{cite web|url=http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=4504 |title=PBS |publisher=Kqed.org |access-date=December 2, 2011}} In interviews with journalists, he indicated that his initial results showed a close taxonomic relationship to cyanobacteria, but cautioned that his pilot study, which relied on continuous in vitro evolution, was not definitive, urging interested parties to pursue their own research, and to submit findings to the International Association for Divine Taxonomy, on which he served as executive director.{{cite news|last=Carstensen |first=Jeanne |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2004/10/20/god.DTL&hw=jonathon+keats&sn=001&sc=1000 |title=SF Gate |publisher=SF Gate |date=October 20, 2004 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite news|author=Kari Lynn Dean |url=https://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65066,00.html |title=Wired News |magazine=Wired |access-date=December 2, 2011 |date=September 28, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213171706/http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0%2C1284%2C65066%2C00.html |archive-date=February 13, 2007 |df=mdy }}

In 2005 he started customizing the metric system for patrons including Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Pop artist Ed Ruscha. He did so by recalibrating time to each person's heartbeat, and mathematically deriving a new length for the meter, liter, kilogram, and calorie accordingly.{{cite web |url=http://europastar.com/europastar/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002274749&imw=Y |title=Europa Star |publisher=Europa Star |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231052529/http://www.europastar.com/europastar/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002274749&imw=Y |archive-date=December 31, 2007 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |author=Michael Leaverton |url=http://www.sfweekly.com/2005-10-26/calendar/this-week-s-day-by-day-picks |title=SF Weekly |publisher=SF Weekly |date=October 26, 2005 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=August 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807005841/http://www.sfweekly.com/2005-10-26/calendar/this-week-s-day-by-day-picks/ |url-status=dead }}

Around the same time, he became interested in extraterrestrial abstract art, and began producing canvas paintings based on signals detected by the Arecibo Observatory radiotelescope in Puerto Rico.{{cite web|url=http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/mg19125623.200.html |title=New Scientist |publisher=Newscientistspace.com |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite news|author=Keith Axline |url=https://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,71505-0.html?tw=wn_culture_2 |title=Wired News |magazine=Wired |access-date=December 2, 2011 |date=August 2, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819210229/http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0%2C71505-0.html?tw=wn_culture_2 |archive-date=August 19, 2006 |df=mdy }} This was the basis of the First Intergalactic Art Exposition, a 2006 solo show at the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California.{{cite web |url=http://www.magnes.org/visit/exhibitions-programs/exhibitions/revisions-jonathon-keats-first-intergalactic-art-exposition |title=Magnes Museum |publisher=Magnes.org |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612104203/http://www.magnes.org/visit/exhibitions-programs/exhibitions/revisions-jonathon-keats-first-intergalactic-art-exposition |archive-date=June 12, 2012 |url-status=dead }} As part of this exhibition, he also transmitted his own abstract artwork out into the cosmos.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/31/BAGI1K8DTE1.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=July 31, 2006 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Carolyn |last=Jones}}{{Cite web |url=http://hbb.hbrstatic.com/6040/article-1P2-7057469/et-phones-earth-local-artist-does-translation |title=Oakland Tribune |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=April 9, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409031216/http://hbb.hbrstatic.com/6040/article-1P2-7057469/et-phones-earth-local-artist-does-translation |url-status=dead }}[https://archive.today/20120728214137/http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/some-call-it-art/Content?oid=1081606 East Bay Express]

In 2006 Keats undertook several new projects, including two collaborations with other species: In rural Georgia, he gave fifty Leyland cypress trees the opportunity to make art by providing them with easels.{{cite web |url=http://outsideonline.com/outside/culture/200703/tree-art-1.html |title=Outside Magazine |publisher=Outsideonline.com |date=February 13, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919000247/http://outsideonline.com/outside/culture/200703/tree-art-1.html |archive-date=September 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web|last=Fox |first=Catherine |url=http://www.accessatlanta.com/hp/content/arts/stories/2006/10/25/1029arfolk.html |title=Atlanta Journal-Constitution |publisher=Accessatlanta.com |date=October 29, 2006 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928073011/http://www.accessatlanta.com/hp/content/arts/stories/2006/10/25/1029arfolk.html |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |df=mdy }}{{cite web|url=http://extremecraft.typepad.com/extreme_craft/2006/09/pinetings.html |title=Extreme Craft |publisher=Extremecraft.typepad.com |date=September 20, 2006 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} In Chico, California, he choreographed a ballet for honeybees by selectively planting flowers on the Chico State University farm, reverse engineering honeybee communication to suggest dance arrangements inside hives.[https://archive.today/20071006083221/http://www.theorion.com/media/storage/paper889/news/2006/12/06/Entertainment/Secret.Ballet.Of.Bees-2523414.shtml?norewrite200612231903&sourcedomain=www.theorion.com Chico Orion] Keats also turned to himself as the subject of a lifelong thought experiment, undertaken through the act of living. To make the experiment scientifically rigorous, he established a scientific control in the form of a high-density carbon graphite block precisely calibrated to match the carbon weight of his own body. The block was placed on display under a bell jar at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.{{cite web |last=Lemon |first=Clifton |url=http://www.sfstation.com/reconsidered-materials-a1829 |title=SF Station |publisher=SF Station |date=March 17, 2006 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928212439/http://www.sfstation.com/reconsidered-materials-a1829 |url-status=dead }} And at Modernism Gallery in San Francisco, he applied string theory to real estate development, enlisting the legal framework of air rights to buy and sell properties in the extra dimensions of space theorized by physics. To encourage speculation, the artist created blueprints for a four-dimensional tesseract house that purchasers might use as a vacation home.{{cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/2006/11/movin-on-up.html |title=New Scientist |publisher=New Scientist |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kalw/.artsmain/article/13/424/1006435/Artery/Artery.December.7/ |title=KALW Radio (NPR) |publisher=Publicbroadcasting.net |date=December 7, 2006 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=September 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926234420/http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kalw/.artsmain/article/13/424/1006435/Artery/Artery.December.7/ |url-status=dead }} One hundred and seventy-two lots on six Bay Area properties were bought on the first day of sales.[http://www.carealestatejournal.com/newswire/index.cfm?sid=&tkn=&eid=882973&evid=1 California Real Estate Journal] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130118184609/http://www.carealestatejournal.com/newswire/index.cfm?sid=&tkn=&eid=882973&evid=1 |date=January 18, 2013 }}

