Discussing Body Enhancement. About Prostheses, Extensions and Cyborgs

A Panel Discussion with Susanna Hertrich, artist; Enno Park, author, co-founder of Cyborgs e.V. Moderated by Regine Rapp, curator, Art Laboratory Berlin on Friday, 13 November 2015, 7pm. The Panel took place in conjunction with the exhibition PROSTHESES. Transhuman Life Forms with works by Susanna Hertrich and Rafel Doran Torrent. (http://artlaboratory-berlin.org/html/eng-exh-38.htm)

Susanna Hertrich

Enno Park

London LASER talk with Christian de Lutz & Regine Rapp

LASER is a program of evening gathering which bring together eclectic guest speakers working at the intersections of art, science and technology.
The eleventh London LASER event hosts co-directors of Art Laboratory Berlin, Regine Rapp and Christian de Lutz on the fluid boundaries between visual arts, biology and the humanities, and artist/scientist J.J. Hastings on the complexities of our relationship with our biomaterials.
More at http://www.londonlaser.net/news/

Special thanks to Mell Fisher for the photos!

Regne Rapp talking about the [macro]biologies & [micro]biologies series at Art Laboratory Berlin

Christian de Lutz talking about Brandon Ballengee's work from [macro]biologies II. organisms

Q&A after the talk

 

PUBLICATION: [macro]biologies & [micro]biologies. Art and the Biological Sublime in the 21st Century‏

Art Laboratory Berlin is happy to announce our new publication

[macro]biologies & [micro]biologies. 
Art and the Biological Sublime in the 21st Century. 
Edited by Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz, Berlin 2015 
 
With 96 Color Photographs!

This book provides a sustainable supplement to the [macro]biologies & [micro]biologies series which took place at Art Laboratory Berlin between 2013 and 2015. The whole programme consisted of four group shows, several seminars and talks on contemporary art and the life sciences. Four exhibitions – the biosphere, organisms, the bacterial sublime, and proteo – featured renowned international artists working across the borders between the arts and different fields of biology. Next to a theoretical reflection about the exhibited artists the publication also includes artist statements and documents a number of outstanding events from the series – workshops and seminars with artists, biologists, and scholars, discussing synthetic biology, speculative design, DIY Bio, and practical exercises in citizen science.

98 pages
96 color images
20 x 25 cm (closed)
Concept: Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz
Layout: Eva Jera Hanžek
Printed by Blurb

Softcover: 39 EUR
Hard Cover, Dusk Jacket: 48.90 EUR
Hard Cover, Image Wrap: 49.90 EUR
eBook: 7.99 EUR
PDF: 4.99 EUR

Authors & Contributions:
Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz: Art and the Biological Sublime in the 21st Century, p. 8-52
Katya Gardea Browne: Rhythms of a Living World, p. 61
Richard Pell: The Center for PostNatural History, p. 62
Mathias Kessler: Nature and Us – Between Boundless Desires and Limited Compassion, p. 64
Alexandra Regan Toland: Mapping the Urban Grind Mill, p. 66
Suzanne Anker: Petri's Panoply, p. 69
Maja Smrekar: BioBASE – The Eco Utopian Agent, p. 71
Brandon Ballengée: The Cry of Silent Forms, p. 72
Anna Dumitriu: The Bacterial Sublime, p. 75
Joanna Hoffmann: πρωτεο / proteo, p. 76
Pinar Yoldas: Reflecting my Artistic Practice and Collaborating with Art Laboratory Berlin, p. 79-80
Denisa Kera: Biostrike as Soil Art: Biotech Guerrillas in the Post-Antibiotic Age, p. 83-88
Desiree Förster: Under the Surface, under the Skin. The Use of Synthetic Biology within the Artistic Practice of C-LAB, p. 93

The book can be ordered via blurb.com, blurb.de and blurb.co.uk

Order here (DE) 
Order here (US) 

Opening: PROSTHESES. Transhuman Life Forms

PROSTHESES. Transhuman Life Forms
Susanna Hertrich 

Photos from the opening - 25 September, 2015

Prostheses for Instincts

Jacobson's Fabulous Olfactometer (JFO)

