Friday, December 30, 2016

Thank you for 2016 and best wishes for the New Year 2017

Art Laboratory Berlin thanks you for your interest, your visit, your all your input during 2016! Our deepest gratitude to Francois-Joseph, Tarsh​, Saša​, Anil, Mirjan​, Joana, Maja​, Rachel​, Robertina​, and to Alanna​, Benjamin​, Selena​, Ewelina​, Jothi​, Utpala​, and Annalisa​, as well as to Kat​ , Margherita​, Miri, Rüdiger, Ale, Emilia, and Jessie​ . We wish everyone a healthy, happy and successful 2017 and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!!!

Thursday, December 01, 2016

End of the Year Call for Donations


Dear friends, colleagues and visitors,

Thank you very much for your interest and active exchange (both in person and virtually)!

This year, we were able to gain a lot of attention in the public and the press with our projects, as well as with external projects. Art at the interface of science and technology, dealing with topics relevant to the 21st century, is still not often supported or appreciated by many funding bodies.


As we want to continue our work at Art Laboratory Berlin (now 10 years old) with our current focus in the coming year, we are, in great part, dependent on your donations.


Please support our non-profit organisation Art Laboratory Berlin e.V. now with a donation!

Even smaller amounts can help us to realise portions of future projects. If desired, we can issue a donation receipt (the donation is tax deductible from German taxes).

Art Laboratory Berlin e.V.
Berliner Volksbank
IBAN:DE20100900002078156000
BIC:BEVODEBB


We wish to continue to be able, with your help, to create a place of artistic and scientific discussion on current topics.
We also want to continue the discussions on aesthetic strategies of coexistence next year.
We hope that Art Laboratory Berlin will continue to function as an open platform for interdisciplinary practices
.


Whether as an individual or as a group, we are pleased to invite you to take part in our exhibitions or to arrange seminars and talks to your particular interest.


Welcome to Art Laboratory Berlin!


We wish you pleasant holidays and all the best for 2017!

Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz

Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Weekly Meetups with Biotinkering e.V. at Art Laboratory Berlin


Bio & Beers | every Thursday with Biotinkering e.V.
A project of Dr. Mirela Alister, Rüdiger Trojok and Biotinkering e.V.



The Bio & Beers format is for everyone: we start with a 20 minutes presentation, followed by discussions while having beers. In additon there will be occasional DIY workshops!


October 6 · 7:00 PM  DIY Biology/Spectrometry – Rock ur Rainbow
with Alessandro Voltape
The main interest of DIY (Do It Yourself) biologists is to give everyone the possibility to answer biological questions affecting more or less their lives. The first step towards that, is to enable citizens to execute experiments in self-organized laboratory. The need for more advanced tools led to the development of cheap, but functional lab tools.
In this talk I will present the project that was taken on at the Science Hack Day Berlin by the wonderful DIY Spectrometer team!

This device was created by Public Lab (publiclab.org) during the deep water horizon oil spill to detect mineral oil in water.

But this device can be used for other purposes, for example to understand the worries of the Consumer and Health Scientific Committees about light sources at home.

"With the growing use of energy saving lamps and the development of new lighting technologies, comes the worry that some people who have conditions that react to light might be negatively affected by this shift. Can these new artificial light sources affect the health of the general public or of light-sensitive people?"
Source: EU Comission - Consumer and Health Scientific Committees
http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/opinions_layman/artificial-light/en/index.htm#1 with this cheap and portable spectrometer and your smartphone you can check all the lights in your environment (home/work/school/etc.) and have a better understanding about the worries of the scientific committes.

Moreover Dr. Kat F. Austen will be our guest and will tell and discuss with us the results of her work. She is applying spectrometry for food analysis  

October 13 · 7:30 PM: Bio & Beers - Digital Microfluidics Hacking

This week's topic: DropBot - Digital microfluidics for everyone

Presenter: Ryan and Christian Fobel

Currently researcher in Wheeler's lab, Toronto, Canada, Ryan and Christian have built DropBot, a digital microfluidic biochip.

Here is more about their vision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdYNTL64lfwAfter their short presentation, we will join them for an intense hacking session.