In 2007, Keats created a mobile ring tone based on the John Cage composition 4'33", a remix comprising precisely four minutes and 33 seconds of digital silence,{{cite web|last=McCarthy |first=Caroline |url=http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9676441-1.html |title=CNET |publisher=Crave.cnet.com |date=January 10, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} sparking controversy in the classical music community,{{cite web|url=http://www.artsjournal.com/postclassic/2007/01/where_cage_failed.html |title=PostClassic |publisher=Artsjournal.com |date=January 10, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}[http://www.sequenza21.com/2007/01/if-art-happens-in-a-forest-and-theres-nobody-around-to-hear-it-is-it-still-art/ Sequenza21] and the world of technology,{{cite news|url=http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/01/worlds_first_si.html |title=Wired News |publisher=Blog.wired.com |date=January 5, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Annalee |last=Newitz}} while attracting a following in the world of astrology.{{cite web|author=Rob Brezsny |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-12-03/columns/free-will-astrology-december-3-through-9/ |title=Free Will Astrology |publisher=Villagevoice.com |date=December 3, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Titled "My Cage (Silence for Cellphone)", the ringtone has since been broadcast on public radio in both the United States{{cite web|url=http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/25/museumjokes/ |title=American Public Media |publisher=Weekendamerica.publicradio.org |date=January 26, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928131217/http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/25/museumjokes/ |archive-date=September 28, 2011 }} and Sweden,{{cite web|url=http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/P1/program/artikel.asp?ProgramID=1637&artikel=1245195 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910081450/http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/P1/program/artikel.asp?ProgramID=1637&artikel=1245195 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 10, 2012 |title=Swedish Radio |publisher=Sr.se |access-date=December 2, 2011 }} discussed in a monograph about Cage published by Yale University Press,{{cite web |author=Jason Zasky Filed under Book Reviews |url=http://failuremag.com/index.php/book_review/article/no_such_thing_as_silence/ |title=Failure Magazine |publisher=Failuremag.com |date=August 29, 1952 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930051327/http://failuremag.com/index.php/book_review/article/no_such_thing_as_silence/ |archive-date=September 30, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} and included in a museum exhibition on Cage at HMKV in Dortmund, Germany.[http://www.hmkv.de/_en/programm/programmpunkte/2012/Ausstellungen/2012_Sounds_like_silence.php HMKV] In Chico, California, Keats opened the world's first porn theater for house plants, projecting video footage of pollination onto the foliage of ninety rhododendrons.{{cite web|url=http://www.chicobeat.com/?q=art_preview_desperate_houseplants |title=Chico Beat |publisher=Chico Beat |access-date=December 2, 2011}}[http://rhizome.org/editorial/2007/aug/29/photosynthetic-kink/ Rhizome News]{{cite web|last=Defendorf |first=Richard |url=http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9770112-1.html |title=CNET |publisher=Crave.cnet.com |date=August 31, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} He released a cinematic trailer on YouTube.{{cite web|author=jonathonkeats |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZqzr5ANi7I |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/tZqzr5ANi7I |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=YouTube Trailer |publisher=YouTube |date=August 2, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cbignore}} His film was widely commented upon in the media{{cite news|url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/09/of_art_vegetation_and_the_bird_1.html |title=Washington Post |publisher=Blog.washingtonpost.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|url=https://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/09/worlds_first_porno_for_plants_not.html |title=New York Magazine |date=September 11, 2007 |publisher=Nymag.com |access-date=December 2, 2011}} following coverage by Reuters{{cite news|last=Goldsmith |first=Belinda |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN0720247820070907?pageNumber=1 |title=Reuters |publisher=Reuters |access-date=December 2, 2011 |date=September 7, 2007}} and the BBC News Hour.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/newshour |title=BBC |publisher=BBC |access-date=December 2, 2011}} At the RT Hansen Gallery{{cite web |url=http://www.inc-berlin.com |title=RT Hansen Gallery |publisher=Inc-berlin.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120022622/http://www.inc-berlin.com/ |archive-date=January 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} in Berlin, Germany, he sold arts patrons the experience of spending money.{{cite news|url=http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2007/09/a-busy-season-f.html |title=Wired News |publisher=Blog.wired.com |date=September 17, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Bruce |last=Sterling}} For an exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum,{{cite web|url=http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/digitalart/ripmixburn/TXT0190 |title=Berkeley Art Museum |publisher=Bampfa.berkeley.edu |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929040007/http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/digitalart/ripmixburn/TXT0190 |archive-date=September 29, 2011 |df=mdy }} he designed a new kind of electronic voting booth, based on a nationwide network of ouija boards.{{Cite web |url=https://josephhall.org/nqb2/index.php/ouijavote |title=Oakland Tribune |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=January 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116063247/https://josephhall.org/nqb2/index.php/ouijavote |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=https://gizmodo.com/gadgets/democrazy/ouijavote-2008-opens-door-to-paranormal-democracy-arguably-better-than-diebold-315167.php |title=Gizmodo |publisher=Gizmodo |date=October 25, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} While ouija voting booths have yet to be implemented in a major election, California Magazine cited the project in a 2007 round-up of "25 Brilliant California Ideas".{{cite web |url=http://www.alumni.berkeley.edu/California/200801/ideas/17.asp |title=California Magazine |publisher=Alumni.berkeley.edu |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=March 23, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323040851/http://www.alumni.berkeley.edu/California/200801/ideas/17.asp |url-status=dead }} At Modernism Gallery in San Francisco the following month, Keats developed new miracles, including novel solar systems and supernova pyrotechnic displays, which he made available for licensing by gods.{{cite news|author=Wired |url=http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/10/artist-offers-g.html |title=Wired News |publisher=Blog.wired.com |date=October 26, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|last=Defendorf |first=Richard |url=http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9805318-1.html |title=CNET |publisher=Crave.cnet.com |date=October 26, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite news|author=Mark Morford |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/09/DDVTT8R3H.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 9, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} In addition, he composed a sonata to be performed on the constellations,{{cite web|url=http://www.sfbg.com/pixel_vision/2007/12/13/keats-orbit |title=San Francisco Bay Guardian |publisher=Sfbg.com |access-date=December 2, 2011}} released through GarageBand.[https://archive.today/20120731005254/http://www.garageband.com/artist/jonathonkeats/songs GarageBand Sonata]

