Difference between revisions of "HSC"

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== HSC#07: Citizen Science - Bio-Commons, Pangolins and GynePunks ==
 
== HSC#07: Citizen Science - Bio-Commons, Pangolins and GynePunks ==
  
Date: 1.06.2015 – 20h
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Date: 1.06.2015 – 20h (Door opening and Apéro starts at 19:30)
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Venue: [http://dock18.ch/ Dock 18 - Raum für Medienkulturen der Welt] / [http://www.rotefabrik.ch/de/dock18/Rote Fabrik] - Zürich
  
 
'''Bio-Commons'''
 
'''Bio-Commons'''

Revision as of 09:56, 29 May 2015

Hackteria Swiss Curriculum

The HSC – Hackteria Swiss Curriculum, is a series of talks/presentations aiming to discuss openly the multitudes of bio art | sci | tec and related practices started as a cooperation of Hackteria and Corner College in Summer 2014 and has grown into a larger series of events with multiple partner venues across Switzerland.

Team

Marc Dusseiller

Interests: Daphnia-Hacking, Euglena burgers, BioElectronics, low-cost diagnostics, building DIWO community bio-labs

Short Bio: Dr. Marc R. Dusseiller is a transdisciplinary scholar, lecturer for micro- and nanotechnology, cultural facilitator and artist. He works in an integral way to combine science, art and education. He performs DIY (do-it-yourself) workshops in lo-fi electronics, hardware hacking, microscopy, music and robotics. He was co-organizing Dock18, Room for Mediacultures, diy* festival (Zürich, Switzerland), KIBLIX 2011 (Maribor, Slovenia), workshops for artists, schools and children as the former president (2008-12) of the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society, SGMK. In collaboration with Kapelica Gallery, he has started the BioTehna Lab in Ljubljana (2012 - 2013), an open platform for interdisciplinary and artistic research on life sciences. Currently, he is developing means to perform bio- and nanotechnology research and dissemination, Hackteria | Open Source Biological Art, in a DIY / DIWO fashion in kitchens, ateliers and in developing countries.

Boris Magrini

Boris Magrini (*1975) is a Swiss art historian and curator. He earned a Master’s degree in art history and philosophy at the University of Geneva and is currently performing research for his PhD in the field of media arts at the University of Zurich, with a thesis on computer and generative art. He was curator at Duplex (Geneva), I Sotterranei dell’Arte (Monte Carasso) and assistant curator at Kunsthalle Fribourg and Kunsthalle Zürich. Among other projects, he has curated Mutamenti (Bellinzona, 2007), Anathema (Fri-Art, Fribourg, 2007-2008), Modifier (Dienstgebäude, Zurich, 2010) and co-curated Leise Rehe – Wilde Beeren (Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, 2011-2012). In 2013, he has organized at Kunsthalle Zürich the series of talks and encounters Reality Check. He is editor of the Italian pages of the Swiss art journal Kunst-Bulletin and he regularly publishes on contemporary art and media art in magazines, books and exhibition catalogues.

Pei-Wen Liu

Interests: Nature vs Culture, and the soundings of them.

Short Bio: As a sound artist, I have been collecting field recordings with portable recorders over years in Australia, Taiwan, Europe, southern islands of Japan, northern-west of China and east Turkey, those soundings of nature phenomenons and human activities, or an emerging moment of small talk. Slowly I built a personal archive of sonic observations; with intensions or without. While most of artistic activity focus on listening and generative composition, as well, I am co-organising series of PlayAround workshop in Taiwan, an intensely parallel and collaborative workshop of mediating the creative use of fair software and DIY practices to an audience of young students and artists of diverse backgrounds, promoting sharism. It combines the knowledge creation and open distribution of new media technologies and contemporary art practices in a socially responsible and relevant context. MFA in Digital Media, Gothenburg University, Sweden.

Program Advisors

Partner Venues

Dock 18 - Room for Mediacultures

Dock18 Raum für Medienkulturen der Welt ist abwechselnd und von Zeit zu Zeit simultan unabhängiger Kunstraum, TV Studio, Medienlabor, Meeting Point, Bar, Club, Tanzboden und interaktiver Nährboden für verschiedene Medienkulturen der Welt.