October 15 · 12:00 PM: Growing Cellulose - Workshop
Microbial cellulose is a material with unique aesthetic properties: delicate and sensuous, it resembles skin and bodily matter. Not only: once dried, it has paper-like attitude. The best thing is that you can cultivate it yourself!

Margherita Pevere will teach us how to get directly involved in the adventurous life of microbial colonies and show us her unique way to grow cellulose.

We will learn how to grow Glucoacetobacter Xylinus with DIY recipes, compare different kinds of cultures, how to protect them from mold, how to dry cellulose and use it creatively.

-----------workshop schedule-----------
12:00 - 12:30 Microbial cellulose fundamentals: what it is, how it grows, different kind of cultures
12:30 - 13:00 Preparing the media: DIY recipe based on soy derivatives; Tricks to to protect cultures from mold
13:00 - 13:40 Creative prototyping
13:45 - 14:00 DIY Bio code of conduct
14:00 - 15:00 Lunch and discussions

Presenter: Margherita Pevere, artist and researcher at Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland. www.margheritapevere.com  

October 27 · 7:00 PM: Bio & Beers - Messenger DNA


November 3 · 7:00 PM: Bio & Kombucha tea - introducing Movember

November 10 · 7:00 PM: DIY CRISPR-CAS
If you are interested in what and how you can use gene technology at home, tonight is the perfect occasion to learn about it. Ruediger Trojok will introduce the latest techniques for genetic modification (CRISPR-CAS) and will discuss the legal aspects of DIY genetic engineering.

November 17 · 7:00 PM: Do it together Art and Science
Can Art and Science work together?

Joanna and Mert will bring in their experience to discuss the potentials of a program that brings together artists and scientists for a long term collaboration.

Presenters: Joanna Szlauderbach (http://szlauderbach.eu/about-me/) and Mert Akbal (http://mertakbal.com/)

November 24 · 7:00 PM:  Workshop: Brewing kombucha

December 1-3 · 7:00 PM: Biohack academy: DIY Gene TechnologyA workshop on DIY Synthetic Biology led by Rüdiger Trojok
During this 3-day workshop we will clone GFP and transform E. Coli.
December 8 · 7:00 PM: Bio & Beers end of the year brainstorm

Saturday, October 01, 2016

Video documentation of the seminar Living Systems | Aquatic Systems online




Complete video documentation of the seminar Living Systems | Aquatic Systems featuring talks by Regine Rapp, Robertina Šebjanič and Kat Austen, with moderation by Christian de Lutz can be found at http://artlaboratory-berlin.org/html/eng-event-31.htm

Monday, September 19, 2016

Seminar: Living Systems | Aquatic Systems

with Robertina Šebjanič, Kat Austen, Regine Rapp (moderated by Christian de Lutz)
in the framework of the exhibition Aural Aquatic Presence featuring work by Robertina Šebjanič .

18 September, 2016, 2-6PM


 The current exhibition project artistically explores the interplay and intercommunication between animal and machine while focusing on the aquatic environment. Within this framework we want to invite you to our seminar which will theoretically explore these and other aspects about artistic and scientific methodologies on interspecies empathy and human-nonhuman companionship.
 


Regine Rapp
Art and Object-Oriented Perception. Reflecting Living Systems in Contemporary Art

Based on the concept and exhibition series Nonhuman Subjectivities the presentation will theoretically reflect several artists and their specific artistic interest in nonhuman agents. Different artistic strategies will be presented to discuss the manifold aesthetic approaches to the phenomenon of object-oriented perception. Be it narrative strategies, aesthetic strategies of immersion, bridging medical historical phenomena with gender issues, or combining scientific laboratory and art practices – it is challenging to explore a variety of artistic approaches towards the nonhuman. The counter-linguistic turn as well as the concept of cooperative actions can serve as a useful theoretical ground within the debate.




Robertina Šebjanič
Subjectivity and the Aquatocene

The most substantial aims of the audiovisual performance Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva sonification (2015) are to explore the phenomena of interspecies communication, sonification of the environment and the underwater acoustic/ bioacoustics. Her new installation Subaquatic / Aquatocene sound scape (2016) reflects about the immersion into the underwater acoustic environment and the sound and noise pollution produced there by human presence. The project explores the relationship between sound, nature and society and encourages rethinking the human impact on the (under)water habitat as well as the establishment and maintainance of safe audio environments for animals that live in the oceans and seas.


