BioARTCAMP is a two-week residency program at The Banff Centre directed by Dr. Jennifer Willet from The University of Windsor, Canada. BioARTCAMP is a hybrid workshop / artist speakers series / performance event where 20 national and international artists, scientists, filmmakers, and university students will work for two weeks to build a portable biology laboratory in Banff National Park.  BioARTCAMP will serve as a “field research station” housing a functional biological sciences lab and a variety of art/science projects.  BioARTCAMP will open its doors to the general public for a one day “art/science fair” with food, music, and activities for all ages.  BioARTCAMP will conclude at The Banff Centre with a two-day artist speakers series.

BioARTCAMP is designed to emphasize ecological metaphors for describing biotechnology in public discourse, and to complicate the ‘Great Divide’ between lab and field based research methodologies in the hard sciences.  BioARTCAMP will deploy humour and DIY techniques for reimagining biotechnology against the backdrop of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and motifs of back country exploration, mountain ecologies, and the wild west.  BioARTCAMP serves the demystification and democratization of biotechnology – within the context of larger ecological considerations with full attention to health and Safety considerations and respect for the delicate ecology of Banff National Park.

This expedition will allow for the artist to share with the general public a different view of the place of biotechnology in our society – or rather the place of biotechnology in the evolution of life on this planet – and our role as a single instigator organism in this complex process.

Links:

http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/program.aspx?id=1151

http://bioartcamp.blogspot.com/

INCUBATOR is grateful for support from the following partners:

The Banff Centre, The University of Windsor, SSHRC, OAC, The Art and Genomics Centre, and Hostelling International.

Kira O’Reilly and Jennifer Willet - Refolding (Laboratory Architectures) - Arnolfini Museum, Bristol, UK, 2010

Using performative interventions and photographic media, artists Kira O’Reilly (UK/Ireland) and Jennifer Willet (Canada) collaborate to create eventful photographic presences that explore how we think and reconceptualise The Body, our own bodies, life and living systems within the ever changing contexts of the Life Sciences, evolving biotechnologies and biomedical research.

Both artists have spent substantial time working with living biological materials in laboratories as art practice; in these new works they deploy architectural constructions of mutating laboratory coats that perform molecular baroque refoldings with which to position their bodies in the laboratory, both implicit and complicit as interlopers, instigators and participants within the lab.

This work was produced with the support of the Inbetween Time festival (IBT 2010), School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Link: http://www.inbetweentime.co.uk/events/detail/what_next_for_the_body_-_exhibition/

Jennifer Willet - Cell Break (The Banff Centre, Banff National Park, 2009) Photo: Don Lee

Cell Break is a series of performances based on my experiences as an artist and non-specialist working in a variety of bioscience and biomedical laboratories.  Essentially, I am interested in intervening in the ‘laboratory ecology,’ as I perceive it.  The carefully balanced relationship between all organisms (and parts of organisms) inhabiting the lab – animal and human research subjects – cells, bacteria, enzymes, plants – the scientists themselves, and even unwanted contaminants.  What interests me about this ecology is the closed relationship it possesses with external ecologies.  Ideally within a lab – specimens and samples either originate in the laboratory vacuum, or enter from the external world (screened and sanitized) never to leave again.  Additionally, elements of external ecologies (i.e. bacteria in the researcher’s fingernails, hair, and mouth) are presumably prevented from ‘infecting’ the environment and organisms within the lab.  I wish to produce a series of works that purposefully breaks with this convention – that breaks with the penitentiary model that biological specimens must endure. I wish to enact a series of ‘cell breaks.’  We will take a variety of educational grade laboratory specimens for a walk.  A hike in the outdoors!  We will secure the specimens in modified backpacks and carrying cases, to preserve their ideal living conditions, while riding on participant’s backs through the external ecological environment.

Special thanks to Billie McLaughlin for sewing and construction of the backpacks.

This project was performed at two locations in 2010:

As part of the Interactive Screen 2010 Conference at The Banff Centre in August 2010.

