Meta-Life

English

Art, Science, and Technology

The introduction of “Meta-­Life”, a Leonardo ebook published in 2014 by MIT Press states: “With biotechnologies, synthetic biology and Artificial Life, artists have opened new avenues in the artworld, going from still to autonomous objects to living creatures, exploring the thin border between animate and inanimate, confronting the grown, the evolved, the born and the built, raising aesthetical but also social, political and ethical issues”. This channel aims to address these concerns by opening up a dialogue with the key figures of this growing field.

Logo by Catherine Ploehn.

Episodes

Art, Science, and Society : an aesthetics of communication?

Recorded on 2018-09-23

Please join Camilla Pang and Yvan Tina on this second part of the interview which talks about the relationships between art and science as ways to communicate points of view and understanding. What can the experience of Synaesthesia and Asperger’s syndrome, for example, tell us about the nature of information and processing? Do art and […]

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Bioinformatics and Evolution

Recorded on 2018-09-14

In this first episode, Camilla Pang and Yvan Tina discuss the relevance of bioinformatics in the life sciences. How it improves our understanding of DNA and provides multiple avenues for medical research and therapeutics but also how it challenges our representation of life. The podcast ends with a speculative reflection on gene editing and the […]

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KLAS Episode 5: Wolfgang Knapp

Recorded on 2018-04-05

Knowledge Link through Art and Science (KLAS) is an Artist in Residence program of the Max Planck Society. KLAS fosters ArtSci exchange and transdisciplinary innovation and education whilst also establishing a link between Synthetic Biology research groups of two research institutions – Rijksuniversiteit Groningen [RuG] and two Max Planck Institutes [MPI]. In addition to awarding […]

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KLAS Episode 4: Tom Robinson

Recorded on 2018-03-27

Knowledge Link through Art and Science (KLAS) is an Artist in Residence program of the Max Planck Society. KLAS fosters ArtSci exchange and transdisciplinary innovation and education whilst also establishing a link between Synthetic Biology research groups of two research institutions – Rijksuniversiteit Groningen [RuG] and two Max Planck Institutes [MPI]. In addition to awarding […]

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KLAS Episode 2: Caterina Benincasa on KLAS

Recorded on 2018-02-20

Knowledge Link through Art and Science (KLAS) is an Artist in Residence program of the Max Planck Society. KLAS fosters ArtSci exchange and transdisciplinary innovation and education whilst also establishing a link between Synthetic Biology research groups of two research institutions – Rijksuniversiteit Groningen [RuG] and two Max Planck Institutes [MPI]. In addition to awarding […]

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KLAS Episode 1: Arren Bar-Even

Recorded on 2018-02-18

Knowledge Link through Art and Science (KLAS) is an Artist in Residence program of the Max Planck Society. KLAS fosters ArtSci exchange and transdisciplinary innovation and education whilst also establishing a link between Synthetic Biology research groups of two research institutions – Rijksuniversiteit Groningen [RuG] and two Max Planck Institutes [MPI]. In addition to awarding […]

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Entretien avec Lia Giraud : créer et montrer des œuvres d’art vivantes

Recorded on 2017-08-27

Engagée dans une recherche doctorale, l’artiste Lia Giraud revient sur les enjeux de la production et de l’exposition d’oeuvres conçues à partir de matériaux vivants. Des plantes qui dansent, des photographies créées à base d’algue : les oeuvres évoquées sont parfois surprenantes. C’est également l’occasion de revenir sur sa collaboration avec des scientifiques.