Corner College

... ist ein offener Raum für un­regelmässig stattfindende, quasi-akademische Aktivitäten wie Workshops, Vor­träge, Lesungen, Filmvorführungen und kulinarische Versuche.

Das College wurde 2008 im Perla-Mode Zürich gegründet. Nach dem Umzug an die Kochstrasse 2011 wird es zurzeit von Irene Grillo, Sarah Infanger, Urs Lehni, Jeannette Polin, Philip Matesic und Stefan Wagner betrieben.

Address: Corner College, Kochstrasse 1, 8004 Zürich. Find map here.

Upcoming

HSC#07: Citizen Science - Bio-Commons, Pangolins and GynePunks

Date: 1.06.2015 – 20h (Door opening and Apéro starts at 19:30)

Venue: Dock 18 - Raum für Medienkulturen der Welt / Fabrik - Zürich

Bio-Commons

Speaker: Eugenio Battaglia (IT)

"I’m a student in molecular and system biotechnology with a specialization in integrative neuroscience. I experiment in the field of Life Sciences with emerging and low-cost technologies, solving global challenges and exploring novel forms of ethical deliberation. From the very beginning I’ve always hacked my education in order to understand the world around me. I learnt how to leverage the scientific method, digital technologies and service design thinking methodologies to define my personal track route, and the strategic development of business projects.

My mission is to build and nurture a collaborative society by connecting people, organisations and ideas around fairness, openness and trust. I produce knowledge on the peer-to-peer transformation, through research, publications, blogs and participatory events, in partnerships with academia, think tanks and a wide network of global experts.

I instigate and support meaningful projects and experimentation in social innovation, enabling fruitful collaborations with public institutions and progressive companies that want to build a resilient society. Connecting the dots and innovating are my passions."

  • Additional Guest: Gaia Leandra (IT)

Links

Biodiversity Connections and DIYbio in Singapore and SE-Asia

Speaker: Adeline Seah (SG)

Interests: Conservation genetics, Wildlife trafficking, Forensic DNA barcoding, Art for science communication, Inquiry based learning, Pangolins!

Short Bio: Adeline Seah is a biologist who studied in California (B.S in Genetics & Plant Biology, PhD in Developmental Genetics with C. elegans) and moved back to Singapore a few years ago. She has recently finished a postdoc (2012-2014) on analyzing the genetic diversity of the highly endangered Southern River Terrapin in Cambodia and is now an active member of various citizen science and DIYbio groups across the globe.

In 2012, she founded Biodiversity Connections happy hour in Singapore to build relationships between researchers, NGOs and government agencies involved in biodiversity research and policy. She also recently started The Pangolin Story outreach project with a friend to use public art projects to create awareness in Singapore on pangolins and the threats they face in the region from poaching for consumption and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Links


GynePunk Mobile Labs and BioAutonomy

Speaker: Paula Pin - PechBlenda (ES)

Paula Pin is Transhackfeminist performer and researcher. Graduated in Fine Arts from Barcelona and Sao Paolo, Her work ranges from drawing to abstract video to circuit bending to investigations at the frontiers of biology, art and queer science. Her performance piece Medusa from 2010 mixes mythology, ecology and criticism of consumer culture while Udre from 2009, is an automatic drawing machine created from an old umbrella and an Arduino. In 2011 she was awarded a grant from Vida to develop her Photosinthetik Symphony – data from sensors attached to plants and her own body generate sound in a program created in Pure Data. In 2012 she was invited to a residence in Nuvem, a rural art centre in Brasil, to develop her work, focusing especially on photosynthesis. In parallel she creates home made synthesizers, gives workshops, and investigates the practice of noise. The work of Paula Pin blurs the distinctions between machine, animal and plant, and opens up new horizons in the performance of the lab. At present she setup, co-habitats and works with Klau and Julito in the transhackfeminsit hardlab of bio-electro-chemical experimentation, Pechblenda, where they continue generating knowledge and technological autonomy. Across disciplines they wish to enter fully into the matter of a multiple body, be it organic, artificial or fusion of both.

