[rohrpost] BIO-ART / DESIGN: Transdisciplinarity in Art, Science and Creativity, Symposium and Workshop, 7th - 8th March 2016, Singapore

[Ingeborg Reichle]

BIO-ART / DESIGN: Transdisciplinarity in Art, Science and Creativity
Symposium and Workshop

7th - 8th March 2016

School School of Art, Design & Media, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore

Bio-Art and Bio-Design are growing transdisciplinary fields that span
the experimental fine arts, product and environmental design, medicine
and medical technology, engineering, and the natural sciences
especially biology and biochemistry. In fine art, it ranges from the
use of living things such as bacteria and genetic engineering as
materials and processes for collaborative research and creative
intervention, to the transformation of non-living materials into
systems that mimic or interface with a range of scientific, biological
and biophysical processes. In design one focus has been on the
innovative and aesthetic use of sensors, biomaterials and smart
materials, including wearable technologies and medical devices that
can improve the care of patients, including diagnosis, treatment, and
follow-up, emphasizing individual and social well-being including
remote regions of the world. Some of the important issues being
addressed are empathy, ethics, embodiment, sentience, ecology and
sustainability. Current discourse regarding the Anthropocene and
challenges of creating symbiotic relationships between humans and
nature are relevant to this.

Increasingly artists and designers are in residence in scientific and
medical research labs, and scientists and engineers are collaborating
with artists in their studios. Fields such as neuroscience,
biomaterials, and biotechnologies are already being explored by
artists and designers. Engineers are working with 3D printing of
organic materials and collaborating with fashion designers, and
inventing new technologies for use in public artworks and in
architecture that clean air and green cities. There are artists,
designers, scientists and engineers with multiple competencies, with
expertise in art/design and science/engineering. As a quick growing
transdisciplinary field with profound implications socially and
environmentally, what are the potentials and challenges, including
from the creative, ethical, and practical perspective? This symposium
will address these and other questions related to the development of
the bio-art/design field through keynote talks and panels with experts
and pioneers.

A workshop on day 2 will provide participants the opportunity to
discuss their ideas and concerns for possible futures. Questions
include: given rapid advances in hybrid physical-digital technologies,
deeper scientific understanding of natural phenomena, and new
approaches to artistic research, what is on the horizon for
transdisciplinary creativity, and collaborations between art, design,
science, medicine, and engineering? What kinds of academic and
research programs should universities and research centres be
conceiving or building in response, and what is needed to realize
them? What would a transformative, transdisciplinary bio-art/design
research laboratory, course, or curriculum in a major global research
university or art school look like today and 10 years from now?

Organised and hosted by Vibeke Sorensen, professor and chair, School
School of Art, Design & Media, Nanyang Technological University, 81
Nanyang Drive, 637458, Singapore

BIO-ART / DESIGN: Transdisciplinarity in Art, Science and Creativity
Symposium and Workshop
Date: 7th - 8th March 2016
Symposium Venue: ADM Level 2, Room 2-15
Workshop Venue: ADM Level 3, Room 3-25

http://www.adm.ntu.edu.sg/NewsnEvents/Pages/News-Detail.aspx?news=aea5187b-e5ca-4000-b930-b42e35adae09