Keats brought his honeybee ballet to San Francisco in 2008 as part of Bay Area Now, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts triennial.[http://www.ybca.org/exhibitions/artists/jonathon-keats.aspx Yerba Buena Center for the Arts] {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite web|url=http://www.joshspear.com/item/jonathon-keats-bee-ballet/ |title=JoshSpear.com |publisher=JoshSpear.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224134619/http://joshspear.com/item/jonathon-keats-bee-ballet/ |archive-date=February 24, 2012 |df=mdy }}{{cite news|url=http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2008/07/jonathan-keats.html |title=Wired Blogs |publisher=Blog.wired.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Bruce |last=Sterling |date=July 14, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201124558/http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2008/07/jonathan-keats.html |archive-date=February 1, 2009 |df=mdy }} He also erected the first temple devoted to the worship of science, dubbed "the Atheon",[http://www.magnes.org/atheon Atheon Website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106225336/http://www.magnes.org/atheon |date=January 6, 2009 }} in downtown Berkeley, CA,{{cite web|url=http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-07-03/article/30481?headline=Magnes-Museum-Moves-Ahead-with-Downtown-Berkeley-Relocation-Plans |title=Berkeley Daily Planet |publisher=Berkeley Daily Planet |access-date=December 2, 2011}} a public art project commissioned by the Judah L. Magnes Museum[http://www.magnes.org/pr/atheon.htm Judah L Magnes Museum] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527072907/http://www.magnes.org/pr/atheon.htm |date=May 27, 2009 }} and funded with a grant from the University of California.[https://archive.today/20120709231424/http://archive.dailycal.org/article/102717/local_artist_explores_worship_of_science The Daily Californian] The Atheon opened on September 27, 2008.{{cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/blog/shortsharpscience/2008/09/temple-for-worship-of-science.html |title=New Scientist |publisher=New Scientist |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/realitybase/2008/09/10/want-to-worship-the-god-of-science-heres-your-temple/ |title=Discover |publisher=Blogs.discovermagazine.com |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|last=Katayama |first=Lisa |url=http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/05/sf-artist-makes-a-te.html |title=Boing Boing |publisher=Boing Boing |date=August 25, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://valleywag.com/5046144/the-atheon-a-temple-of-science-coming-to-berkeley |title=Valleywag |publisher=Valleywag |date=September 5, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://io9.com/5049671/call-to-worship-at-the-temple-of-science |title=io9 |publisher=io9 |date=September 14, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} After a Wired Science interview with the artist was featured on the Yahoo homepage on September 29,{{cite news|url=http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/can-science-rep.html |title=Wired Science |publisher=Blog.wired.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Brandon |last=Keim |date=September 28, 2008}} controversy erupted in both the scientific{{cite web|url=http://richarddawkins.net/article,3187,n,n |title=RichardDawkins.net |publisher=RichardDawkins.net |date=September 29, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202173054/http://richarddawkins.net/article%2C3187%2Cn%2Cn |archive-date=December 2, 2008 |df=mdy }} and religious{{cite web |url=http://inchdeep.blogtownhall.com/2008/11/07/god_haters_go_to_church.thtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708072944/http://inchdeep.blogtownhall.com/2008/11/07/god_haters_go_to_church.thtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |title=Town Hall |publisher=Inchdeep.blogtownhall.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 }}{{cite web |url=http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?p=4234089 |title=Catholic.com |publisher=Forums.catholic.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927122357/http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?p=4234089 |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.icr.org/articles/view/4142/|title = Temple of Science Exhibits the Religion of Science}} communities, and interest in the Atheon gained traction worldwide.[http://www.thetimes.co.uk%2Ftto%2Ffaith%2Ffaith-central%2F%3FblogId%3DBlog67e00a59-2604-4493-b50c-bca9f066de31Postb40b4ee3-c474-4fb1-a384-f00001ea5c3a The Times Online]{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|url=http://www.pcworld.pl/news/168743/Artysta.wybudowal.Swiatynie.Nauki.html |title=PC World (Poland) |publisher=Pcworld.pl |date=September 30, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|author=Ondřej Vrtiška |url=http://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/veda-a-technika/veda/kalifornske-umelecke-muzeum-otevrelo-chram-vedy_83021.html |title=Tyden (Czech Republic) |publisher=Tyden.cz |date=September 30, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/viihde/article141358.ece |title=Tekniikka & Talous (Finland) |language=fi |publisher=Tekniikkatalous.fi |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=October 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004113255/http://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/viihde/article141358.ece |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.sputnik.com.mx//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1316&Itemid=35 |title=(Mexico) |publisher=Sputnik |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://bogoslov.ru/text/355511/index.html |title=Bogoslov (Russia) |publisher=Bogoslov.ru |access-date=December 2, 2011}} A Synod was held inside the Atheon on December 4,[https://archive.today/20120720042343/http://hbb.hbrstatic.com/6040/article-1P2-19485163/hill-chimps-religion-and-raiders Oakland Tribune][http://www.crosscurrentsradio.org/features.php?story_id=856 KALW Radio (NPR)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207151009/http://www.crosscurrentsradio.org/features.php?story_id=856 |date=February 7, 2009 }} with participants including UC Berkeley philosopher John Campbell and UC Berkeley astrophysicist Ilan Roth.{{cite web|url=http://fora.tv/2008/12/04/The_Atheon_A_Temple_of_Science_for_Rational_Belief |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224061019/http://fora.tv/2008/12/04/The_Atheon_A_Temple_of_Science_for_Rational_Belief |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 24, 2008 |title=Fora TV |publisher=Fora TV |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://fora.tv/2008/12/04/Jonathon_Keats_Hearing_the_Voice_of_the_Universe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204000142/http://fora.tv/2008/12/04/Jonathon_Keats_Hearing_the_Voice_of_the_Universe |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 4, 2009 |title=Fora TV |publisher=Fora TV |access-date=December 2, 2011}}

In the midst of the Atheon debate, Keats announced that he had discovered a way to play God, using quantum mechanics to generate new universes.{{cite news|url=http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2008/10/jonathan-keats.html |title=Wired Blogs |publisher=Blog.wired.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Bruce |last=Sterling |date=October 30, 2008}} Enlisting the many worlds interpretation of physicist Hugh Everett,{{cite web|last=Wax |first=Heather |url=http://scienceandreligiontoday.blogspot.com/2008/11/artist-creates-universe-from-uranium.html |title=Science and Religion Daily |publisher=Scienceandreligiontoday.blogspot.com |date=November 14, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} his process made use of readily-available equipment including uranium-doped glass and scintillating crystal, all acquired on eBay.{{cite web|url=http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=1972 |title=Technovelgy |publisher=Technovelgy |date=November 21, 2006 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208082957/http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=1972 |archive-date=December 8, 2011 |df=mdy }} After building several prototypes,{{cite web|url=http://physicsworld.com/cws/archive/print/21/12 |title=Physics World |publisher=Physics World |date=October 27, 2011 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Keats manufactured a simple D.I.Y. kit that purported to let anyone create new universes with a mason jar, a drinking straw, and a piece of chewing gum,{{cite web|last=Gehring |first=Allen |url=https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2008/10/the-makeyourownuniverse-kit.html |title=New Scientist |publisher=New Scientist |date=October 31, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} a gadget much commented upon in the media{{cite web|last=Franklin |first=Eric |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10081649-1.html |title=CNET |publisher=News.cnet.com |date=November 4, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://salvomag.typepad.com/blog/2008/11/artists-kit-off.html |title=Salvo Magazine |publisher=Salvomag.typepad.com |date=November 4, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|last=Cutlack |first=Gary |url=http://www.techdigest.tv/2008/11/fake_science_al.html |title=Tech Digest (UK) |publisher=Techdigest.tv |date=November 4, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://maikelnai.naukas.com/2008/11/05/estas-navidades-regala-un-creador-de-multiversos/ |title=El Comercio (Spain) |date=November 5, 2008 |publisher=Maikelnai.es |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://infuture.ru/article/1363 |title=InFuture (Russia) |publisher=Infuture.ru |access-date=December 2, 2011}} and widely popular in the blogosphere.{{cite web|last=Frauenfelder |first=Mark |url=http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/31/20-kit-produces-tril.html |title=BoingBoing |publisher=BoingBoing |date=October 31, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|author=OhGizmo |url=http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/11/25/jonathan-keats-alternate-universe-kits/ |title=OhGizmo |publisher=OhGizmo |date=November 25, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=https://gizmodo.com/5098628/artists-uranium+glass-kits-let-you-play-god-create-new-universes |title=Gizmodo |publisher=Gizmodo |date=November 25, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2008/11/universes_are_cheaper_in_bulk.php |title=Science Blogs |publisher=Science Blogs |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310103331/http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2008/11/universes_are_cheaper_in_bulk.php |archive-date=March 10, 2012 |df=mdy }}{{cite web|url=http://joshspear.com/item/jonathon-keats-x-universe-kit/ |title=JoshSpear.com |publisher=JoshSpear.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001174429/http://joshspear.com/item/jonathon-keats-x-universe-kit/ |archive-date=October 1, 2011 |df=mdy }}{{cite web|url=http://blog.ausgefallene-ideen.com/2008/11/25/das-universum-spalten-diy-universe-kit/ |title=Ausgefallene-Ideen (Germany) |date=November 25, 2008 |publisher=Blog.ausgefallene-ideen.com |access-date=December 2, 2011}} In an exhibition at Modernism Gallery in San Francisco,{{cite web |author=Michael Leaverton |url=http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-11-12/calendar/hope-for-humanity/ |title=SF Weekly |publisher=SF Weekly |date=November 12, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=April 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402013503/http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-11-12/calendar/hope-for-humanity/ |url-status=dead }} Keats sold the kits for $20 apiece, and also presented plans, simultaneously submitted to the United States Department of Energy, for a much larger factory, which would generate new universes from the nuclear waste slated to be buried in the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in the next decade.{{cite web |url=http://www.asylum.com/2008/11/24/artist-wants-to-create-universes-from-nuclear-waste/ |title=Asylum |publisher=Asylum |date=April 18, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004181048/http://www.asylum.com/2008/11/24/artist-wants-to-create-universes-from-nuclear-waste/ |archive-date=October 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web|url=http://blogs.brisbanetimes.com.au/thegeek/archives/2008/11/sometimes_you_r.html |title=Brisbane Times (Australia) |publisher=Blogs.brisbanetimes.com.au |access-date=December 2, 2011}} His proposal has proven controversial.{{cite news|url=http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/create-your-own.html |title=Wired Science |publisher=Blog.wired.com |date=November 20, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Brandon |last=Keim |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331181537/http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/create-your-own.html |archive-date=March 31, 2009 |df=mdy }}