Links


HSC#xx: A Horse is a Horse is a Horse, Jens Hauser

to be confirmed

Potential Speakers | 2015

Potential dates

HSC Series 2014

General Info about Hackteria

HSC#1: The case study and review of HackteriaLab 2014 – Yogyakarta

http://hackteria.org/discourse/hsc1-hackterialab2014/

Researcher and artist Marc Dusseiller, formerly know as Pak Marcjono, will give a presentation of the most recent HackteriaLab taking place in Yogyakarta (Indonesia) from 13. – 25. April 2014, a collaboration of hackteria and their long term partner, lifepatch – citizen initiative in art, science and technology, together with diverse local partners. The two week collaborative and interdisciplinary practice of HLab14 was defined by three ongoing Ecological Research Nodes within the practice of the local Indonesian facilitators. The topics are tightly related to the daily life of Yogyakarta. They are: 1. Biorecovery of Volcanic Soil, 2. Environmental Monitoring of the Rivers, 3. Biodiversity conservation in Wonosadi Forest, together with the focus on Open Source Hardware and DIY & Low-Cost Laboratory Infrastructure.

HSC1.jpg

HLab14 brought together a large group of international and regional participants, of makers, artists, scientists, hackers, educators to investigate and foster the concept of DIWO (do-it-with-others), bio art and citizen science. HLab 14 had a strong focus on workshopology, sharing and collaboration, field-trips and musical experimentation, and was additionally presented in an exhibition format at LAF, Yogyakarta from 25 April – 2. May.

HSC#2: Hybrid Ecology | The Finnish Society of Bioart

http://hackteria.org/discourse/hsc2-hybrid-ecology/

Date: 16.06.2014 – 20h

Hybrid Ecology

Speaker: Erich Berger (AT/FI)

In this second part of the series of talks/presentations aiming to discuss openly the multitudes of bio art | sci | tec and related practices we invited a very interesting guest from Finland, who’ll present their activities with the Finnish Society of Bioart, aswell as present their residency program in Kilpisjärvi in northern Lappland. Additionally, a special guest, Yashas Shetty (IN), Co-Founder of Hackteria, will also be present and give an overview of their activities in Bangalore, India.

We are living in a technologically informed world. Our life takes place in hybrid space merging the physical and virtual. As we continue to develop and use technologies which now also include the manipulation of the living we are challenged to rethink our concepts and relations to the environment we inhabit. He will introduce various activities hosted by the Finnish Society of Bioart, their ongoing residency program in Kilpisjärvi and their most recent publication ““Field_Notes – From Landscape to Laboratory – Maisemasta Laboratorioon”.

Download excepts from the book here.

Erich Berger is a visual artist and trained as a communication engineer and in philosophy. He has produced interactive art installations, artistic wearable interfaces, audiovisual performances and sound-art, which have been shown internationally since the mid 90ties. He also works as educator, curator, content developer and facilitator, focusing on the intersection of art, technology and science. Research interests include telerobotics and telematically mediated environments, interactive participatory spaces, sonification and visualisation of real-time processes with related questions in composition, semiotics and linguistics, generative processes, feedback situations and autopoietic systems. His research engages with hybrid space, deep time processes, biology and ecology and involves the facilitation of interdisciplinary environments for working and learning. His research also includes close cooperation with international partners within the arts and sciences.

HSC#2.1: special lecture Hackteria | Art/Sci Bangalore

Speaker:Yashas Shetty (IN)

Our special guest, Yashas Shetty (IN), Co-Founder of Hackteria and very active in the Art/Sci Bangalore and Srishti School for Art, Design Technology, will also be present and join the discussion reflecting on bioart/DIYbio practices in Bangalore and India in general. After his earlier work as a musician/composer working on environmental data and sonification as an artist-in-residence at NCBS, he co-founded CEMA, the Center for Experimental Media Arts, as part of Srishti School for Art, Design Technology, a very advantgarde art school in Bangalore. Since 2009, together with students from art & design, he started to investigate various artistic and educational approaches to work with synthetic biology, a radical form of genetic engineering. Students were introduced into hands-on laboratory work and the design of new functions to be engineering into living organisms, such as the e.coli bacteria. They published various books and brochures about these artistic explorations into one of the most critically discussion novel field of biology. Throughout the years, together with the students, their approach has shifted more and more away from the high-end collaboration with well equipped university biolabs and they digged into the Do-It-Yourself approach (related to the term Jugaad in Hindi), enabling general citizens to get included into biological research. Since then their focus primarily lies in Citizen Science, through co-design and active community engagement, they recently worked on projects of water quality monitoring, biodiversity, ecology and established global collaborative projects, such as BIO-DESIGN for the REAL WORLD, with EPFL (Switzerland) and Lifepatch (Indonesia).

