The Remains of Algernon and the Poetry Orchids consists of the mummified body of the fetal calf Algernon with a live orchid growing out from within his remains. Within the table drawer there is a flask of fixed HeLa cells (the first human cell line established in 1951). These cells were originally grown in a liquid nutrient medium containing fetal calf serum.
This work links to the A Shrine far Algernon Instance #1 and #2, as well as Algernon Becomes a Bird and comments on the history of cell culture and use fetal calf serum in cell maintenance.