Prostheses for Instincts

PROSTHESES. Transhuman Life Forms// Susanna Hertrich / opening on 25 September, 2015

PROSTHESES. Transhuman Life Forms
Susanna Hertrich Opening: 25 September, 2015 8PM
Panel discussion with Susanna Hertrich & guests: 6 November, 2015
Exhibition runs: 26 September – 29 November, 2015

The exhibition explores the phenomenon of the prosthesis as bodily extension in the 21st century. Exploring new technologies and recent developments in neuroscience and biology, Susanna Hertrich proposes new transhuman sensory extensions of what may eventually become 'human 2.0'. The exhibited works are part of her long-term artistic research project Bodies & Technology. In Susanna Hertrich's work a narration is constructed in which the human sensory apparatus is extended through computer controlled prostheses. The results can be understood as crossing the boundaries between artistic hypothesis and technological experimentation. The artworks reflect our current living environments, as well as critically question the social, political and physical consequences of the new technologies utilised in their making.?

The series Prostheses for Instincts explores the idea that by augmenting our natural sensory experiences we can widen the range of our perceptions. In doing so, Hertrich has created new mechanisms for surviving in a changing world. For example, Jacobson's Fabulous Olfactometer (JFO), a device worn on the head and face, is a sensorial prosthesis that mimics mammalian "flehmen response" when air pollution levels become too high. In short, when the device detects a dangerous level of pollution the prosthesis curls back the wearer's top lip, exposing her teeth, mimicking a reflex common, for instance, in horses or cats. The JFO simultaneously refers to a common, but often invisible 21st century threat and a biologically programmed reaction to danger in the animal world.

Next to Hertrich's works Art Laboratory Berlin will showcase a prize winning film on Neil Harbisson and the Cyborg Foundation by Rafel Duran.

More information at: http://artlaboratory-berlin.org/html/eng-exh-archive.htm

Theresa Schubert Artist Talk and Finissage

Theresa Schubert and Christian de Lutz

Theresa Schubert Artist Talk and Finissage - Sunday September 20th at 15h

Finissage for the exhibition Growing Geometries - Evolving Forms. Theresa Schubert will be present to speak about her work.  Sunday, September 20th at 3pm.

Review of Growing Geometries - Evolving Forms

Theresa Schubert, bodymetries, interactive, generative installation (HD video and sound) 2013-14, copyright Theresa Schubert

 

Art In Berlin has a great review of Theresa Schubert's exhibition:

http://www.art-in-berlin.de/incbmeld.php?id=3690

Opening - Growing Geometries - Evolving Forms - works by Theresa Schubert

Regine Rapp, Theresa Schubert, Christian de Lutz

Theresa Schubert, Growing Geometries (tattooing mushrooms), 2014-2015

Theresa Schubert, Growing Geometries (tattooing mushrooms), 2014-2015.  Photo: Theresa Schubert

Theresa Schubert, bodymetries, 2013-14.  A collaboration with Michael Markert and Moritz Dreßler.

Photo: Theresa Schubert

Theresa Schubert // Growing Geometries - Evolving Forms

somnipherous observatory, interactive, generative installation (HD video and sound) 2013-14,

 

 

Theresa Schubert // Growing Geometries - Evolving Forms
Exhibition runs: 29 August– 20 September, 2015
Opening: 28 August, 2015 8PM
Artist talk and Finissage: 20 September, 3PM

"In her experimental setups, Theresa Schubert condenses the most simple organisms to highly complex philosophical questions. In the artistic research project Growing Geometries I - tattooing mushrooms, fungi generate their growth by processing organic material. Together with the treatment of the mushroom with tattoo needles, their natural growth creates a closer proximity to that of mankind than to that of plants. A natural phenomenon is translated into a moment of critical analysis of processes of growth with the simplest of means. Theresa Schubert's tattooed mushroom are fruits of a deeper lying mesh whose growth can take any shape or form based on devitalized organic material causing revitalization." (Kerstin Godschalk, curator HB55 Kunstfabrik Berlin)

The exhibited works have been developed as part of her PhD research at the Bauhaus University Weimar. In the words of Theresa Schubert: "The works want to challenge common understandings of creativity and emphasize a posthuman view on the world and its creatures. Common ground is the intervention on membranes. A membrane appears in both the exterior and interior of living beings; in the case of a cell membrane it is part of the smallest building block of life, but it also separates two different states. Further, it is an investigation into the aesthetics and mechanisms of natural growths processes."