HSC#3: A critical perspective on bio-art between tactical media and artistic playground

http://hackteria.org/discourse/hsc3/

Date: 16.07.2014 – 20h

Speaker: Boris Magrini (CH)

With the third part of the series of talks/presentations aiming to discuss openly the multitudes of bio art | sci | tec and related practices we will try to round up the topic before the summer break and have invited Boris Magrini, art historian and curator, to give an overview of the history and contexts of various works related to bioart.

Since many tools and wetware products to create bio-labs have become affordable, artists have experimented with bio-technologies. Hence, bio-art has established itself as the latest trend in the field of media art. However, this artistic production is extremely heterogeneous, encompassing the spectacular works of Eduardo Kac and SymbioticA, the thought-provoking ones of Paul Vanouse and the Critical Art Ensemble, or again the participative and performative activities of Hackteria, for instance. How have these practices been described and examined by critics and historians? How were they presented in institutions, museums and festivals? Furthermore, what are the future challenges for the artists engaging in biotechnologies? Through the discussion of a selection of works, exhibitions and essays, I will attempt to answer these questions and offer a possible, critical perspective on bio-art and its reception.

HSC#4: RealTechSupport presents: Postapocalyptic Water Design

Date: 18.08.2014 – 20h

Postapocalyptic Water Design

Speaker: Marc Böhlen (CH) – RealTechSupport

  • Additional Guest: Sachiko Hirosue (JP/CH) on BIO-DESIGN for the REAL WORLD
  • Moderator: Boris Magrini (CH), curator and art historian

More info on http://hackteria.org/discourse/hsc4

This presentation will describe recent projects in experimental resource management that combine technical and urban interventions. In particular the care of ecreational and essential water resources will be addressed through a discussion of WaterBar, a system that creates mineralized water in response to bad water news and WaterBank, a water analysis and fresh water distribution system designed for the Terban district of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Artist-Engineer Marc Böhlen aka RealTechSupport offers the kind of support technology really needs. Böhlen designs and builds information processing systems that critically reflect on information as a cultural value. His projects derive qualitative potential from the realm of quantitative information and query the relationship between people and automation systems in fundamental ways. Böhlen is currently on faculty at the University at Buffalo, Department of Media Study and the School of Architecture.

BIO-DESIGN for the REAL WORLD

Guest Speaker: Sachiko Hirosue (JP/CH)

BIO-DESIGN for the REAL WORLD is an interdisciplinary and collaborative research project to define, build, and field-test prototypes that require the integration of wetware, hardware, and software to address real world water problems. The project is a partnership between (Art)ScienceBLR with design students from the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, (Bangalore, India) the Lifepatch citizen initiative in art, science and technology (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), and students at the School of Life Sciences at EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland).

Summary of the evening can be found on the biodesign.cc site.

HSC#5: The Bioart Lab Conspiracy

Montag 20.10.2014

18h Opening of Läb am Egge

20h #HSC-Talk-Runde: Bio art labs conspiracy


HSC#6: Redesigning Nature

Zuritipp hackteria meineWahl.jpg

Date: 27.11.2014 – 20h

Speaker: Jill Scott (AUS/CH) – Professor for Art and Science Research, ZHDK

Additional Guest: Christoph Kueffer (CH) – Integrated Biology Department, ETHZ


moderated by Boris Magrini (CH)

Link to CC: http://www.corner-college.com/Veranstaltungen/1417042800/872

Re-designing Nature Klimawandel, Urbanisierung, invasive Arten, oder Eutrophierung verändern Ökosysteme fundamental. Zunehmend gehen Ökologen davon ausgehen, dass Ökosysteme durch gezielte Neu-Gestaltung an diese anthropogene Veränderungen angepasst werden müssen. Konzepte wie ‚ecological design’, ‚intervention ecology’, ‚re-wilding’, ‚resurrection ecology’, ‚assisted migration’ oder ‚reconciliation ecology’ propagieren verschiedene Formen des Re-designs der Natur zur Erhaltung von Biodiversität und Ökosystemdienstleistungen. Gemeinsam mit einer Professorin für interaktive Kunst und Wissenschaftskommunikation analysieren wir diese neuen Vorstellung der Beziehung vom Menschen zur Natur, vergleichen diese mit aktuellen Arbeiten von Künstlern zum Thema, und diskutieren Fragen wie: Welche Natur wollen wir in Zukunft? Welche Kommunikationsformen sind geeignet, um als Wissenschaftler gemeinsam mit der Bevölkerung Zukunftsvisionen der Naturgestaltung zu verhandeln?