In early 2009, Keats was an artist-in-residence at Montana State University in Bozeman, where he opened the world's second porn theater for house plants, based on the porn theater he opened in Chico, CA in 2007, but in this case catering to an audience of local zinnias.{{cite web |url=http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=6827 |title=Montana State University News Service |publisher=Montana.edu |date=February 16, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219183228/http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=6827 |archive-date=February 19, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} He also composed a song to be performed by Mandeville Creek on the MSU campus, orchestrated by rearranging rocks melodically, using the musical structure of the medieval rondeau.[http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_9b1db900-3fcb-56f9-8b9a-2437345e3e5a.html Bozeman Daily Chronicle] In June, Keats created "The Longest Story Ever Told," a nine-word story printed on the cover of the eighth issue of Opium Magazine, "The Infinity Issue."{{cite web|author=Weekend Edition Saturday |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106007588 |title=National Public Radio |publisher=Npr.org |date=June 27, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite news|last=Steinberg |first=Julie |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/06/29/opium-magazine-unveils-longest-story-ever-told/ |title=The Wall Street Journal |date=June 29, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}[https://archive.today/20120707114514/http://comics.com/ripleys_believe_it_or_not/2009-9-23/ Ripley's Believe It Or Not!] The story is printed in a double layer of black ink, with the second layer screened to make each successive word fractionally less vulnerable to ultraviolet radiation. When exposed to sunlight, words will appear at a rate of one per century over the next one thousand years,{{cite news|author=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/06/story-that-takes-1000-years-to-read-is-antidote-to-media-whirlwind/ |title=Wired |publisher=Wired |date=June 17, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite magazine|last=Kaiser |first=Menachem |url=https://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/06/the-long-nine-words.html |title=The New Yorker |magazine=The New Yorker |date=August 1, 2011 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=https://gizmodo.com/5261463/magazine-story-to-reveal-itself-during-one-thousand-years |title=Gizmodo |publisher=Gizmodo |date=May 19, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} an effort deemed one of the seven best magazine tech innovations by Tech Radar{{cite web|last=Chacksfield |first=Marc |url=http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/7-best-magazine-tech-innovations-628081 |title=Tech Radar |publisher=Tech Radar |date=September 22, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314080843/http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/7-best-magazine-tech-innovations-628081 |archive-date=March 14, 2012 }} and called Joycean by NBC,{{cite web|last=Baca |first=Marie C. |url=http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/weird/9-Word-Story-Takes-a-Millenium-to-Read.html |title=NBC News |date=June 19, 2009 |publisher=Nbcwashington.com |access-date=December 2, 2011}} but judged to be "about as practical as a shark in formaldehyde" by the Independent (UK).{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/the-couch-surfer-a-1000year-story-is-about-as-practical-as-a-shark-in-formaldehyde-1711967.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/the-couch-surfer-a-1000year-story-is-about-as-practical-as-a-shark-in-formaldehyde-1711967.html |archive-date=June 14, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=The Independent |location=UK |date=June 22, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Keats attempted to counteract the global recession in November by introducing a mirror economy backed by antimatter.{{cite web|last=Leberecht |first=Tim |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13641_3-10385923-44.html |title=CNET |publisher=News.cnet.com |date=October 28, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite news|author=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/10/jonathon-keats-antimatter-currency/ |title=Wired |publisher=Wired |date=October 16, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|last=Jardin |first=Xeni |url=http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/29/artist-says-we-will.html |title=BoingBoing |publisher=BoingBoing |date=October 29, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} In order to implement his idea, Keats opened an "anti-bank" which issued paper currency in units of 10,000 positrons and higher.{{cite web|url=http://www.livescience.com/technology/091028-bank-antimoney.html |title=Live Science |date=October 28, 2009 |publisher=Live Science |access-date=December 2, 2011}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20180108063247/http://www.carealestatejournal.com/newswire/index.cfm?sid=&tkn=&eid=905352&evid=1 California Real Estate Journal] Featured on Good Magazine's annual Good 100 list,{{cite web|author=Good |url=http://www.good.is/post/the-good-100-jonathon-keats/ |title=Good Magazine |publisher=Good.is |date=October 13, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Keats's First Bank of Antimatter was championed by New Scientist as "a true attempt to make something out of nothing"{{cite web|last=Swartzmiller |first=Melina |url=https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2009/11/laughing-all-the-way-to-the-anti-bank.php |title=New Scientist |publisher=New Scientist |date=November 11, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} and lambasted by The Discovery Channel as "the epitome of caveat emptor".{{cite web|url=http://news.discovery.com/space/show-him-the-money.html |title=The Discovery Channel |publisher=News.discovery.com |date=November 12, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}

File:Dubai Future Forum 2024 - Jonathon Keats.jpg (2024)]]