Link: http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/program.aspx?id=1028

As part of the Bioremediation Conference at Fluxmedia, Concordia University in October 2010.

Link: http://fluxmediaresearch.com/#515201

I am grateful for support from SSHRC Social Science and Humanities Research Council and The University of Windsor for support of this project.

J.Willet, BIOPLAY: Bacteria Cultures in Human Futures: Art in the Age of Uncertainty. Andy Miah edt. FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) Liverpool, UK. 2008 Human Futures

J.Willet, BIOPLAY: Bacteria Cultures 2008
Human Futures: Art in the Age of Uncertainty
Andy Miah Edt.
FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) Liverpool, UK.
http://humanfutures.wordpress.com/

–

J.Willet & S.Bailey, BIOTEKNICA: Teratogenic Strategies for Critical BioArt Production. 2007
MutaMorphosis: Challenging Arts and Science.
Pavel Sedlak Edt.
CIANT, Prague, Czech Republic.
http://mutamorphosis.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/bioteknica-teratogenic-strategies-for-critical-bioart-production/

–

J.Willet & S.Bailey, BIOTEKNICA 2007
DIAS DE BIOARTE07
CAPSULA, Barcelona, Spain.

–

J.Willet, Why BioArt? Towards Redefining the Specialist 2007
DIAS DE BIOARTE07
CAPSULA, Barcelona, Spain.

–

J.Willet & S.Bailey, BIOTEKNICA: Teratologies 2007
A minima no. 19 Barcelona, Spain.
http://aminima.net/wp/?page_id=169&language=en

–

J.Willet, Bodies in Biotechnology 2006
Leonardo Electronic Almanac, special issue “Wild Nature and the Digital Life.”
Dene Grigar and Sue Thomas, Edts.
(See attached PDF)

–

J.Willet & S.Bailey, BIOTEKNICA: Organic Tissue Prototypes 2006
The State of the Real: Aesthetics in the Digital Age
Damian Sutton, Susan Brind and Ray McKenzie, Edts.
I. B. Tauris
http://www.amazon.ca/State-Real-Aesthetics-Digital-Age/dp/1845110773

–

J.Willet & S.Bailey, BIOTEKNICA: Soft Experiments from the Laboratory 2006 proceedings: New Constellations: Art, Science, and Society
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia.
(See attached PDF)

–

S.Bailey & J.Willet, BIOTEKNICA: Self-Experimentation and Tissue Culture (French trans.) 2006 in “L’art biotech à vif face au post-humain” INTER Art Actuel

–

J.Willet, Kathy High – Embracing Animal (English, and French trans.)  2005
In Magazine électronique du CIAC, no 23 October 2005

–

J.Willet, The Artist as Terrorist: Tagny Duff – A Retrospective 2005
In PDoCA Public Domain of Contemporary Art an on line and artist book publication, open source artist history project, http://www.pdoca.ca/

–

J.Willet & S.Bailey, BIOTEKNICA: Reflections on Reproductive and Cloning Technologies 2003 In Graduate Researcher: Journal for the Arts Science and Technology Vol1 – No. 2 – 2003, ISSN 1708-0274

–

J.Willet, Imagining the Self 2002
Image/Text essay in Affective Encounters proceedings The University of Turku, Finland
ISSN  0784-3933; ISBN  951-29-17XX-X
(See attached PDF)

–

J.Willet, GUISE 2001
exhibition catalogue essay for Guise by Diyan Achjadi
Published by Articule Artist Run Centre Montréal, Québec
ISBN: 2-920306-29-4

Jennifer Willet

Selected Lectures, Panels, Papers, and Artist Presentations

2011

2010

INCUBATOR: Artistic Propositions Towards New Laboratory Ecologies
ASTRA, The University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario.

When Art and Science Collide
Communication Studies Department, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec.

(RE)Embodying Biotechnology (Artist Presentation)
The University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario.