Kat Austen

Experiments in Interspecies Empathy: The Coral Empathy Device

We have a lot in common with coral. It builds shelter to protect itself, and lives in symbiosis with microorganisms, which – like our microbiome – help it to survive. Coral acts like a steward to much other marine life, providing a home for the algae with which it lives symbiotically, and creating reefs that are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. Using stewardship as a common starting point, Kat will discuss her piece The Coral Empathy Device (2016) in the context of exploring interspecies empathy through artistic investigations into the marine environment and human perception. Drawing on an approach that melds together multiple knowledges, Kat will explain both the conceptual approach and her methodologies in the research and creation of a piece that challenges the audience physically to prompt a lived experience connecting human-in-air and coral-in-water.

Thursday, September 08, 2016

Seminar: Living Systems | Aquatic Systems

with Robertina Šebjanič, Kat Austen, Regine Rapp and Christian de Lutz
in the framework of the exhibition Aural Aquatic Presence.

18 September, 2016, 2-6PM
Participation Fee: 12/ 8 EUR
Please Register: register@artlaboratory-berlin.org


Robertina Šebjanic, Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva generator, 2014, photo by Miha Frastion

The current exhibition project artistically explores the interplay and intercommunication between animal and machine while focusing on the aquatic environment. Within this framework we want to invite you to our seminar which will theoretically explore these and other aspects about artistic and scientific methodologies on interspecies empathy and human-nonhuman companionship.
PRESENTATIONS:

Regine Rapp
Art and Object-Oriented Perception. Reflecting Living Systems in Contemporary Art

Based on the concept and exhibition series Nonhuman Subjectivities the presentation will theoretically reflect several artists and their specific artistic interest in nonhuman agents. Different artistic strategies will be presented to discuss the manifold aesthetic approaches to the phenomenon of object-oriented perception. Be it narrative strategies, aesthetic strategies of immersion, bridging medical historical phenomena with gender issues, or combining scientific laboratory and art practices – it is challenging to explore a variety of artistic approaches towards the nonhuman. The counterlinguistic turn as well as the concept of cooperative actions can serve as a useful theoretical ground within the debate.

Berlin based art historian Regine Rapp curates and researches contemporary art at the intersection of art & science, and the phenomenon of art & space. She co-founded Art Laboratory Berlin in 2006, which she co-directs and curates together with Christian de Lutz since 2009. Exhibition and research topics: Time & Technology, Synaesthesia, macro/microbiologies and the arts. Recent publication: Art and the Biological Sublime in the 21st Century (2015).


Robertina Šebjanič
Subjectivity and the Aquatocene

The most substantial aims of the audiovisual performance Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva sonification (2015) are to explore the phenomena of interspecies communication, sonification of the envi-ronment and the underwater acoustic/ bioacoustics. Her new installation Subaquatic / Aquato-cene sound scape (2016) reflects about the immersion into the underwater acoustic environment and the sound and noise pollution produced there by human presence. The project explores the relationship between sound, nature and society and encourages rethinking the human impact on the (under)water habitat as well as the establishment and maintainance of safe audio environ-ments for animals that live in the oceans and seas.

Ljubljana based Robertina Šebjanič is an intermedia artist whose works address the relationships between art, science and technology. In recent years, she’s been focusing on living systems in particular. Her artistic exploratory processes result in audiovisual performances and sound art, as well as complex submersible configurations/ installations. http://robertina.net/


Kat Austen
Experiments in Interspecies Empathy: The Coral Empathy Device

We have a lot in common with coral. It builds shelter to protect itself, and lives in symbiosis with microorganisms, which – like our microbiome – help it to survive. Coral acts like a steward to much other marine life, providing a home for the algae with which it lives symbiotically, and creating reefs that are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. Using stewardship as a common starting point, Kat will discuss her piece The Coral Empathy Device (2016) in the context of exploring interspecies empathy through artistic investigations into the marine environment and human perception. Drawing on an approach that melds together multiple knowledges, Kat will explain both the conceptual approach and her methodologies in the research and creation of a piece that challenges the audience physically to prompt a lived experience connecting human-in-air and coral-in-water.