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Bacteria as an Art Medium, meeting with Anna Dumitriu

Recorded on 2016-11-30

Anna Dumitriu talks about her creation with bacteria and contemporary biomedicine and bioresearch, explaining how she combines high end bioresearch with craft techniques in her work. She presents and discusses her approach to art and to art and science collaborations and detail her specific project in relation to the FEAT residency. Recorded by Annick Bureaud […]

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Heirloom and The Body Collected, as seen by the curators, meeting with Louise Whiteley and Malthe Bjerregaard

Recorded on 2016-09-19

Louise Whiteley and Malthe Bjerregaard present the exhibition The Body Collected and the artwork by Gina Czarnecki & John Hunt Heirloom a living portrait of the artists’s daughters based on the own cells, within the framework of the Medical Museion [http://www.museion.ku.dk/] in Copenhagen scope and aims. They discuss the specific and ethical issues raised by […]

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Cellular Propeller, meeting with Howard Boland

Recorded on 2016-08-29

The artist Howard Boland presents his project Cellular Propeller, not achieved at the time of the recording, and that consists of propelling an artificial object, namely a small wheel, with human sperm cells in a synthetic biology artwork. He discusses the ethical and aesthetical issues related to the creation of this work as well as […]

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Heirloom, as seen by the artist and scientist, meeting with Gina Czarnecki and John Hunt

Recorded on 2016-08-29

Louise Whiteley and Malthe Bjerregaard present the exhibition The Body Collected and the artwork by Gina Czarnecki & John Hunt Heirloom a living portrait of the artists’s daughters based on the own cells, within the framework of the Medical Museion [http://www.museion.ku.dk/] in Copenhagen scope and aims. They discuss the specific and ethical issues raised by […]

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Performance et Performativité

Recorded on 2016-08-16

Chercheur en médecine, commissaire et critique d’art, Jens Hauser présente l’exposition ‘WetWare’ qu’il a organisé avec David Familian pour le Beall Center à UC Irvine. Rappelant les écrits de Chris Salter, il y fait l’état d’un basculement de l’art de la performance à la performativité s’enracinant dans la théorie du discours (langage), la théorie du […]

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We’ve Always Been Biohackers

Recorded on 2016-08-16

In the first part of the podcast, art curator and media studies scholar Jens Hauser, interviewed by Roger Malina and Yvan Tina address the question of staging aliveness. Hauser argues that, between life in silico and life in labs, we’re witnessing the animation of the technological, on one side, and the technologization of the animated […]

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Green Editing

Recorded on 2016-08-16

Conducted by Josh Brumett and Alex Garcia Topete, this last part of the interview explores the notion of greenness as it relates to art history. The most anthropocentric of all colours, art curator Jens Hauser says , green stands for nature, has something related to growth and constitute a large part of our visual spectrum. […]

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We are Wild Poetry: Hubris, De-Extinction and Speculative Art

Recorded on 2016-06-20

In this final section of the interview, Adam Zaretsky shares his views on the relationship between literature and biology, code and language, poetry and bioinformatics. He addresses the question of hubris in biotechnology and delivers his take on sensitive issues such as human gene editing and resurrection biology. The podcast also talks about the place […]

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Curie’s Children and the Biological Exuberance

Recorded on 2016-06-18

Why should artists and designers worry about the production of drugs and food? In this second part of the interview, bioartist Adam Zaretsky defends his views on the ethics and aesthetics of utility, with respect to local context, values and culture. Echoing with Flusser’s ideas in Curie’s Children [ Art Forum, 1988], the remaining part […]

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What’s so Sexy with the Biological?

Recorded on 2016-06-13

Adam Zaretsky is an artist and professor in Media Arts at Marist College (NY, USA) who develops a practice that integrates the fields of Ecology, Biotechnology, Performance and Gastronomy. Drawing upon the questions raised by one of his texts on transgenic art, the podcast addresses several issues such as the bioethics of new technology, that […]

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A Theater of Cruelty

Recorded on 2016-05-09

Considered as restaured behaviors or even as living reliquaries, it is suggested that bioart works can be approached from the standpoint of performance studies. Bioartist Ionat Zurr talks about her use and understanding of performance/performativity as a way to create ritual experiences and enabling symbolic connections. The podcast addresses the concept of cruelty with regards […]

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Molding the Signifier, as seen by the curator, Ondrej Cakl

Recorded on 2016-05-03

The curator Ondrej Cakl discusses his approach to the biocybernetic installation Molding the Signifier by Ivor Diosi that he showned at the Ex Post cultural center in Prague in november 2015 as part of the EU Creative Europe funded Trust Me, I’m An Artist project. This podcast is linked to the one with Ivor Diosi […]