Keats introduced four new projects in 2010. In January he created a pinhole camera intended to take a single 100-year-long exposure.{{cite web |url=http://holykaw.alltop.com/the-century-long-exposure-pinhole-camera |title=Holy Kaw |publisher=Holykaw.alltop.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305051332/http://holykaw.alltop.com/the-century-long-exposure-pinhole-camera |archive-date=March 5, 2012 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|author=Magnus Fröderberg |url=http://www.kamerabild.se/nyheter/100-ars-exponeringstid-1.32618.html |title=Kamera & Bild |publisher=Kamerabild.se |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Printed in Good Magazine, the simple box camera was designed to be cut out, folded, and glued together, and then left to take a picture which the magazine promised to publish in a "special folio" as part of the January 2110 issue.{{cite web|author=Good |url=http://www.good.is/post/the-century-camera |title=Good Magazine |publisher=Good.is |date=January 21, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} In February, Keats expanded his filmmaking for plants into a new genre.{{cite web|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/visualscience/2010/03/22/leisure-time-for-plants/ |title=Discover Magazine |work=Visual Science |date=March 22, 2010 |publisher=Blogs.discovermagazine.com |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://io9.com/5462726/plant-pornographer-goes-mainstream-with-travel-movie-for-plants/gallery/ |title=io9 |publisher=io9 |date=February 2, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Observing that plants aren't mobile, he produced a travel documentary – showing footage of Italian skies – which he screened for an audience of ficus and palm trees at the AC Institute in New York City through early March,{{cite web|last=Barton |first=Richard |url=https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/02/cinema-for-houseplants.php |title=New Scientist |publisher=New Scientist |date=February 4, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/tania-bruguera-neuberger1-27-10.asp |title=Artnet |publisher=Artnet |access-date=December 2, 2011}} and later in the year presented to an audience of mixed species, with musical accompaniment by the composer Theresa Wong, at the Berkeley Art Museum in California.[https://archive.today/20120710103349/http://hbb.hbrstatic.com/6040/article-1P2-26847178/give-em-hill-ficus-flight-fancy The Oakland Tribune] He also produced an online version of the movie for viewing by plants at home, posted by Wired News{{cite news|author=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/02/movies-for-plants/all/1 |title=Wired Magazine |magazine=Wired |date=February 4, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Following an AFP wire story,{{cite web|url=http://www.france24.com/en/20100320-couch-potatoes-new-york-plants-go-movies |agency=Agence France-Presse |work=France24 |title=Couch potatoes: New York plants go to the movies |date=March 20, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} news of the travel documentaries was reported worldwide, though not in Italy.[http://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20100325/53898989370/no-volvere-jamas-al-cine-icaria.html La Vanguardia][https://archive.today/20120803024941/http://www.klamm.de/partner/unter_news.php?l_id=27&news_id=196917 Klamm (Germany)][http://nol.hu/mozaik/szorakoztato_utifilm_novenyeknek Nepszabadsag (Hungary)]{{cite web|url=http://vip.tv2.dk/article.php/id-29393330:planter-g%C3%A5r-i-biffen.html?forside |title=TV2 (Denmark) |publisher=Vip.tv2.dk |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://lenta.ru/news/2010/03/22/plants/ |title=Lenta (Russia) |publisher=Lenta.ru |date=March 22, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Keats launched an alternative space agency, the Local Air and Space Administration (LASA), in October.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/8078934/Space-Race-An-interview-with-Jonathon-Keats.html |title=Space Race: An interview with Jonathon Keats|work=The Telegraph |access-date=December 2, 2011 |location=London |date=October 21, 2010}} Headquartered at California State University, Chico,{{cite web|url=http://www.newsreview.com/chico/content?oid=1821408 |title=Chico News & Review |date=September 29, 2010 |publisher=Newsreview.com |access-date=December 2, 2011}} the organization claimed to be taking on the exploratory role abandoned by NASA, and announced simultaneous missions to the Moon and Mars.{{cite web|author=Amanda Gefter |url=https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/10/potatoes-boldy-go-where-no-man-has-gone-before.html |title=New Scientist |publisher=New Scientist |date=October 20, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Rather than building rockets, LASA amassed lunar and martian terrain locally in California, by pulverizing meteorites.{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/10/jonathon-keats-exotourism/?pid=1177&viewall=true |title=Jonathon Keats' Space Agency Launches Arty Exotourism|magazine=Wired |date=October 3, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Scott |last=Thill}} The first LASA astronauts were potatoes grown in water mineralized with lunar anorthosite and martian shergottite, exploring the Moon and Mars by osmosis, according to Keats, who further argued that the minerals they absorbed over their month-long missions made them "alien hybrids".{{cite web|url=http://io9.com/5652836/california-state-university-sends-the-first-creatures-from-earth-to-the-asteroid-belt |title=io9 |publisher=io9 |date=October 1, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencefriday.com/arts/2010/10/the-new-space-race-man-vs-cactus/ |title=NPR Science Friday |publisher=Sciencefriday.com |date=October 7, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318215814/http://www.sciencefriday.com/arts/2010/10/the-new-space-race-man-vs-cactus/ |archive-date=March 18, 2012 |df=mdy }} LASA also entered the space tourism business,{{cite web|author=Good |url=http://www.good.is/post/finally-affordable-space-travel-comes-to-san-francisco/ |title=Good Magazine |publisher=Good.is |date=October 14, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} offering humans the opportunity to explore the Moon and Mars by buying and drinking bottled lunar and martian mineral waters at an "exotourism bureau" in San Francisco.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/03/LV2N1GCF2C.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=December 5, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Carolyne |last=Zinko}}{{cite web|last=Shutler |first=Natalie |url=http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36092/how-artist-jonathon-keats-tapped-moon-water-before-nasa/ |title=ArtInfo |publisher=ArtInfo |date=October 22, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}[http://www.space.com/entertainment/keats-space-exploration-art-q-a-101022.html Space.com] At the same time that he was managing the Local Air & Space Administration, Keats started independently to produce pornography for God.{{cite web|last=Cluster |first=Pam |url=https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/11/particle-physics-pornographer-gets-god-excited.html |title=New Scientist |publisher=New Scientist |date=November 10, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6008/r-samples.full.pdf |title=Science Magazine |publisher=Sciencemag.org |date=November 26, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} The source for his pornography was the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which had just begun to replicate Big Bang conditions at a small scale. Reasoning that the Big Bang was "divine coitus",{{cite news|author=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/11/jonathon-keats-god-porn/ |title=Wired |publisher=Wired |date=November 11, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Keats screened a live feed from the LHC on a votive altar.{{cite web|author=Good |url=http://www.good.is/post/jonathon-keats-makes-porn-for-god-from-collider-imagery/ |title=Good Magazine |publisher=Good.is |date=November 15, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} He opened his "porn palace for God" at the alternative art space Louis V. ESP in Brooklyn, New York.{{cite web|author=The Forward |url=http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/133151/ |title=The Forward |publisher=Blogs.forward.com |date=November 15, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} While Keats explained that he had become "God's pornographer" in order to encourage God to create additional universes since our own was doomed by cosmic expansion,{{citation |url= http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/3770/plant_porn_and_physics_prayers |title= Plant Porn and Physics Prayers: Jonathon Keats' Speculative Life |work=Religion Dispatches |date= December 1, 2010 |first= Meera |last= Subramanian |access-date= 2012-03-02}} worldwide opinion on the worthiness of his project was mixed.{{cite web |url=http://www.nrcnext.nl/blog/2010/11/09/oerknalsimulatie-porno-voor-god/ |title=NRC |publisher=Nrcnext.nl |date=November 9, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928175536/http://www.nrcnext.nl/blog/2010/11/09/oerknalsimulatie-porno-voor-god/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |author=Aron Andersson |url=http://www.metro.se/2010/11/02/85006/partikelacceleratorn-ska-visa-porr-fo/ |title=Metro Teknik |publisher=Metro.se |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101106223010/http://www.metro.se/2010/11/02/85006/partikelacceleratorn-ska-visa-porr-fo/ |archive-date=November 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web|author=adriaticmedia |url=http://danas.net.hr/kultura/page/2010/11/15/0217006.html |title=Danas |publisher=Danas |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309112300/http://danas.net.hr/kultura/page/2010/11/15/0217006.html |archive-date=March 9, 2012 |df=mdy }}{{cite web|url=http://axxon.com.ar/noticias/2010/11/el-pornografo-de-la-fisica-de-las-particulas-excita-a-dios/ |title=Axxon |publisher=Axxon |date=November 11, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web |author=Index |url=http://www.index.hr/xmag/clanak/pornografija-za-boga--sudaranje-cestica-je-seksi/522936.aspx |title=Index |publisher=Index.hr |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=October 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018190346/http://www.index.hr/xmag/clanak/pornografija-za-boga--sudaranje-cestica-je-seksi/522936.aspx |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.nextme.it/scienza/universo/1345-il-big-bang-come-un-gigante-orgasmo-divino |title=NextMe |publisher=Nextme.it |date=December 13, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://pijamasurf.com/2010/11/transmision-interestelar-regalara-sesion-de-pornografia-a-dios/ |title=Pijamasurf |publisher=Pijamasurf |date=November 17, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}[http://www.arteallimite.com/ver_noticia.php?id=632 Al Limite] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202131435/http://www.arteallimite.com/ver_noticia.php?id=632 |date=December 2, 2008 }}