Kat Austen is a succession of experiences and an assemblage of aspirations. She is also a person. She creates artworks and experiences that explore multiple knowledges, boundaries and authority in an environmental context. She has a studio in Berlin and lectures at University College London’s Arts and Sciences BASc, is Artist in Residence in UCL’s Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences, and part of the London Creative Network.


Moderated by
Christian de Lutz

Christian de Lutz, originally from New York and now based in Berlin, is an artist and curator. His artworks deal with social, political and cultural themes, with an emphasis on science, technology, migration and cultural borderlines. He co-founded Art Laboratory Berlin in 2006 and co-directs and curates Art Laboratory Berlin together with Regine Rapp since 2009. Exhibition and research topics of the last years: Time & Technology, Synaesthesia, macro/microbiologies and the arts. Recent publication: Art and the Biological Sublime in the 21st Century (2015).


Bio & Beers and Hands-on Bioluminesce

Hands-on Bioluminesce workshop with Dr. Mirela Alister at Art Laboratory Berlin on 7 September.

The Bio & Beers format is for everyone: it usually starts with a 20 minutes presentation, followed by discussions while having beers. On occasion there are workshops, like the one led last night by Miri Alister:

This week we got our hands dirty with culturing bioluminescent bacteria (yep, that glows in the dark). The late evening is the best time to see this little organisms glowing. We learned how to create a medium in a Petri dish and culture the medium with the bacteria (Photobacterium!) and even take them home with us. In a week or two they should be glowing!









Tuesday, September 06, 2016

Bio & Beers | every Thursday at Art Laboratory Berlin through 15 December

The Bio & Beers format is for everyone: we start with a 20 minutes presentation, followed by discussions while having beers.

Next meeting: Thursday 8 September, 2016 at 7PM
This week's topic: Bioluminescence followed by a hands-on workshop!

Presenter: Mirela Alistar, researcher in bio engineering

This week we get out hands dirty with culturing bioluminescent bacteria (yep, that glows in the dark). The late evening is the best time to see this little organisms glowing. You will nurture the bacteria and even take them home to see them glowing every night.
Join us and invite your friends too!

To help us with organization, please register. Meetings are usually free, but there is a fee when workshops are included:  This event costs 10 euro (includes drinks and workshop materials); Free for members and people that have donated materials.

Every other SATURDAY we host a hands-on workshops that focuses on various micro-organisms. More info on https://www.meetup.com/Biotinkering-Berlin.
A project of Dr. Mirela Alister, Rüdiger Trojok and Biotinkering e.V.

Sunday, September 04, 2016

Opening of Aural Aquatic Presence

Robertina Šebjanič


Robertina Šebjanič, Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva sonification, 2015

Robertina Šebjanič with Regine Rapp and Christian de Lutz

Robertina Šebjanič, video about the project Aurelia 1+Hz

Robertina Šebjanič, Subaquatic / Aquatocene sound scape, 2016




Thursday, September 01, 2016

Nonhuman Subjectivities: Aural Aquatic Presence Robertina Šebjanič

Robertina Šebjanic: Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva generator, Installation with living system, 2014 Photo: Hana Jošič
Opening: 2 September 2016, 8PM
Exhibition runs: 3 September - 9 October, 2016
Fri-Sun, 2-6PM and by appointment

Seminar with Robertina Šebjanič and Kat Austen (registration required): 18 September, 2016


The exhibition investigates agency and sentience in one of the 'simplest' of multicellular creatures: the jellyfish, placing it into relation with a human made machine. Also noteworthy here is the importance of sound in marine systems, as well as the effects of human intervention on aural aquatic systems.


In her series of works Aurelia 1+Hz the Ljubljana based artist Robertina Šebjanič is interested in both biopolitical and technological attempts at the prolongation of life as well as a new critical reflexion of interspecies cohabitation. Šebjanič, whose work involves intensive cooperation with marine biologists from around the globe, has chosen to work with jellyfish, which have existed on earth for over 500 million years.

