The Arts Catalyst's biotechnology programme is interested in developing artist projects that critique or comment on current developments in the biosciences, and in particular projects that utilize the technologies of modern bioscience.
London Fieldworks' SpaceBaby film (Jun 2008) is a 20-minute semi-fictional video journey into genetic space. It mixes laboratory procedure with physical performance, CGI, narrative and sound.
SymbioticA Biological Art Workshop, Bangalore (March 2008) takes place at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore.Co-organised with the NCBS and Srishti School of Art, Design & Media.
Truth Serum (March 2008). The Office of Experiments (set up by artist Neal White)'s truth serum experiment takes place in Liverpool, UK, on Saturday 29 March 2008
London Fieldworks' SpaceBaby installation (Sept 2006) was a live experiment with the University of Leicester's Department of Genetics, staged at the Roundhouse in 2006 as part of The Arts Catalyst’s Space Soon, which looked at gene expression in inverted sleep patterns, as the artists slept during the days in the installation.
Critical Art Ensemble's new film Marching Plague (2006) criticised current spending on biowarfare research and re-enacts of key biowarfare sea trials in the UK
Phillip Warnell's Endo Ecto (Feb 2006) was a performance/endoscopic journey through the gastro-intestinal tract with invited speakers on performance & medical imaging at the ICA, London.
The Biotech Art Workshop (Mar/Apr 2005) led by SymbioticA, an intensive week-long practical workshop for professional artists to gain some of the techniques of biological art and explore the arising issues, ethics and aesthetics.
The Biotech Art Symposium (April 2005), a public forum at which members of the public could join the workshop participants to discuss issues and ethics in bioart.
Research is not Terrorism (Feb 2005) brought Steve Kurtz along with Claire Pentecost from the Critical Art Ensemble Defence Fund to the Royal Institution in London. Steve spoke for the first time about his case since his arrest in the USA on bioterrorism charges.
Working with Wetware forum (June 2003).This brought together some of the leading practitioners of biotech art in the world, including Oron Catts (Australia), Marta de Menezes (Portugal), Steve Kurtz (US) and Brandon Ballengee (US).
CleanRooms exhibition (2002-3). This exhibition aimed to examine and challenge our responses to biotechnology: a science often perceived as secretive and sinister. It included new commissioned installations by Gina Czarnecki, Neal White and Brandon Ballengee and performances of GenTerra by Critical Art Ensemble as well as a programme of artist residencies (Brandon Ballengee, Ruth Ben-Tovim, Michael Carklin), educational and participatory programmes, forums, talks and workshops:
Gina Czarnecki's Silvers Alter
Neal White's Uncontrolled Hermetic
Critical Art Ensemble's GenTerra
Brandon Ballengee's From Farm 2 Pharm
The Body Visual exhibition (1996 - 98). A touring exhibition that examined key areas of medical science. Helen Chadwick's work was the result of manipulating and photographing human in vitro embryos during a residency at the Assisted Conception Unit of Kings College Hospital. Letizia Galli's work was informed by findings in the field of neurology and included biological material. Donald Rodney's deeply personal reflection on medical science stemmed from his own long-term treatment for sickle-cell anaemia and used medical imaging techniques.