–

2009

INCUBATOR: Hybrid Laboratory at the Intersection of Art, Science, and Ecology
WAAG Society, Amsterdam, Holland.

INCUBATOR: Hybrid Laboratory at the Intersection of Art, Science, and Ecology
HRG (Humanities Research Group), University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario.

(RE)Embodying Biotechnology (Artist Presentation)
The Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta.

Canadian Media Art: An Unofficial Guide
Communication Studies Graduate Seminar, The University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario.

Pecha Kucha: biodigital bodies in action
The School of Visual Arts, The University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario.

Broken Phone Panel Discussion
Artcite, Windsor, Ontario.

–

2008

InsideOut: Laboratory Ecologies Artist Presentation
Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

(RE)Embodying Biotechnology: Artist Lab Notes
SLSA Society for Science Literature and the Arts, Berlin, Germany.

InsideOut: laboratory Ecologies
Hybrid: Reflections on Science and Art, Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis, Porto, Portugal.

Artist Presentation
Remote presentation to BIOART Seminar, Kilpisjarvi Biological Station, Finland.

Art: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences
TAAG Expert Meeting, The University of Leiden, Leiden, Holland.

BioArt: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences
This Week’s Discoveries, Gorlaeus Laboratories, The University of Leiden, Holland.

(RE)Embodying Biotechnology (Artist Presentation)
The University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.

(RE)Embodying Biotechnology (Artist Presentation)
The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.

(RE)Embodying Biotechnology (Artist Presentation)
The University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario.

(RE)Embodying Biotechnology (Artist Presentation)
The University of Regina, Regina, Sask.

(RE)Embodying Biotechnology (Artist Presentation)
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.

–

2007

(RE)Embodying Biotechnology
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY, USA.

BIOTEKNICA: A Mutation Model for Teratological Art
Mutamorphosis, Prague, Czech Republic.

BIOTEKNICA: Artist Presentation
Imagining Science Workshop, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada.

BIOTEKNICA: Bodies in Bioart
Subtle Technologies, Toronto, Ontario.

BIOTEKNICA: Laboratory Notes
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, B.C.

BIOTEKNICA: Artist Presentation
FOFA Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec.

–

2006

BIOTEKNICA: Soft Experiments from the Laboratory
Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA) conference, New York, USA.

BIOTEKNICA: Artist Presentation
Concordia University, Art History, Technology and Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada.

BIOTEKNICA: Performing Soft Experimentation
Artist Presentation with HTMlles Perpheries+Proximities : Eastern Bearing tour.
Ozone Gallery, Belgrade, Serbia.

BIOTEKNICA: Performing Soft Experimentation
Artist Presentation with HTMlles Perpheries+Proximities : Eastern Bearing tour.
The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate, Sofia, Bulgaria.

BIOTEKNICA: Performing Soft Experimentation
Artist Presentation with HTMlles Perpheries+Proximities : Eastern Bearing tour
Platform Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey.

BIOTEKNICA: Artist Presentation
New Forms Festival 06 Symposium (art camp), Video in Studios, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

BIOTEKNICA: Laboratory Remix (juried)
Artist Presentation at ISEA 2006 San Jose Symposium, San Jose, California.

BIOTEKNICA: Artist Presentation
Biological Sciences Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, California.

BIOTEKNICA: Soft Experiments from the Laboratory (juried)
New Constellations: Art, Science and Society, Sydney, Australia.

BIOTEKNICA: Soft Experiments from the Laboratory
Metaphors and Misunderstandings Symposium, SymbioticA, Perth, Australia.

BIOTEKNICA: Soft Experiments from the Laboratory
eCentral TAFE – SIGGRAPH, Perth, Australia.

BIOTEKNICA: Artist Presentation
Curtin Institute of Technology, Perth, Australia.

BIOTEKNICA: Artist Presentation
UWA, VISA 2217/3317 Art After Theory, Perth, Australia.

BIOTEKNICA: Artist presentation
UWA, ANHB 8510 Advanced Aesthetic Crossovers of Art and Science, Perth, Australia.