Her interactive installation Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva generator from 2014 proposes the mutual coexistence of animal and machine. In contrast to robots, which are driven by digital artificial intelligence, this project uses a living organism to bring life to a simple machine, and in a way, to express itself through the machine. Living jellyfish actually run the installation: the mechatronic part, video and sound. The movements and contractions of the jellyfish are recorded by HD camera. The captured data is then transformed in real time into code, which in turn navigates the mechanisms of the installation.

Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva sonification was realized in 2015 as an audio – visual performance with living system, where the artist extended the Aurelia 1+Hz project to challenge the phenomena of interspecies communication, sonification of the environment and the acoustic of the specific space surrounding the creatures. Šebjanič explains: "Sound loops containing recordings of jellyfish in a closed environment and pre-recorded sonic experiments from the sea are mixed in generative score, which is assembled into immersive sonic and visual experience."

Šebjanič's current project »Subaquatic / Aquatocene sound scape« from 2016 investigates the phenomenon of underwater noise pollution created by humankind in the seas and oceans. Over the last few years Šebjanic has produced a number of recordings using hydrophones. From this archive she presents a sound work in the exhibition, which explores the phenomenon of human sound pollution. Underwater noise effects a great number of marine life forms, who depend on the subaquatic sonic environment to survive.

Cooperation partners:






Monday, July 04, 2016

Artist talk with Katya Gardea Browne at Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung

as part of the exhibition NatureCultures, curated by Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz 

More information at http://www.alfred-ehrhardt-stiftung.de/index.php?naturecultures-english


Regine Rapp (left), Katya Gardea Browne (right)


Christian de Lutz (left) Katya Gardea Browne (right)

Works by PinarYoldas from the exhibition 'NatureCultures'



Saturday, July 02, 2016

'NatureCultures' at the Alfred Ehrhardt Stifftung: Brandon Ballengée | Katya Gardea Browne | Pinar Yoldas

Curated by Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz
At the Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung, Auguststr. 75, 10117 Berlin
Exhibition runs 2 July-4 September, 2016
Opening: 1 July, 2016 at 7PM.
Artists talk 3 July, 2016 at 2PM

Curators' tour: 24 July, 2016 at 2 PM
Closing reception and curators' tour: 4 September, 2016 at 2PM

Photos from the opening on 1 July, 2016:



Katya Gardea Browne looks through the source books

Katya Gardea Browne, 'Xochimilco Polyptics'

Katya Gardea Browne, 'Xochimilco'

Exhibition view of works by PinarYoldas

Pinar Yoldas, 'Designer Baby'

Pinar Yoldas, 'Designer Baby'

Opening talk with introduction by Christiane Stahl from the Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung

Opening talk - Regine Rapp

Opening talk - Christian de Lutz




Brandon Ballengee, 'Malamp/ Reliquaries'

Brandon Ballengée,  'Danse Macabre' (left) 'Malamp'(right)



More information about the exhibition at: http://www.alfred-ehrhardt-stiftung.de/index.php?naturecultures-english

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Artists Talk: Maja Smrekar and Rachel Mayeri

In context of the ongoing show On Animals. Cognition. Senses. Play the artists Rachel Mayeri and Maja Smrekar gave a public presentation into their artistic research. 


Maja Smrekar's performance I Hunt Nature and Culture Hunts Me, created during a research residency, investigates the phylogenetics of the wolf, the wolf-dog-human relationship and animal ethics. In her work Ecce Canis she explores the metabolic pathway processes that trigger emotional motifs which bind humans and dogs and let them successfully coexist together. The installation contains serotonin from both the artist and her Scottish border collie Byron, which has been transformed by chemical protocols into an odour - the chemical essence of their human-canine relationship.
The films of Rachel Mayeri are the result of years of collaboration with primatologists. In her series Primate Cinema, Mayeri has made films for (and about) chimpanzees and other primates. In Apes as Family we watch a drama based on a tale of both chimpanzee social customs and domestication. While, as humans, we find the plot emotionally compelling, we also become caught up with watching the reactions of a chimpanzee audience watching the same film on a large TV.

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


Maja Smrekar (left)



Rachel Mayeri