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BIOTECH ART WORKSHOP
Workshop: Mon 28th March - Fri 1st April 2005
Public discussion: Saturday 2nd April 2005
Old Operating Theatre, 9a St Thomas Street, London SE1, UK
Contemporary developments in life sciences are having a profound effect on society, its values, belief systems and treatments of individuals, groups and the environment. The interaction of art, science, industry and society is increasingly recognised as an essential avenue for innovation and invention, and as a way to explore, envision and critique possible futures.
Continuing its interest in artists' practical and political engagement with biotechnology, The Arts Catalyst organised an intensive 5 day workshop for artists, led by artist Oron Catts and Gary Cass of SymbioticA: The Art & Science Collaborative Studio, School of Anatomy & Human Biology, The University of Western Australia.
The workshop was a hands-on exploration of biological technologies and issues stemming from their use, serving as a theoretical and practical introduction to the creation of biotech art and aimed at educating artists from the UK and Europe in issues of biotechnology and genomics. The workshop taught hands-on engagement with these technologies to enable artists to carry out and critique manipulation of living systems from an informed practical perspective. The practical components included DNA extraction and fingerprinting, genetic engineering, selective breeding, plant and animal tissue culture and basic tissue engineering techniques.
The workshop presented work of contemporary artists dealing with biotechnology. Scientists were also involved, discussing ethical issues raised by artists' work in this area and enabling fieldtrips to laboratories. At the end of the week, ideas explored in the workshop were opened out in a public discussion event.
Participating artists:
Franko B
Brandon Ballengee
Heather Barnett
Anne Bean
Jenny Boulboulle
Laura Cinti
Wim Delvoye
Tony Dunne
Ju Gosling
Simon Gould
Andy Gracie
Antony Hall
Jens Hauser
Verena Kaminarz
Jose Eugenio Marchesi
Sana Murrani
Jane Prophet
Paula Roush
Jill Scott
Hege Tapio
Workshop Programme
Day 1
9-10am: Registration and welcome
10-11am: Lab Safety Lecture
11:30am-1pm: DNA Extraction - DIY with off-the-shelf items and science lab versions DNA fingerprinting/Gel preparation/Smarties Gels
2- 5pm: Looking at the gels, staining gels. PGLO transformation (inserting GFP genes to bacteria, e-coli K12)
Day 2
10-11am: Ethics in biological research and in Bioart: Discussion
11:30-1pm: Bacteria plating from body and environment. Checking PGLO
2- 5pm: Fungi work. (culture, slide prep etc.)
Day 3
10-11am: Selective breeding/plant manipulations
11:30am-1pm: Discussion, ideas and possible projects 2-5pm: Plant Tissue Culture
Day 4
10-11am: Tissue Culture, Tissue Engineering and Stem Cells Talk
11:30am-1pm: Creating 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering
2-5pm: Mammalian, fish and amphibians tissue culture and tissue engineering practicals
Day 5
Field day: Visiting scientific research institution/s
Day 6
Public discussion event which we hope workshop participants will attend
SymbioticA is a research laboratory dedicated to the exploration from an artistic perspective of scientific knowledge in general and biological techniques in particular. SymbioticA is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in wet biology practices in a biological science department.
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