Re-designing Nature Climate change, urbanization, invasive species, or ecosystems eutrophication are causing fundamental anthropogenic changes. Increasingly ecologists are assuming that ecosystems need to be adjusted through targeted new design concepts to deal with these changes. Concepts such as ecological design, intervention ecology, re-wilding, resurrection ecology or assisted migration, reconciliation ecology are new terms that propagate interests in various forms of re-designing nature. Artists main aim is still to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services but do other aims also exist?. How are artists and designers representing the changing relationships between humans and “nature” today? What is the definition of "nature" in the future and what do scientists need to know about design and communication to cause more post reflection or share definitions about the future of "nature" with the general public?

Location: To be confirmed, there is another exhibition planned in CC.

Dr. Christoph Kueffer

Christoph Kueffer`s interests at the Institute for Integrative Biology ETHZ, are based on the Ecology of the Anthropocene, Designer Ecosystems for Biodiversity Conservation, Ecological Risks such as Invasive Species, Ecology of Mountains and Oceanic Islands, Transdisciplinarity. He is Co-chair of the Swiss Environmental Humanities group, a new interdisciplinary research field that explores environmental issues through the methods and insights of the humanities from a historical, social, philosophical, and cultural perspective in order to offer fresh perspectives for addressing and understanding complex environmental problems. His own specialisation is about the complexities of rapidly changing ecosystems, the integration of field ecology, the construction of controlled experiments as well as the theoretical and meta-analysis of large datasets by conducting comparative research across multiple sites worldwide. He is particularly interested in invasive species, vegetation change in mountains, biodiversity conservation and novel ecosystems on oceanic islands, and coffee agroforestry.

Prof. Dr. Jill Scott

Jill Scott is Professor for Art and Science Research in the Institute Cultural Studies in the Arts, at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZhdK) in Zürich and Founder of the Artists-in-Labs Program, which places artists from all disciplines into physics, computer, engineering and life science labs to learn about scientific research and make creative interpretations. She is also Vice Director of the Z-Node PHD program on art and science at the University of Plymouth, UK-a program with a cluster of artists who are focused on issues in the natural sciences. Her artwork spans 38 years of production about the human body, behaviour and body politics, but in the last 10 years she has focused on the construction of interactive mediated sculptures based on studies she has conducted in collaboration with neuroscience labs at the University of Zurich. These include-artificial intelligent skin at the Artificial Intelligence Lab, human eye disease and cognitive interaction in Neurobiology, nerve damage in relation to UV radiation at the Dermatology Lab the development of neural networks in the pre-natal stage at The Institute of Molecular Life Sciences. Currently, she is working on a new project called Aural Roots about the neural system of hearing, inspired by a residency with neuroscientists at SymbioticA, University of Western Australia. Her recent publications include: Neuromedia: Art and Science Research together with Esther Stöckli (2012), The Transdiscourse book series: Volume 1: Mediated Environments, (2011), Artists-in-labs: Networking in the Margins,(2011) and Artists-in-labs: Processes of Inquiry (2006).

Related Readings

https://www.academia.edu/2396722/A_Discussion_over_art_The_Mustarinda_2012_Exhibition

Related Readings

ScreenShot Magrini.png

Hackteria: An example of neomodern activism. Leonardo Online 2013, Boris Magrini

File:LeaVol20No1_-Magrini.pdf

http://www.leoalmanac.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/LEA_Vol20_No1_Magrini.pdf

As a platform for knowledge sharing and artistic exploration, Hackteria constitutes a network of artists and researchers that merge the use of biotechnologies with hacking and do-it-yourself strategies. Its process-oriented and performative approaches, opposing to the materialistic imperatives of the art market, lean to the tradition of political art. In the present paper, I am arguing that Hackteria embodies what could be considered a neomodern activism, other recent examples of which are emerging within the new media art field. Instead of rejecting new controversial technologies, they propose a vision of a society that is moved forward by a more democratic use and discussion of these technologies. The activities of Hackteria are examined through the presentation of a bio-lab created in Ljubljana.