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Molding the Signifier, as seen by the artist, Ivor Diosi

Recorded on 2016-05-03

The artist Ivor Diosi discusses his biocybernetic installation Molding the Signifier that he exhibited at the Ex Post cultural center in Prague in november 2015 as part of the EU Creative Europe funded Trust Me, I’m An Artist project. This podcast is linked to the one with Ondrej Cakl who discusses the same work from […]

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Scales of Life – in Art

Recorded on 2016-04-11

Extending our discussion on biolabor to the field of synthetic biology, Ionat Zurr addresses the application of engineering principles to life. She also reflects upon her role as both an artist and researcher that makes use of technology to create symbolic gestures. The episode ends with comments on the scalability of the living and the […]

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Mechanisms and Abstractions of Life

Recorded on 2016-03-28

Drawing upon two of their most recent works, The Mechanism of Life – after Stephane Leduc (2013) and Futile Labor (2015), artist Ionat Zurr discusses our perceptions of life and talks about the processes that lead her with the Tissue Culture & Art Project to create semi-living art and our evolving relationship to labor. http://lab.anhb.uwa.edu.au/tca/

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De l’amitié Compromettante, avec Dominique Lestel 1/2

Recorded on 2016-02-22

Pour Dominique Lestel, il est urgent de penser le non-humain car être humain c’est, selon lui, entretenir une certaine proximité avec celui-ci. A l’occasion de l’ouverture de “DeMonstrable” (Perth, 2015), une exposition qui interroge notre habilité à intervenir sur le vivant à travers des expériences artistiques et scientifiques réalisées notamment depuis la création de la souris Vacanti, Dominique Lestel […]

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De l’amitié Compromettante, avec Dominique Lestel 2/2

Recorded on 2016-02-22

Qu’est-ce qu’un rapport amical? Quelle relation existe t-il entre l’oeuvre d’art et l’artiste? Qu’est-ce qu’être vivant? Dans cette deuxième partie d’entretien, Dominique Lestel questionne la validité des modèles biologistes et les critères qui permettent de distinguer le vivant du non-vivant. Les artistes sont ceux qui peuvent, à ses yeux, tenter des expériences particulières et ainsi […]

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Starbeasts: A Bio-Fiction Tour

Recorded on 2016-01-21

Bio-Fiction is an art-science and film festival that explores the social, cultural and environmental ramifications of synthetic biology. Markus Schmidt, its founder, and Georg Tremmel, a Tokyo-based artist from Austria, are moving it for the first time in Japan. This edition follows a previous workshop (organized and produced by the Bioartsociety) that focused on the topic […]

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From Eugenics to Synbio Design

Recorded on 2016-01-11

By looking at the history of Eugenics and Design, Christina Cogdell questions the cultural values we affect to biologically designed artifacts and how humans, through that process, may become mere products. She also takes into consideration the evolution of technology in relation to the history of energy and the horizontal gene transfers that occur between […]

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Prosthetics Organs and Wearable Art

Recorded on 2015-11-16

Drawing on the work of Neri Oxman with her use of biomaterials and 3d printing for the design exploration Mushtari, and considering the popular examples of Henri Damon and Oscar Pistorius, Laini Burton investigates the use of prosthetic organs as wearable art in fashion industry and biodesign. From cosmetic surgery and extreme body modification to […]

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Operational Aliveness with Stelarc

Recorded on 2015-11-09

Stelarc comments the various degrees of aliveness running through his work from his recent robotic choreography (Propel, 2015) which combines the automated and the improvised. In reflecting upon the NeoLife conference opening exhibition Futile Labor (I. Zurr, O. Catts, C. Salter, D. Wards) that examined shifting perceptions of life through motion and agency, Stelarc offers […]

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L’art du Microbiome

Recorded on 2015-11-09

Le microbiome (ou microbiote) désigne l’ensemble des microorganismes qui vivent sur et à l’interieur de nos corps. Cet ensemble constitue un microfilm que l’on trouve chez tous les êtres vivants et dans tous les milieux. Qu’est-ce que cela nous apprend t-il sur l’individu et la notion d’espèce ? Est-il possible de se servir de ce […]