Teratomas and Transduction
School of Anatomy and Human Biology Lecture Series, UWA, Perth, Australia.

–

2005

BIOTEKNICA: Corporate Art for a Corporeal Public (juried)
Break 2.3 Symposium New Species, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

BIOTEKNICA: Corporate Art for a Corporeal Public (juried)
Collision Symposium 2005, University of Victoria, B.C.

BIOTEKNICA: Corporate Art for a Corporeal Public (Plenary Speaker)
ARTIVISTIC – art.information.activism/e, Montreal, Quebec.

BIOTEKNICA: Corporate Art for a Corporeal Public (Plenary Speaker)
L’Échiquier du Présent: Généalogies de la Biopolitique, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec.

BIOTEKNICA: Corporate Art for a Corporeal Public
HTMlles Festival: peripheries + proximities, Studio XX, Montréal, Québec.

Art/Technology Roundtable Speaker
Revolution IV: Pilfering in Technoscience, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec.

Artist Lecture
The Sense Lab, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec.

BIOTEKNICA: Organic Tissue Prototypes
Interactive Futures 05, Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival, Victoria, B.C.

–

2004

BIOTEKNICA: Organic Tissue Prototypes
Art & Biotechnologies Conference, Musée d’art Contemporain Montréal, Québec.

BIOTEKNICA: Organic Tissue Prototypes
IASS Congress 2004, Lyon, France. (juried)

BIOTEKNICA Gallery Talk
BEAP – Bio Difference Exhibition, The Lawrence Wilson Gallery Perth, Australia.

BIOTEKNICA Artist Lecture
SIGGRAPH PERTH, Perth, Australia.

BIOTEKNICA Artist Lecture
University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.

Artist Lecture
York University Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Toronto, Ontario.

BIOTEKNICA Artist Lecture
Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario.

Professionalism in the Arts
Concordia University – MFA program (Printmaking) Montreal, Quebec.

–

2003

BIOTEKNICA: soft sculptures
The State of the Real Conference Glasgow, Scotland. (juried)

BIOTEKNICA: corporate presence
European Media Arts Festival Congress Osnabrueck, Germany. (juried)

BIOTEKNICA: reflections on cloning and reproductive technologies
R/evolution ii conference Concordia University (juried) Multi-media paper presentation

–

2002

BIOTEKNICA poster presentation
HEXAGRAM Colloquia
Montreal Science Centre, Montreal, Quebec.

BIOTEKNICA: reflections on cloning and reproductive technologies
8th International Culture & Power Conference (juried)
Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain.

Artist Presentation
Triangle Gallery, City Hall, Calgary, Alberta.

Artist Presentation
The Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta.

Professionalism in the Arts (grant writing)
Concordia University – MFA program (Printmaking)

BIOTECNIK CORP.
R/évolution conference Concordia University (juried) – Multi-media paper presentation.

–

2001

Imagining the self
Affective Encounters:  Rethinking Embodiment in Feminist Media Studies. (juried)
University of Turku, Finland – Multi-media paper presentation and discussion.

Imagining the self
Strategies of Critique XV: Human Nature. (juried)
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Multi-media paper presentation.

The Dossier and the Patient: Rethinking Clinical Construction of Disease and the Human Body.
Corporealities.  Multi-media paper presentation and discussion.
Concordia University,  Montréal, Québec.

Memories of Brunei
Concordia University – FFAR Fine Arts Seminar, Montréal, Québec.

–

2000

Artist Presentation
Brunei National Archives – Lecture to Artists and Students from the University of Brunei.

Farewell Address
APEC Young Artists Exhibit Symposium, Brunei, Darussalam.

–

1999

Professionalism in the Arts
Concordia University – MFA program (Printmaking)
Lecture and Artist Presentation, Montréal, Québec.

Vinyl Tiles
Concordia University – FFAR Fine Arts Seminar  (approx. 500 students) Artist Presentation and Introduction to Printmaking, Montréal, Québec.