The roots of Hackteria: from performative art to tactical media.

The events organized by Hackteria are rooted in a long tradition of media art, as well as process-oriented and performative approaches. Performative art is not equivalent to process-oriented art; as Andreas Broeckmann correctly pointed out, “it only makes sense to speak of process-orientation in cases where the evolving process itself is a main factor of the aesthetic experience of the work.” [4] Nonetheless, neither performative nor process-oriented art focus on the creation of a finite product, a distinctive trait of the activities run by Hackteria. Furthermore, the BioTehna project, for example, share both performative, interactive and process-oriented qualities, for it is not the lab as such that is meaningful to the artistic intent of the group but rather the process involved in building and running it.


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Zu Besuch bei den Biohackern , Schweiz am Sonntag, Nr. 18, 5. Mai 2013 , R. Schuppisser

http://hackteria.org/2013/05/05/article-on-biohackers-in-schweiz-am-sonntag/

„... Bakterien kultivieren und mit Gentechnik experimentieren: Das geht auch im Heimlabor, nennt sich Amateur-Biologen bauen selber Laborinstrumente und träumen von leuchtenden Pflanzen. Einige auch vom grossen Geld.

DER ERSTE VERSUCH des Experiments ist fehlgeschlagen. Marc, Tuuli und Urs hatten verschiedene Fische gekauft, in Salzwasser eingelegt und einige Tage liegen gelassen. Nun sollten sich eigentlich die biolumineszierenden Bakterien auf dem Fisch vermehren, sodass man ihr Leuchten im Dunkeln erkennt. Die Bakterien sollten dann in einer Nährlösung aus Salzwasser, Pepton und Agar kultivieren. Doch nun muss erst einmal neuer Fisch her. Experimentieren im Heimlabor braucht Geduld. Marc, Urs und Tuuli sind Biohacker und damit Teil einer Bewegung, die die Welt ähnlich verändern könnte, wie in den 70er-Jahren die Computer-Tüftler mit der Entwicklung des PC in der Garage. Das zumindest glauben euphorische Journalisten und Technik-enthusiastische Wissenschafter. So meinte etwa der Physiker und Freidenker Freeman Dyson 2007 in einem Essay, «dass die domestizierte Biotechnologie unser Leben in den nächsten 50 Jahren mindestens so stark prägen werde, wie die Domestizierung des Computers in den letzten 50 Jahren». - ...„

«Ich will, dass Wissen und Technik der ganzen Welt zugänglich ist.» MARC DUSSEILLER, BIOHACKER


FN cover front.jpg

Field_Notes – From Landscape to Laboratory – Maisemasta Laboratorioon, Finnish Society of Bioart, 2013

http://bioartsociety.fi/Field_Notes_Teaser.pdf

Every second year the Finnish Society of Bioart invites a significant group of artists and scientists to the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in Lapland/Finland to work for one week on topics related to art, biology and the environment. “Field_Notes – From Landscape to Laboratory” is the first in a series of publications originating from this field laboratory. It emphasizes the process of interaction between fieldwork, locality and the laboratory. Oron Catts, Antero Kare, Laura Beloff, Tarja Knuuttila amongst others explore the field and laboratory as sites for art&science practices.

BETWEEN LANDSCAPE AND LABORATORY

How to define the evolving field of art&science, including bioart, and where can the historical trajectory of this area within the arts be found? In very general terms one could divide currently existing artistic interests in the field into two very broad subject categories: artists that are concerned with the environment, and artists whose work focuses on the human as subject matter. The previous group deals with environment, landscape, natural phenomena, plants, and animals typically in their natural habitat. The latter group is interested in the human as such and within his technologically augmented environment. This includes work with human enhancement and organs, with devices and manipulation of human and animal cells. The work is carried out either under laboratory conditions or with technologically mediated social structures including human and non-human actors. Shared aspects across the field are e.g. politics, ethical debates and projections of the possible futures. This publication is specifically focusing on work that is concerned with the environment and ecology. However, the human is strongly present in all the arguments, statements and accounts. It is very apparent that we live in the era of the anthropocene, where viewpoints and actions are unavoidably developed with and projected from a human perspective.

