[rohrpost] new lecture series on 'Living tissues and living issues' , at the Waag Society, Amsterdam (NL), February 2014

[Ingeborg Reichle]

In February 2014, Waag Society's Wetlab in Amsterdam brings a new
series of three lectures by Joanne Jesman at the Waag titled 'Living
tissues and living issues', as a continuation of the series The Future
of Art & Science Collaborations started last year in October.

This new series looks at how technology shapes new relations between
organisms and in turn how technology is shaped by those organisms.
>From an artistic, academic and sociopolitical perspective the
contributions look at issues of hybridity, performativity and food as
these seemingly unrelated topics have a very strong influence on how
we perceive the Other and each other in modern society.

These are the three evenings in this series, you can register at their
respective event pages:

13 February 2013: Hybrids, Chimeras and Other Monsters
Lecture: Joanne Jesman, interview: Laura Mudde, interviewee: Guy
Ben-Ary, moderation: Lucas Evers, event starts 20.00 hrs, wrap &
drinks 21.30 hrs

Hybridity is one of the most fashionable words in modern society; it
is used to describe culture, architecture, media, medicine and even
car engines. Thinking about mythological creatures such as the centaur
and Cyclops, and the fears and anxieties those represented and tried
to exorcise, hybridity shows a long and fascinating history. Only
since the latest future man  instead of god produces those chimeras.
What is the etymology of the word and how it functions both literally
and metaphorically in the era of technoscience? What is the attitude
of art practitioners to hybridity? And how does the art relate to the
industry of those hybrids, chimeras and their kin.

Guy Ben-Ary is an artist and a researcher whose work uses emerging
medias, in particular biologically related technologies (tissue
culture, tissue engineering, electrophysiology and optics). Ben-Ary is
an artist in resident in SymbioticA at the University of Western
Australia, Perth, WA, since 2000. He specializes in microscopy (light,
confocal and SEM), biological & digital imaging, tissue culture and
engineering and artistic visualization of biological data. His Main
research areas are cybernetics, robotics and the interface of
biological material to man made devices. Much of Ben-Ary’s work is
inspired by science and nature.  His artworks utilize motion and
growth to investigate technological aspects of today’s culture and the
re-use of biological materials and technologies.

17 February 2013: Gustatory Semantics
Lecture: Joanne Jesman, interview: Laura Mudde, interviewee: Chloe
Rutzerfeld, moderation: Lucas Evers, event starts 20.00 hrs, wrap &
drinks 21.30 hrs

Who, what and why we eat, or not, are no longer just matters of
personal preference; it is no longer a neutral topic of small talk as
nowadays food is deeply marked by ethics, politics, economy and health
issues. What is it going to look like in the future? Is the posthuman
food chain the best solution? What are the issues reflected in food
art and what are our blind spots?

Chloé Rutzerveld
Chloé Rutzerveld is a student at the TU/e (Technical University) in
Eindhoven, and worked during her internship at the Open Wetlab in de
Waag, where she organized 'The Other Dinner' for her graduation
research, an experimental and interactive dinner that investigated the
meat culture of the past, the present and the future combined with a
DIY Bio workshop to grow cells of cultured meat.

20 February 2013: (Per)Formativity of BioArt
Lecture: Joanne Jesman, interview: Laura Mudde, interviewee: Maria
Verstappen and Erwin Driessens (tbc), moderation: Lucas Evers, event
starts 20.00 hrs, wrap & drinks 21.30 hrs

The performative turn in humanities strongly influences the way we
analyze reality. It does not only concern performance art but also
social and political aspects of modernity. The key features of
performativity are agency and embodied experience, which are also
crucial in bioartistic practices. What are the contexts of our
encounters with a living, artistic medium and how it impacts the way
we perceive Life? In other words what do performance theory and
participatory art between humans and non-humans share?

Maria Verstappen, Erwin Driessens (tbc)
The Amsterdam based artist couple Erwin Driessens (1963 Wessem) and
Maria Verstappen (1964 Someren) have worked together since 1990. After
their study at the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and the
Rijksakademie Amsterdam, they jointly developed a multifaceted oeuvre
of software, machines and objects. Their research focuses on the
possibilities that physical, chemical and computer algorithms can
offer for the development of image generating processes.

Living tissues and living issues is part of The Future of Art and
Science Collaborations, a joint project of Waag Society and Stichting
Toekomstbeeld der Techniek, supported by the Mondriaanfund and Doen.

De Waag - Makers Guild
Nieuwmarkt 4
1012 CR Amsterdam

http://waag.org/en/news/living-tissues-and-living-issues

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BIO ART & DESIGN AWARD
Call for proposals: deadline 2 February 2014
http://www.badaward.nl/