“It’s Oz, pure and simple, the total amount of resources in this environment and the minds that are accessible, it’s like I come to the city of Oz every day.” - Joe Davis, Father of BioArt talking about the field
Last Sunday, we had the first meeting of the IGEM BioArt steering group and it was f***ing awesome.
What’s iGEM?
The International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) is the biggest worldwide synthetic biology competition for designing and engineering with biology. Every year, thousands of people from teams all around the world are given access to DNA parts from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. The aim is to use these and other new parts to design and construct new biological systems.
What’s BioArt?
BioArt is an art practice where humans work with live tissues, bacteria, living organisms, and life processes. Using scientific processes such as biotechnology (including technologies such as genetic engineering, tissue culture, and cloning) the artworks are produced in laboratories, galleries, or artists' studios. The scope of BioArt is considered by some artists to be strictly limited to "living forms", while other artists would include art that uses the imagery of contemporary medicine and biological research, or require that it address a controversy or blind spot posed by the very character of the life sciences.
What is the IGEM BioArt steering group all about?
The Bioart Steering Group is in charge of creating experiences for the iGEM community focused on exploring, creating, and exhibiting artistic narratives of synthetic biology and its intersections with other disciplines, philosophies, and approaches.
We had the opportunity to get to know one another during the first meeting. The BioArt steering group was comprised of so many cool people - there were bioengineers, industrial designers that specialized in futurism, university professors, and even a scientific editor at an academic publishing company. We hailed from different parts of the globe: from Paris to Dubai to Missouri, Brazil and Amsterdam, all united by a love for biotech, BioArt and ambition to learn and create.
“I’ve started thinking about BioArt like buddhist and sand painting - they are there for the moment, and then gone”
“That’s the beauty of life, we are here for the moment and then we are gone” 🙂
-A gem from our zoom chat
Each person had an interesting project they were working on: for some, it was bioluminescent beer, and agar art, for others it was plant-microbe interactions and drought tolerance. Ideas and stories zinging back and forth, it was honestly so cool being surrounded by people who spoke the same language as me. People who adored the same artists I adored. We discussed about how we drew inspiration from Suzzane Lee and Bio-cotoure (aka. Bio-inspired fashion), our dreams of being part of Neri Oxman’s lab and working on material ecology, and exchanged thoughts about the current semi-dismal state of biotechnology’s portrayal in our media. The air was filled with ideas about speculative thinking, the future, and human experience.
“Which story, provacation, perspective, awareness you want to tell?”
At the end of the meeting, each team member was asked to answer this question, here were some of my favorite responses:
Our vision is to build a space for creatives passionate about synbio and scientists passionate about art. As a community, discipline, and philosophy, synthetic biology involves discussions from different perspectives and expertise shaped by multidisciplinary minds.
For this first year, we’re placing our efforts towards bringing an In-person experience defined as the “Bioart and Biodesign Exhibition” that’s happening at the IGEM Jamboree 2022. (The iGEM Grand Jamboree is home to the world’s largest SynBio community of researchers, industry, investors, startups, and policymakers, where every participant will get the unique experience of interacting with the future of synthetic biology.)
With each person bringing different buckets of specialties and showcasing different narratives, we hope to continue bridging our knowledge, influencing each other, and growing together in our art and creations. I am so happy to finally be a part of a community of amazing bioartists working towards the common goal of creating a narrative of hope for synthetic biology. Together, I really can’t wait to see what we’ll be able to accomplish. :)