Keats turned his attention to flora again in early 2011, opening a "photosynthetic restaurant" where plants could enjoy "gourmet sunlight".{{cite web |title=The (photosynthetic) Restaurant |website=USA Today |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107132630/https://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/03/the-photosynthetic-restaurant/1 |archive-date=2021-01-07 |url-status=live |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/03/the-photosynthetic-restaurant/1}}{{Cite web |url=http://news.discovery.com/earth/rainbows-for-lunch-110415.html |title=Discovery News |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=April 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110418030950/http://news.discovery.com/earth/rainbows-for-lunch-110415.html |url-status=dead }}[https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/04/a-restaurant-where-plants-are-patrons.html New Scientist]{{cite news |title=Tree-Huggers, Put Your Love to the Test |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=April 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108032723/https://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/29/tree-huggers-put-your-love-to-the-test/ |archive-date=January 8, 2019 |url-status=live |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/29/tree-huggers-put-your-love-to-the-test/ |last1=Horne |first1=Rebecca }} Recipes were prepared by filtering solar radiation through colored plexiglass.[https://archive.today/20130201153045/http://www.sacbee.com/2011/04/17/3554206/artist-has-crocker-plants-on-light.html Sacramento Bee][http://io9.com/#!5795653/welcome-to-the-photosynthetic-restaurant-which-serves-gourmet-sunlight-for-plants/gallery/1 io9] The restaurant was installed in the outdoor gardens of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California, where 100-year-old rose bushes were the first patrons.[http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/culturefeed/gourmet-restaurant-plants-opens/ The Bay Citizen] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423031905/http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/culturefeed/gourmet-restaurant-plants-opens/ |date=April 23, 2011 }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.chow.com/food-news/77309/gourmet-meals-for-plants/ |title=Chow |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=August 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828124752/http://www.chow.com/food-news/77309/gourmet-meals-for-plants/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2011/03/gourmet-cuisine-for-plants.html |title=Epicurious |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=August 31, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124011/http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2011/03/gourmet-cuisine-for-plants.html |url-status=dead }}[http://www.neatorama.com/2011/04/13/the-photosynthetic-restaurant/ Neatorama] Keats catered to plants elsewhere in the world by publishing a recipe book{{cite web |title=A Gourmet Restaurant for Plants, Not People |date=April 19, 2011 |website=The Atlantic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018111655/https://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/04/a-gourmet-restaurant-for-plants-not-people/237536/ |archive-date=October 18, 2011 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/04/a-gourmet-restaurant-for-plants-not-people/237536/}}[http://www.zyzzyva.org/2011/04/04/the-photosynthetic-restaurant/ Zyzzyva] and also producing TV dinners for plants, which could experience gourmet sunlight vicariously through the changing colors on a television screen or computer monitor. Plants can access the TV dinners via Wired.{{cite magazine |title=Photosynthetic Restaurant Puts Green Spin on Food Porn |date=April 13, 2011 |magazine=Wired |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618105917/https://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/04/photosynthetic-restaurant/all/1 |archive-date=June 18, 2013 |url-status=live |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/04/photosynthetic-restaurant/all/1}} In May 2011, Keats presented New Yorkers with an alternative to marriage that dispensed with governmental formalities, promising instead to bind people together by a law of nature.[http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/05/new_york_art_institute_offers.html Nature][https://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/987154--marriage-takes-a-quantum-leap-with-particle-beam-service The Toronto Star] He adapted the methodology of quantum entanglement, which is used in physics laboratories to make two or more subatomic particles behave as if they were one and the same.[http://www.tiptop.iop.org/full/pwa-pdf/24/06/phwv24i06a1.pdf PhysicsWorld]{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}[http://news.discovery.com/tech/let-quantum-physics-officiate-your-wedding-110510.html Discovery News][http://blog.the-scientist.com/2011/05/06/tangled-up-in-blue/ The Scientist]{{Dead link|date=April 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Using equipment bought on eBay, Keats built an "entanglement engine" that ostensibly could entangle people who visited the AC Institute in New York City.[https://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/05/keats-quantum-marriage/ Wired][http://www.themarysue.com/quantum-marriage/ The Mary Sue][http://motherjones.com/mixed-media/2011/05/jonathon-keats-quantum-entanglement-marriage Mother Jones][http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/2011/06/09/nuptial-entanglement/ Science and Religion Today]{{Cite web |url=http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/content/wnpr/colin-mcenroe-show-strengthen-your-marriage-quantum-entanglement |title=WNPR Radio |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=March 31, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331215338/http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/content/wnpr/colin-mcenroe-show-strengthen-your-marriage-quantum-entanglement |url-status=usurped }} Demonstrating the mechanism on NPR's Science Friday, he cautioned that "those who get entangled will have to take their entanglement on faith, as any attempt to measure a quantum system disentangles it: A quantum marriage will literally be broken up by skepticism about it."[http://www.sciencefriday.com/arts/2011/05/afraid-of-commitment-try-quantum-entanglement/ Science Friday] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107080855/http://www.sciencefriday.com/arts/2011/05/afraid-of-commitment-try-quantum-entanglement/ |date=January 7, 2012 }} In October 2011, Keats fomented a "Copernican Revolution in the arts."[http://www.space.com/14701-keats-copernican-art-manifesto.html Space.com][https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/10/a-revolution-of-universally-average-art.html New Scientist][https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.334.6054.295-a Science] In a manifesto published by Zyzzyva, he declared that "while the Copernican Revolution has enlightened scientists for centuries, art remains Ptolemaic," favoring masterpieces rather than average phenomena.[http://www.zyzzyva.org/2011/09/27/the-first-copernican-art-manifesto-a-new-paradigm/ Zyzzyva] To attain Copernican "mediocrity" in the arts, he produced paintings that were the average color of the universe, a light shade of beige, which he exhibited at Modernism Gallery in San Francisco, California.{{cite news |title=Calling for a 'Copernican' Revolution in the Arts |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=October 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213193929/https://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/10/17/calling-for-a-copernican-revolution-in-the-arts/ |archive-date=December 13, 2019 |url-status=live |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/10/17/calling-for-a-copernican-revolution-in-the-arts/ |last1=Shea |first1=Christopher }}{{cite web |title=The Keats Manifesto: 'Art Ought to Be Mediocre' |date=2011-11-02 |website=The Atlantic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601183442/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/11/the-keats-manifesto-art-ought-to-be-mediocre/247734/ |archive-date=2023-06-01 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/11/the-keats-manifesto-art-ought-to-be-mediocre/247734/}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/2011/10/19/manifesto-for-a-copernican-revolution-in-the-arts/ |title=Science and Religion Today |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=May 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523195233/http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/2011/10/19/manifesto-for-a-copernican-revolution-in-the-arts/ |url-status=dead }} He also showed sculptures that were made of hydrogen gas, the most common elemental matter in the universe,[http://bigthink.com/ideas/40633 Big Think] and presented a "Retempered Clavier" that randomized J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier to bring it into accord with the increased entropy of the universe.{{Cite web |url=http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/content/wnpr/colin-mcenroe-show-art-name-mediocrity |title=WNPR Radio |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=May 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519225945/http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/content/wnpr/colin-mcenroe-show-art-name-mediocrity |url-status=usurped }}[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/06/DDIF1MK26T.DTL The San Francisco Chronicle] Gallery visitors could purchase cans of "universal anti-seasoning," which was formulated to make cuisine more bland.{{cite magazine |title=Bland It Up: Copernican Theory Takes Edge Off Art |date=October 20, 2011 |magazine=Wired |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507005248/https://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/10/copernican-art |archive-date=May 7, 2012 |url-status=live |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/10/copernican-art/}}