Vinyl Tiles May. 1999 Artist presentation and interview at Concordia University, Montréal, Québec Short-listed for tenure track teaching position (Printmaking/New Media)

Jennifer Willet Istanbul, Turkey, 2006

Jennifer Willet is an internationally successful artist in the emerging field of BioArt. Her work explores notions of representation, the body, self and subjectivity, in relation to biotechnological and digital technologies with an emphasis on social and political criticism. She has exhibited, and presented her research extensively across Canada and internationally.  From 2000-2007 Willet and Shawn Bailey collaborated on an innovative computational, biological, artistic, project called BIOTEKNICA.

She taught in the Studio Arts Department at Concordia University from 2000-2007, and completed her PhD in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program at the same institution.  Willet also taught “BioArt: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences” for The Art and Genomics Centre at The University of Leiden in Spring 2008, and now works as an Assistant Professor in the School of Visual Arts, at The University of Windsor.  In 2009 she opened the first biological art lab in Canada, called INCUBATOR: Hybrid Laboratory at the Intersection of Art, Science, and Ecology at the University of Windsor.

Exhibitions include: the Exit Art Gallery, New York, NY (2009), Ars Electronica festival, Linz (2008), FOFA Gallery, Montreal (2007), ISEA San Jose, USA (2006), Biennial Electronic Arts Perth Perth, Australia (2004), The European Media Arts Festival Osnabrück , Germany (2003), La Société des arts et technologiques (SAT) Montreal, Canada (2005), and The Forest City Gallery London, Canada (2004), amongst others.  She has conducted research during residencies at The Banff Centre for the Arts Banff, Canada (2002, 2007, 2009), and SymbioticA, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia (2004, 2006).

www.jenniferwillet.com

www. incubatorartlab.com

http://bioartwindsor.blogspot.com/

http://leidenbioart.blogspot.com/

jswillet@gmail.com

Jennifer Willet and David JHAVE Johnston Montreal, Quebec Canada. 2005

Curriculum Vitae | Jennifer Willet

www.jenniferwillet.com
www.incubatorartlab.com
http://bioartwindsor.blogspot.com/
http://leidenbioart.blogspot.com/

Curriculum Vitae download in PDF.

Bioart: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences Class 2009 Dr. Jennifer Willet School of Visual Arts The University of Windsor (Students front row left to right: Nasseme Albonaimi, Marcy Boles, Mike Ngo, Victoria Roznawski, Jessica Howick. Back row left to right: Chris Lamb, Tokio Webster, Kristen Unrau, Erin Rhea.)

THE UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR
FALL 2009
27-390 Studies in the Visual Arts
Tuesday and Thursday 4:00 – 6:50
Office Hours: TBA

BioArt: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences

Jennifer Willet

Class Website:

http://bioartwindsor.blogspot.com/

www.jenniferwillet.com

jwillet (at) uwindsor.ca

Do artists cross the line when they breed plants or animals, or use the tools of biotechnology?  Scientists routinely cross the line.  So do farmers, business people, military men, and doctors.  Only artists and certain religious people hesitate.  Of course one of the great human dilemmas is that we do not know the extent of our powers.  We invent outrageously and casually as we breath, but we have no idea where our inventions will take us.  Extinction?  Slavery?  1000 years in Disneyland?  Even if the Holocaust had never happened, we would have good reason to worry about where knowledge of genetics and DNA will take us.  We will need all the awareness we can muster to engage evolution.  To the extent that art favors awareness, the more artists who cross the line the better.

George Gessert

BioArt: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences is an innovative course that will allow for non-specialist students to engage theoretically and practically in the biological sciences towards fostering a critical participatory engagement with the biological sciences from a fine art perspective.  This course is a visual art and science crossover lab intended for students from various disciplines to foster interdisciplinary exploration of the intersections between art and life through hands-on laboratory protocols, critical readings, and the production of contemporary artwork.