The artist Theresa Schubert conducts research at the intersection of art, biology, and technology. She has studied Media Arts & Design at the Bauhaus University Weimar. Her artistic practice combines various media such as audiovisual installations, photography or work on paper which deals with the phenomena of nature not only as a source of inspiration, but as a material and critical process. By means of transdisciplinary methods, such as the re-enactment of scientific experiments, biohacking, theoretical analysis and collaborative practices, her work deals with the themes of self-organization, computational geometry and morphology. The starting point for her experiments are simple organisms that arranged in setups have the opportunity to grow and develop - always under the control of the artist - sometimes in interaction with people and visitors.

Theresa Schubert's work has been exhibited internationally. Venues include; Ars Electronica, Linz, KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, ARGE Kultur Salzburg, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Electro Fringe Festival Australia, Istanbul Biennial, European Media Art Festival and KIBLA Maribor. Recently, the journals Antennae, Wired and Art in Berlin have reported on her work. 

Synapse Workshop 2013 | Presentation by Rich Pell, Center for PostNatural History | Photo: Dante Busquets /courtesy hkw.de see link below...

Christian de Lutz and Regine Rapp are taking part in the curators' conference and workshop SYNAPSE at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (http://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2015/synapse_2015/start_synapse.php) from 30 June-4 July, 2015, and are moderating several panels including including one featuring the artist Rachel Mayeri and biologists and philosopher Cord Reichelmann.

SYNAPSE is not not open to the general public but an associated event on 2 July will be: Observations of Predation in Humans: A Lecture by Dr. Zira, Animal Psychologist a Performance by Coco Fusco  

Plan Bienen - A project by Tessa Zettel and Sumugan Sivanesan

26-28 June, 2015 - Plan Bienen
A project by Tessa Zettel and Sumugan SivanesanOpening: 26 June from 8PM
Brunch and Talk: 28 June 12-2PM
Viewing open 27-28 June, 2015 from 2-6 PM

Plan Bienen is an ongoing research project developed by Sydney-based artists Tessa Zettel and Sumugan Sivanesan during their residency at ZK/U - Centre for Art and Urbanistics in Berlin in 2014.
With Plan Bienen the artists attempt to make real and speculative connections between two parallel crises – one within European economic systems and the other in honeybee ecologies. Considering Berlin’s development as a multicultural ‘creative’ capital, the artists take the local histories and current popularity of urban beekeeping as an entry point to explore expanded possibilities for non-monetary economies and new social habits already present within Berlin’s food systems, intercultural gardens, migrant networks and ‘hausprojekts’. In the process they ask what kinds of promising ‘more-than-human’ futures might today’s city bees lead us towards.

‘Plan Bienen: Statements of Profit and Loss,’ will be open Friday evening, as well as Saturday and Sunday from 2-6PM, and will show documents and artefacts generated by the project. On Sunday 28 June there will also be a brunch and conversation, 'Rates of Exchange—A Discursive Sonntagsbrunch', discussing exchange and relations in the multispecies city, from 12-2PM.

*                                                    *                                                    *

Tessa Zettel is an interdisciplinary artist who works to create possible futures from forgotten pasts. Her participatory, site-based projects often involve forms of exchange and new relationships with obscured cultural practices and knowledge.
As an ‘anti-disciplinary’ artist, Sumugan Sivanesan works with a multiplicity of media. His installations, performances, videos and texts present a space for discussion and intervention.
Cooperation Partners: ZKU - Centre for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin Food Art Week
This project is supported by the Australian Artists' Grant. The Australian Artists’ Grant is a NAVA initiative, made possible through the generous sponsorship of Mrs Janet Holmes à Court and the support of the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council for the Arts

Photos by Tim Deussen ©2015

Joseph Nechvatal - artist talk with noise music concert of his piece 3 pOstmOrtem