Keats opened a "Microbial Academy of Sciences" in January 2012.[http://mag.digitalpc.co.uk/Olive/ODE/physicsworld/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=UEhZU1dvZGUvMjAxMi8wMi8wMQ..&pageno=NQ..&entity=QXIwMDUwNg..&view=ZW50aXR5 PhysicsWorld] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116063247/http://mag.digitalpc.co.uk/Olive/ODE/physicsworld/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=UEhZU1dvZGUvMjAxMi8wMi8wMQ..&pageno=NQ..&entity=QXIwMDUwNg..&view=ZW50aXR5 |date=January 16, 2016 }}[http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679504/the-microbial-academy-of-sciences-what-bacteria-can-discover-that-we-cant Fast Company]{{cite web |title=Cyanobacteria to Solve the Theory of Everything |website=Scientific American |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405121702/https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/2012/02/09/cyanobacteriatheoryofeverything/ |archive-date=April 5, 2015 |url-status=live |url=http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/2012/02/09/cyanobacteriatheoryofeverything/}} Situated in the San Francisco Arts Commission gallery, his academy provided colonies of cyanobacteria with access to imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope, which he said would allow the photosynthetic microbes to do astrophysical research.{{cite magazine |title=Microbial Academy of Sciences Turns Cyanobacteria Into Cosmonauts |date=January 19, 2012 |magazine=Wired |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719170947/https://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/01/keats-microbial-academy/? |archive-date=July 19, 2012 |url-status=live |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/01/keats-microbial-academy/}}[https://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1117082--tiny-bacteria-enlisted-in-hubble-telescope-museum-project The Toronto Star]{{cite web |title=Is Bacteria the Answer to Life? |date=January 5, 2012 |website=Gizmodo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828112243/https://gizmodo.com/5873177/who-wants-to-see-bacteria-figure-out-the-answer-to-life |archive-date=August 28, 2016 |url-status=live |url=https://gizmodo.com/5873177/who-wants-to-see-bacteria-figure-out-the-answer-to-life}}[http://bigthink.com/ideas/41923?page=all Big Think][http://news.discovery.com/space/is-it-science-or-is-it-art-120228.html Discovery News] In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Keats explained that he was motivated by the unresolved scientific quest for a theory of everything, the failings of which he attributed to the complexity of the human brain relative to the simplicity of the universe. He claimed that the fundamental laws of physics could more readily be grasped by cyanobacteria than by humans, because "cyanobacteria are not burdened by all that gray matter.”{{cite news |title=Bacteria Ponder the Heavens |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=January 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108032743/https://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2012/01/26/bacteria-ponder-the-heavens/ |archive-date=January 8, 2019 |url-status=live |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2012/01/26/bacteria-ponder-the-heavens/ |last1=Horne |first1=Rebecca }}

In April 2012, Keats launched the Electrochemical Currency Exchange Co. in the basement of Rockefeller Center.{{Cite web |url=http://news.discovery.com/tech/ulitmate-currency-exchange-120314.html |title=Discovery News |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=May 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501141915/http://news.discovery.com/tech/ulitmate-currency-exchange-120314.html |url-status=dead }}[http://www.livescience.com/19443-coins-generate-electricity.html Live Science] According to The Economist, his enterprise exploited "electrochemical arbitrage", generating energy by taking advantage of differences in the metallic content of Chinese and American coinages.[https://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/04/energy-cash The Economist] The energy generated was used to power a data processing center, but, due to the low wattage, the center consisted of pocket calculators, limiting computations to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.{{cite magazine |title=Concept Artist Jonathon Keats Turns Loose Change Into Electrochemical Arbitrage |date=April 6, 2012 |magazine=Wired |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218000320/https://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/04/keats-electrochemical-arbitrage |archive-date=December 18, 2012 |url-status=live |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/04/keats-electrochemical-arbitrage/}}{{cite web |title=Conceptual artist builds money-powered currency exchange |date=2012-04-09 |website=The Verge |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320102844/https://www.theverge.com/2012/4/9/2935060/electrochemical-arbitrage-jonathon-keats-money-battery-calculator |archive-date=2023-03-20 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/4/9/2935060/electrochemical-arbitrage-jonathon-keats-money-battery-calculator}}[http://bigthink.com/think-tank/financial-instability-as-an-energy-source Big Think] On May 16, 2012, a similar experiment was held in Hong Kong in the lobby of an HSBC building. But this time the electrochemical charge was derived exclusively from Chinese currency: aluminum Chinese fen and brass Hong Kong pennies.{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2012/05/the-latest-from-experimental-philosopher-jonathan-keats/ |title=The latest from Experimental Philosopher Jonathan Keats |publisher=Wired |author=Bruce Sterling|date=May 7, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409115226/http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2012/05/the-latest-from-experimental-philosopher-jonathan-keats |archive-date=April 9, 2013 |df=mdy }} A special website was made for this particular event.[https://web.archive.org/web/20130613165410/http://michingmalicho.com/ http://michingmalicho.com/ Electrochemical Currency Exchange Co. Hong Kong event website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130613165410/http://michingmalicho.com/ |date=June 13, 2013 }}

In 2015, Keats developed century cameras and millennium cameras. These are pinhole cameras designed to take very long exposure images, analogous to solarigraphy, but not focused on the sun. The ASU Art Museum has committed to a month-long exhibition of a millennium camera photo in 3015.https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-worlds-slowest-photo-will-take-1000-years-to-expose/

Keats is also the art critic for San Francisco magazine, and writes about art for publications including Art in America, Art + Auction, ARTnews, and Artweek. He has written about art forgery for Art & Antiques{{Cite web |url=http://www.artandantiquesmag.com/2012/02/pious-fraud/ |title=Art & Antiques |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=March 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311091147/http://www.artandantiquesmag.com/2012/02/pious-fraud/ |url-status=dead }} and reportedly Oxford University Press will publish a book he wrote on the topic, "Forged: Why Fakes Are the Great Art of Our Age", in late 2012.[http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ArtArchitecture/History/?view=usa&ci=9780199928354 Oxford University Press] He is also a book critic and journalist, and his reporting for Popular Science has been included in The Best American Science Writing 2007.{{cite web |last=Guthrie |first=John R. |url=http://calitreview.com/606 |title=California Literary Review |publisher=Calitreview.com |date=April 30, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-date=December 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206225912/http://calitreview.com/606 |url-status=dead }} He is a writer and commentator on new language,{{cite web|author=Talk of the Nation |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98738133 |title=Talk of the Nation | work=NPR |access-date=December 2, 2011}} the Jargon Watch columnist for Wired Magazine{{cite news|last=Keats |first=Jonathon |url=https://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-12/st_jw |title=Wired Magazine |magazine=Wired |access-date=December 2, 2011 |date=November 24, 2008}} the author of a devil's dictionary of technology,{{cite web|last=Defendorf |first=Richard |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6174862-7.html |title=CNET |publisher=News.cnet.com |date=April 10, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|last=Begley |first=Adam |url=http://www.observer.com/2007/our-critic-s-tip-sheet-current-reading-6 |title=New York Observer |publisher=Observer.com |date=July 30, 2007 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921173525/http://www.observer.com/2007/our-critic-s-tip-sheet-current-reading-6 |archive-date=September 21, 2007 |df=mdy }} and a book of essays, "Virtual Words: Language on the Edge of Science and Technology", which Oxford University Press published in October 2010.{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/12/12/out_of_the_gutter/?page=full |title=Boston Globe |date=December 12, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011 |first=Erin |last=McKean}}{{cite web|url=http://news.discovery.com/tech/chat-with-jargon-watch-columnist-jonathon-keats.html |title=Discovery News |publisher=News.discovery.com |date=November 12, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|last=Indar |first=Josh |url=https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/133575-virtual-words-by-jonathon-keats/ |title=Pop Matters |publisher=Pop Matters |access-date=December 2, 2011}}[http://againstthegrain.org/program/361/id/432258/wed-10-27-10-new-words-big-ideas KPFA] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127050013/http://againstthegrain.org/program/361/id/432258/wed-10-27-10-new-words-big-ideas |date=November 27, 2010 }} Each chapter examines the co-evolution of language and society in terms of a novel word, such as exopolitics{{cite web|author=Jonathon Keats |url=http://io9.com/5667184/exopolitics-foreign-affairs-with-alien-races |title=io9 |publisher=io9 |date=October 18, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} and in vitro meat.{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/133169/ |title=The Forward |publisher=The Forward |date=November 16, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Keats is a fiction writer as well, the author of two novels, The Pathology of Lies, published in English by Warner Books,{{cite web|last=Miller |first=Laura |url=http://www.salon.com/books/review/1999/05/12/keats/index.html |title=Salon.com |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211152936/http://www.salon.com/books/review/1999/05/12/keats/index.html |archive-date=February 11, 2011 |df=mdy }}{{cite news|author=Jeanne Fay, Special to The Chronicle |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/05/02/RV18331.DTL&hw=jonathon+keats&sn=002&sc=742 |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=May 2, 1999 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} and Lighter Than Vanity, published exclusively in Russian by Eksmo.{{cite web|url=http://www1.eksmo.ru/catalog/book?b=63551 |title=Eksmo |publisher=.eksmo.ru |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005091336/http://www.eksmo.ru/catalog/book?b=63551 |archive-date=October 5, 2011 |df=mdy }} The Book of the Unknown, a collection of fables loosely based on Talmudic legend,{{cite web|url=http://www.wordriot.org/template_2.php?ID=1722 |title=Word Riot |publisher=Word Riot |access-date=December 2, 2011}} was published by Random House in February 2009{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780812978971.html |title=Random House |publisher=Random House |date=February 10, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} and awarded the Sophie Brody Award by the American Library Association in 2010.{{cite web|url=http://www.ala.org/template.cfm?template=/CFApps/awards_info/award_detail_home.cfm&FilePublishTitle=Awards,%20Grants%20and%20Scholarships&uid=77C88438B7386F33 |title=American Library Association |publisher=Ala.org |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106204521/http://www.ala.org/template.cfm?template=%2FCFApps%2Fawards_info%2Faward_detail_home.cfm&FilePublishTitle=Awards%2C%20Grants%20and%20Scholarships&uid=77C88438B7386F33 |archive-date=November 6, 2011 |df=mdy }}{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Fresh-Ink-3201938.php |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=January 31, 2010 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} While the stories are said by Kirkus Reviews to have "echoes of Isaac Bashevis Singer, Sholom Aleichem and S.Y. Agnon",{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780812978971&view=quotes |title=Kirkus Reviews (via Random House) |publisher=Randomhouse.com |date=February 10, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Salon.com compares them to The Princess Bride ("without the gloss").{{cite web|last=Mustich |first=Emma |url=http://www.salon.com/books/int/2009/03/09/jonathon_keats/ |title=Salon.com |date=March 9, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} Since publication, the most persistent question has been whether the author Jonathon Keats is the same person as the conceptual artist.{{cite news|author=Justin Berton |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/12/NS4215P5DT.DTL |title=San Francisco Chronicle |date=February 12, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/37039/author-portrays-12-righteous-no-goodniks/ |title=J Weekly |publisher=J Weekly |date=February 6, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2011}} (A reviewer for the New York Observer even deconstructed his Wikipedia entry.{{cite web|last=Heinrich |first=Will |url=https://observer.com/2009/02/saints-alive/ |title=New York Observer |date=February 10, 2009 |publisher=Observer.com |access-date=December 2, 2011}}) However Keats has assured interviewers that the writer and artist are the same person, telling Salon that his fables, like his art, are a form of thought experiment.