The publication is edited by Laura Beloff, Erich Berger and Terike Haapoja. It is bilingual in Finnish and English and contains 17 articles and additional material of Finnish and international contributors. You can buy the book now from our website:


Homemade bio dusseiller.png

Home Made Bio Electronic Arts Do-it-yourself: Microscopes, Sensors, Sonifications - Christoph Merian Verlag / Migros-Kulturprozent: Dominik Landwehr, Verena Kuni (Ed.), 2013

http://hackteria.org/2013/05/23/home-made-bio-electronic-arts-published/

After 2 years of discussions with various people in the field of DIYbio, hackteria and BioArt, Dominik Landwehr and Verena Kuni published a new book in their HomeMade series. This time with the title “Home Made Bio Electronic Arts” they go some steps closer to interfacing the living world with DIY tinkering and electronics, easy accessible instructions for everybody. Additionally some editorial essays and an interview with Gerfried Stocker. A production by Migros-Kulturprozent with the Christoph Merian Verlag.

  • Six easy do-it-yourself experimental projects
  • For biotechnology and electronics do-it-yourself enthusiasts

“Science for all” is the motto of a new movement which deals with biology and electronics. It applies the do-it-yourself approach, well established in the electronic and computer scene, to natural sciences. Here the boundaries between the arts and sciences are fluid. The artists and scientists who work together in an interdisciplinary manner call themselves “bio-hackers” or “bio-punks” and deliberately continue in the creative tradition of those two movements. Their research is designed to communicate scientific insights which are otherwise reserved for scientists. Home Made Bio Electronic Arts introduces leading exponents and presents six easy do-it-yourself experimental projects.


MCD.png

The Art of Open and Free Science, MCD #68, 2012, Ed. A. Delfanti, Interview S. Tocchetti

http://www.digitalmcd.com/mcd-68-la-culture-libre-the-open/

Download the extracted pages from the Open Science section here.

Could you explain what is Open Source Biological Art and how it relates to DIY biology?

Whether it is a wiki or a workshop or both doesn’t really matter, what is essential is to enable people to collaborate and shaer knowle edge and instructions. Open Source Biological Art enables people to perform complex scientific protocols without the support of an official institution. We believe that it is important to enable more people to feel confident in working with living systems in order for creative and new ideas to emerge. When applied to science and art, it can create a new type of public participation and understanding of both domains.

What is your view on the future of citizen science?

My hope is that if more people are making things with their hands and have this direct and everyday experience with scientific protocols, we can demystify science and open the whole decision making process to more people and opinions. I think this is the future society, where I want to live, a place where tinkerers and lay people find new and unexpected uses and functions of technologies and scientific knowledge, where they hack it and adapt it to their dreams and lives and don’t wait for some big corporation or government to decide what is good or safe for them.


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Der Aufstand der Bastler, November 2012, ABSTRAKT N°8 “Machen ist Macht”

http://hackteria.org/?p=1870

Gespräch mit Marc Dusseiller. Von Max Celko.

In Garagenlaboren macht sich analog zu den Computernerds der späten Siebzigerjahre eine junge Generation von Amateurbiologen ans Werk: die Biohacker. Marc Dusseiller ist Gründer des Hacker-Netzwerks Hackteria. Dass in der Szene der Bill Gates der Do-it-yourself-Forschung zu finden ist, glaubt er aber trotzdem nicht.

... Worin liegt denn der gesellschaftliche Mehrwert des Selberforschens?

Ein zentraler gesellschaftlicher Nutzen ist es, dass die DIYBioszene auch Laien den Zugang zur wissenschaftlichen Diskussion ermöglicht. Damit wird die Biotechnologie zumindest ein Stück weit demokratisiert. Ich halte dies für sehr wichtig, denn wir stehen heute an einem Punkt, an dem die Biotechnologie rasante Fortschritte macht und völlig neue Möglichkeiten eröffnet, lebende Materie zu manipulieren. Es liegt jetzt an uns allen, gemeinsam als Gesellschaft zu definieren, welche Forschung wir möchten und welche gesetzlichen Schranken wir der Biotechnologie auferlegen. Als Folge des grösseren Wissens sind die Leute auch weniger anfällig für populistische Ideen von Politikern oder leere Marketingversprechen von Firmen.