Together we will explore the ethical debates, issues of access and accountability, and overspecialization that arise from contemporary biotechnologies and bioart practices.  Lectures will address a range of topics including; the biological sciences, historical crossovers between the fine arts and the hard sciences, and contemporary artists in the art/science field.  Practical workshops will provide students with introductory experience with mammalian tissue culture, microscopy, DNA extraction and imaging, and genetic modification (amongst others) with an emphasis on health and safety and proper laboratory technique.

No previous experience in the Biological Sciences is necessary for successful completion of the class.

Students will be expected to complete weekly readings, participate in class discussions and lab workshops, and produce individual and collaborative artworks and critical written texts.

Additionally, each student will participate in a final class project in collaboration with artist/instructor Jennifer Willet.   Each class will include a 30 min meeting in preparation for the final installation/performance.

For each class the students will be required to complete the assigned readings.  These readings will be available on line for a period of one week before the class.  After that time, they will be removed for copyright purposes.  The readings can be found at:

www.jenniferwillet.com/readings

Evaluation:

20% Class Participation:

Students will be expected to attend ALL classes, and actively participate in class discussions and workshops.  Class participation will also include the student’s participation in the class collaborative project.  Additionally, each student will be expected to make a minimum of two posts to the class blog.  This can be in the form of critical discussion, images, announcements, poetry, web links, etc.

10% Reading Presentation/Discussion:

Each student will (or with a partner, depending on class size) select a reading from the course outline and prepare a 10 min discussion in regards to that reading.  Each Presentation will address the following questions.

What are the central themes of the reading?

How does this relate to questions of bioart raised in the class?

What arguments within the reading do you agree/disagree with?

40% Individual or Collaborative Bioart Project:

Each student will devise an individual or two-person bioart project.  This work can be completed either in the laboratory (with permissions) or at home.  Students are encouraged to work in consultation with the instructor in developing their project.  Amateur Science texts will be made available to the class, to assist in developing individual artworks and protocols.

30% Individual Research Paper:

Each student will develop an individual research paper exploring questions of bioart from  critical, historical, ethical, and aesthetic perspectives.  Theoretical sources can be drawn from class readings and the class bibliography – however, students are also encouraged to draw upon communication theory, media criticism, literary criticism, notions of post modernity and the post-human, gender theory and post-colonial theory from outside sources.  Final papers should be approximately ten pages long, with a one-page bibliography.

Proposed Field Trips: (currently under negotiation)

Harrow Research Station: Gene Bank

University of Windsor: Medical School Anatomy Lab

University of Windsor: Biological Sciences

Intaglio Studio School of Visual Arts, University of Windsor Windsor, Canada, 2010 Photo Credit: Jennifer Willet

PRINT MEDIA:
Reproductive Arts Centre
Dr. Jennifer Willet
2008 – Ongoing

In the School of Visual Arts at The University of Windsor I am working towards the development of an interdisciplinary Reproductive Arts Centre, that will serve as a central hub for the integration of reproductive technologies (analogue, digital, and biological) in all areas of pedagogy and research within the school. This centre will break with conventional models of discipline and specialization from the modernist tradition, and will lead to the successful integration of digital technologies in to all course curriculum.

The Reproductive Arts Centre, will provide facilities and instruction in three areas of reproductive technologies as applied to the fine arts:

Analogue: We will upgrade the existing print facilities (intaglio and lithography) to include photo digital processes with the addition of a dark room to accommodate photo plate making techniques. Additionally, we will work towards better health and safety standards with the implementation of non-toxic protocols, and the proper upgrade of existing facilities to meet industry standards.

Digital: We will implement plans to build an interdisciplinary digital print studio that will be available for use by all students and faculty associated with The School of Visual Arts, increasing utilization of the Lebel MAC lab, and ensuring the integration of digital instruction in all areas of visual arts instruction.