Selection of works includes:

• {{Cite book |last1=Keats |first1=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/71756071 |title=Химеры Хемингуэя / Khimery Kheminguėi︠a︡ (also called Lighter than Vanity: A Novel)|last2=Novokshenova |first2=Maria |date=2006 |publisher=Ėksmo |isbn=978-5-699-16445-5 |location=Moscow |language=Russian |oclc=71756071}}

• {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/39692330 |title=The pathology of lies |date=1999 |publisher=Warner Books |isbn=0-446-67445-1 |location=New York, NY |oclc=39692330}}
• {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/80360865 |title=Control + alt + delete : a dictionary of cyber slang |date=2007 |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=978-1-59921-039-1 |location=Guilford, Conn. |oclc=80360865}}
• {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/226291744 |title=The book of the unknown : tales of the thirty-six |date=2009 |publisher=Random House Trade Paperbacks |isbn=978-0-8129-7897-1 |location=New York |oclc=226291744}}
• {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/667231105 |title=Virtual words : language on the edge of science and technology |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-975093-1 |location=New York |oclc=667231105}}
• {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/890899401 |title=Forged : why fakes are the great art of our age |date=2013 |others=Askews & Holts Library Services |isbn=978-0-19-931137-8 |location=New York |oclc=890899401}}
• {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/936117937 |title=You belong to the universe : Buckminster Fuller and the future |date=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-933824-5 |location=New York |oclc=936117937}}

• {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1036926117 |title=Yod the inhuman : a fable |date=2006 |publisher=Judah L. Magnes Museum |isbn=9780976150923 |location=Berkeley, CA |oclc=1036926117}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Keats |first1=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/84679857 |title=The first intergalactic art exposition |last2=Efimova |first2=Alla |last3=Judah L. Magnes Museum |date=2006 |publisher=Judah L. Magnes Museum |location=Berkeley, CA |language=English |oclc=84679857}}
• {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/880943815 |title=Zayin the profane : a fable |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-9761509-6-1 |location=Berkeley, CA |oclc=880943815}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Keats |first1=Jonathon |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1088564435 |title=The photosynthetic restaurant: gourmet sunlight for plants : a recipe book |last2=Crocker Art Museum |date=2011 |publisher=Crocker Art Museum |location=Sacramento, CA |language=English |oclc=1088564435}}
• {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |title=Food For Thought: Cloning Celebrity |publisher=AC Institute |year=2012 |isbn=978-0984130979 |language=English}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Keats |first1=Jonathon |last2=Wertheim |first2=Margaret |title=Antennae #47 Experiment |publisher=AntennaeProject |year=2019 |isbn=978-0578537054 |language=English}}
• {{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1143496650 |title=Gottfried Helnwein : the epiphany of the displaced |date=2019 |first1=Jonathon |last1=Keats |first2=Demetrio |last2=Paparoni |isbn=978-88-572-3989-7 |location=Milano, Italy |oclc=1143496650}}
• {{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1244801491 |title=Thought experiments : the art of Jonathon Keats |date=2021 |others=Jonathon Keats, Julie Decker, Alla Efimova, William L. Fox, Michael John Gorman, Ariane Koek |isbn=978-3-7774-3427-8 |location=Munich, Germany |oclc=1244801491}}

• {{cite journal |author=Keats, Jonathon |date=Sep 2013 |title=Failure |department=20 Things You Didn't Know About ... |journal=Discover |volume=34 |issue=7 |pages=74 |url=http://discovermagazine.com/2013/september/26-20-things-you-didnt-know-about-failure }}

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://www.newyorker.com/talk/2010/03/15/100315ta_talk_gopnik New Yorker Magazine brief profile]
• [http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Portraits/fun_with_art Good Magazine profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511224333/http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Portraits/fun_with_art |date=May 11, 2009 }}
• [http://www.space.com/14649-jonathon-keats-space-art-photos.html Space.com gallery]
• [http://bigthink.com/ideas/the-man-who-copyrighted-his-own-mind-nil-jonathon-keats-taped-live-on-big-think Big Think interview]
• [http://www.salon.com/books/int/2009/03/09/jonathon_keats/ Salon.com interview]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100919000247/http://outsideonline.com/outside/culture/200703/tree-art-1.html Outside Magazine profile]
• [http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=4504 KQED-TV/PBS short documentary]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100107105657/http://magnes.org/exhibits/keatsmovie.htm Judah L. Magnes Museum documentary]
• [http://www.sfweekly.com/2004-08-18/news/god-of-the-flies/ SF Weekly profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817035630/http://www.sfweekly.com/2004-08-18/news/god-of-the-flies/ |date=August 17, 2015 }}
• [http://www.modernisminc.com/artists/Jonathon_KEATS/ Jonathon Keats at Modernism Gallery]
• [http://colinmarshall.libsyn.com/getting-between-language-technology-art-and-philosophy-artist-philosopher-jonathon-keats An interview with Jonathon Keats on The Marketplace of Ideas]
• [http://blog.colinmarshall.org/?p=976 An interview with Jonathon Keats] on Notebook on Cities and Culture
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130130075007/http://electrochemex.com/ The Electrochemical Currency Exchange Co. Hong Kong event website]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keats, Jonathon}}

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