Dazed Confuser BioArt Now.png

Dazed & Confused: BIOART NOW: August 2013, S. Fortune

http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/16465/1/bioart-now-%E2%80%93-part-1

„... On the global stage biohacking collective Hackteria has lead the way on demystifing bioart and providing people with easy practical ways to engage with it. Formed in 2009 and featuring chapters in Europe, India and Indonesia the Hackteria Wikipedia has become the de-facto resource for all budding biohackers. The interplay between biohacking and bioart is particularly fluid among Hackteria affiliated practitioners. “Hackteria is not, generally speaking, about finished products or finished works. The bioart just happens, but is not the primary goal” said Hackteria co-founder Marc Dusseiller. Some of that 'incidental bioart' has been quite sublime. -....“

„...The Hackteria flavour of bioart and biotech education is particularly visible in Indonesia, where sister organisation Lifepatch complements the bioart residencies hosted by media-art lab the House of Natural Fiber (HONF), helping underfunded school students with such ingenious hacks as converting a webcam into a functioning microscope. At HONF in 2010, Julian Abraham and others initiated a project aimed at creating a safe form of fermentation based on tropical fruit, after the Indonesian government raised prohibitively high duties on alcohol. After leaving HONF, Abraham continued the theme, creating sound-based bioart pieces under the name Kapitän Biopunk. He provided workshops in homebrewing alcohol to accompany his Fermentation Madness, a sound-art piece that converts the processes of fermentation into an interactive soundscape. -....“


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European do-it-yourself (DIY) biology: Beyond the hope, hype and horror, Günter Seyfried et. al. BioEssays, Volume 36, Issue 6, June 2014

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bies.201300149/full

The encounter of amateur science with synthetic biology has led to the formation of several amateur/do-it-yourself biology (DIYBio) groups worldwide. Although media outlets covered DIYBio events, most seemed only to highlight the hope, hype, and horror of what DIYBio would do in the future. Here, we analyze the European amateur biology movement to find out who they are, what they aim for and how they differ from US groups. We found that all groups are driven by a core leadership of (semi-)professional people who struggle with finding lab space and equipment. Regulations on genetic modification limit what groups can do. Differences between Europe and the US are found in the distinct regulatory environments and the European emphasis on bio-art. We conclude that DIYBio Europe has so far been a responsible and transparent citizen science movement with a solid user base that will continue to grow irrespective of media attention.

Comparison between European and North American groups

The DIYBio movements in the US and Europe have a lot in common. Beliefs in the democratization of science and the enabling of citizens to do biotechnology are shared by all groups on both sides of the Atlantic. In general, they have more in common than what sets them apart. However, there also seems to be aspects where the groups in the US and Europe differ from one another.

In contrast to the USA (minding different state legislations), the groups in Europe need to obtain a license in order to carry out genetic engineering experiments. So far, the European groups have not done these types of experiments, but some of them plan to go through the licensing procedure and obtain a license. As an exception, the UK-Netherlands based C-LAB art collective did obtain a license to exhibit a bioart work with living genetically modified organisms in London, UK (http://c-lab.co.uk/projects.html). The work itself, however, was done in collaboration with a university research lab.

A rather surprising finding, compared to the US, is a stronger collaboration of amateur biologists with artists and designers in Europe. It remains to be seen whether this observation is only due to the small sample size of groups, or if the art-science interaction is a real European characteristic.


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Forschen auf eigene Faust. Über einen Besuch bei Hobbybiologen in Los AngelesLena Stallmach 4. April 2012

http://hackteria.org/2012/04/04/diybio-article-and-interview-in-neue-zurcher-zeitung/

An article in today’s issue of NZZ (4. April 2012 Neue Zürcher Zeitung) gives a nice overview of the amateur biologist scene in LA. The journalist Lena Stallmach visited the people from LA biohackers in their own space/lab (which is currently in boxes, prepared for the move to a bigger space) and describes their working environment, dreams of inventions, ongoing projects and workshops in collaboration with the FBI.

In the interview dusjagr gives some info about the local movement in switzerland and the hackteria network, some critical reflections on the promises the DIYbio movement paralleling the agro/chem industries, the potential of garage biotech for developing countries and generally the role of DIY science in educating and empowering a democratic society.