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Power of Information in the Age of Biotechnology

Recorded on 2015-11-09

What can we learn from the regulation of the physical world when looking at the world of information? Who controls the technology ? What could be the effects of biotechnology on Nature? These questions are among the important issues that this podcast addresses with Robert Cunningham, Assistant Professor at The University of Western Australia and […]

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Jana Winderen – Sound as a X-Ray of Nature

Recorded on 2015-07-17

Jana Winderen is a sound artist working mainly in water environments (rivers, seas, oceans). The sound recorded from these living elements raises issues about what it reveals on nature. The artist questions where the sounds come from, notably in wild places that are not readily accessible, recording mostly unknown (unheard, unperceivable) sounds. The artist’s process […]

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Natural Technology: A Phytocentric Perspective (2/2)

Recorded on 2015-06-29

Lindsey French shares ideas about three of her latest works: “Phytovision”, a body of work that invites the viewer to adopt a phytocentric perspective; “Written by Trees”, a series of poetry and literature written by oak tree; “Packet Switchgrass”, a speculative work that involves switchgrass and aim to merge plant internet with the human internet. […]

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Natural Technology: A Phytocentric Perspective (1/2)

Recorded on 2015-06-15

American artist Lindsey French considers herself as a facilitator of communication between living things and is only interested in non-human modes of perception. The podcast talks about her main directions of research which range from the slippage between nature and technology to the use of captors and sensors in translation processes. Music from “Phytovision (Road […]

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De l’appropriation du Vivant dans l’art Contemporain

Recorded on 2015-05-25

A travers les représentations de l’humain, de l’animal et du végétal, Camille Prunet intérroge dans sa thèse le traitement plastique du vivant dans les oeuvres biotechnologiques. L’occasion de nous entretenir sur les frontières et les limites de cette notion, les tendances de l’art contemporain et les enjeux de réception et de production de ces formes.

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Synthetic Biology: Creating or Constructing Life?

Recorded on 2015-05-18

In her book Synthetic: How Life Got Made, science historian Sophia Roosth investigates the field of Synthetic Biology in which life and computer scientists advance new definitions of life by manufacturing it from scratch. Home

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Poétiques et Politiques du DIY bio

Recorded on 2015-04-09

Le Biohacking ou “Do-It-Yourself (DIY) biology”, s’affirme depuis 6 ans comme un mouvement singulier du génie biologique non seulement en raison de la courverture médiatique dont il fait l’objet, mais aussi à cause de l’intérêt artistique qu’il suscite (voir l’exposition “Bioacking: Do-It-Yourself” organisé au Medical Museion de Copenhague en 2013-2014). Le titre de ce podcast […]

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Parallels and Contrasts between Artificial Life and Computer Art

Recorded on 2014-10-20

Although they both involve generative algorithms, randomness and computational processes (among other principles), the art of artificial life is not considered a part of the computer art forms as described by pioneering computer artist Frieder Nake. Yvan Tina sits down with Nake to briefly discuss some of the intertwining issues between the two fields.

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Scénographies du vivant

Recorded on 2014-09-06

Peut-on (ou plutôt comment) penser le théâtre, la danse et les arts de la performance à l’ère des biotechnologies, de l’ingénierie du vivant et de l’émergence de formes de vie artificielles ? Roger Malina et Yvan Tina proposent un rapide tour d’horizon de ces pratiques, entre arts et techno-sciences, qui ouvrent de nouvelles avenues dans […]

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Viralité et numéricité

Recorded on 2014-09-06

Longtemps considéré comme une entité semi-vivante, inerte et active, molécule et organisme à la fois, ou au contraire, rien de tout cela, le virus est aujourd’hui envisagé comme un agent essentiel à l’évolution de la vie chez les êtres vivants. Retour avec Thierry Bardini sur l’actualité de cette figure de l’écologie symbiotique, à l’intersection des […]

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