Biological: We will build a new biological art laboratory (INCUBATOR Hybrid Laboratory at the Intersection of Art, Science and Ecology) that will offer research and pedagogical opportunities at the very cutting edge of contemporary art production for students and faculty at all levels. This facility will situate The University of Windsor as the only post-secondary institution in Canada with a wet biological lab in the domain of the fine arts.

Sponsors:
The University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada.

Jennifer Willet in collaboration with Bioart: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences Class. InsideOut: Laboratory Ecologies Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2008

BioArt: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences
Jennifer Willet 2008
Fridays April 04 – May 23, 2008
Lecture Hall 07, LCB 9 (May LCB 21)
Office

http://leidenbioart.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiDVKzBlff0

jswillet at gmail.com

Do artists cross the line when they breed plants or animals, or use the tools of biotechnology?  Scientists routinely cross the line.  So do farmers, business people, military men, and doctors.  Only artists and certain religious people hesitate.  Of course one of the great human dilemmas is that we do not know the extent of our powers.  We invent outrageously and casually as we breath, but we have no idea where our inventions will take us.  Extinction?  Slavery?  1000 years in Disneyland?  Even if the Holocaust had never happened, we would have good reason to worry about where knowledge of genetics and DNA will take us.  We will need all the awareness we can muster to engage evolution.  To the extent that art favors awareness, the more artists who cross the line the better.

George Gessert

BioArt: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences is an innovative course that will allow for non-specialist students to engage theoretically and practically in the biological sciences towards fostering a critical participatory engagement with the biological sciences from a fine art perspective.  This course is a studio art and science crossover lab intended for students from various disciplines to foster interdisciplinary exploration of the intersections between art and life through hands-on laboratory protocols, critical readings, and the production of contemporary artwork.

Together we will explore the ethical debates, issues of access and accountability, and overspecialization that arise from contemporary biotechnologies and BioArt practices.  Lectures will address a range of topics including; the biological sciences, historical crossovers between the fine arts and the hard sciences, and contemporary artists in the art/science field.  Practical workshops will provide students with introductory experience with mammalian tissue culture, microscopy, DNA extraction and imaging, and genetic modification (amongst others) with an emphasis on health and safety and proper laboratory technique.

Students will be expected to complete weekly readings, participate in class discussions and lab workshops, and produce individual and collaborative artworks and critical written texts.

Additionally, each student will participate in a final class project in collaboration with artist/instructor Jennifer Willet Called InsideOut: Laboratory Ecologies.   Each class will include a 30 min meeting in preparation for the final installation/performance.

For each class the students will be required to complete the assigned readings.  These readings will be available on line for a period of one week before the class.  After that time, they will be removed for copyright purposes.  The readings can be found at:

www.jenniferwillet.com/readings

Evaluation:

33.33% Class Participation:

Students will be expected to attend ALL 7 classes, and actively participate in class discussions and workshops.  Class participation will include the student’s participation in the collaborative project InsideOut: Laboratory Ecologies.  Additionally, each student will (with a partner) select a reading from the course outline and prepare a 10 min discussion in regards to that reading.  Each Presentation will address the following questions.

What are the central themes of the reading?

How dose this relate to questions of bioart raised in the class?

What arguments within the reading do you agree/disagree with?

33.33% Individual or Collaborative Bioart Project:

Each student will devise an individual or two-person bioart project.  This work can be completed either in the laboratory (with permissions) or at home.  Students are encouraged to work in consultation with the instructor in developing their project.  Amateur Science texts will be made available to the class, to assist in developing individual artworks and protocols.

33.33% Individual Research Paper:

Each student will develop an individual research paper exploring questions of bioart from  critical, historical, ethical, and aesthetic perspectives.  Theoretical sources can be drawn from class readings and the class bibliography – however, students are also encouraged to draw upon communication theory, media criticism, literary criticism, notions of post modernity and the post-human, gender theory and post-colonial theory from outside sources.  Final papers should be approximately ten pages long, with a one-page bibliography.

Sponsors:

The Art and Genomics Centre, The University of Leiden