LASER Talks in Buffalo: BioArt in the Public Sphere @Coalesce

Chaired by Paul Vanouse

BioArt in the public sphere @Coalesce

Report from the artist-researchers in residence v4

Featuring special guest introductory speaker, Dr. Jens Hauser, bio-media scholar and curator based in Paris, France.

Discussion and performances with BioArtists: Rae Yuping Hsu • Roland van Dierendonck & Julian Stadon • Tosca Terán aka nanotopia  

Microbes ranging from the bacteria of the human gut to the fungal networks of forests, immersive, mixed-reality environments, post-colonial cuisine, storytelling, performance, and wearable feedback devices constitute these artists’ in-progress artworks and visions. 

Event Info:

When: Friday, April 22, 7:00-9:00 PM EDT, Find your timezone here!

Where: Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center • 341 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo NY  and live streamed on HCAC YouTube Channel or register here!

Speakers Bios

Rae Yuping Hsu: Rae Yuping Hsu is an artist and educator from Taipei, Taiwan, currently based in New York, United States. Her practice is research-based and materially-informed, spanning across multiple disciplines and materials; from hot glass to fibroblasts, passports to fecal sports. Her recent works speculate on microbial ethics within interplanetary travel, reconstructing colonial narratives through alternative cosmologies regarding the celestial and its extended voyages. WWW.HSURAE.COM

Julian Stadon & Roland van Dierendonck: Julian Stadon is an Australian artist, designer, curator, researcher and educator who lecture for the Interface Cultures and the Media Design Teaching Programmes at The University of Art and Design, Linz.  Julian has a transdisciplinary approach to teaching and research, across several fields that intersect Art, Interaction/Interface Design, Game Studies, Next Generation Interfaces, Creative Coding, Physical Computing, Mixed Reality and Immersion, Innovative Media, Fashion Technology, Sustainability, Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food Science, Culinary Aesthetics, Image Culture, Post-Digital Aesthetics and Media Theory, all within the context of Augmentation Aesthetics and Post-Anthropocenic Design.

Roland van Dierendonck is an artist and PhD candidate at the Lab4Living, Sheffield Hallam University, combining haptics (touch) with microscopic life. Roland’s art practice centers around practice-based serendipity through tinkering, exploring new interactions between the human and the non-human. He has worked with touch in the tactile music cognition installation Sweet Spots, and used food as a medium for art in the Ecosystematic Lunch. More generally, Roland has had a long interest in bio-digital hybrid collaborations, including (slow) biotic game research, TeleAgriCulture (with Julian Stadon) and, currently, Chronomicroscopy. Recently he was part of the special interest group on Microbe-Human Computer Interaction at CHI 2021.

Tosca Terán: Tosca Terán is a Toronto based multidisciplinary artist. Born in San Francisco, California, Tosca relocated to Canada in 2001. Working with metals, computer coding, and animation since the mid-eighties, Tosca was introduced to glass as an artistic medium in 2004. Through developing bodies of work incorporating metal, glass, and electronics, Tosca has been awarded scholarships at The Corning Museum of Glass, Pilchuck Glass School and The Penland School of Crafts. Her work has been featured at SOFA New York, Culture Canada, Metalsmith Magazine, The Toronto Design Exchange, and the Memphis Metal Museum. Most recently, Tosca has been awarded residencies at Gullkistan Centre for Creativity, Nes artist residency Iceland, The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists and the Ayatana SciArt Research Program in Ottawa. Tosca founded nanopod: Hybrid Studio maker space in 2005. Continually exploring new materials and tools, Tosca started collaborating artistically with Algae, Physarum polycephalum, and Mycelium in 2016, translating biodata from non-human organisms into music.

This LASER Event is sponsored and organised by NEA, UB Genome, Environment and Microbiome Community of Excellence, UB Department of Art

SPONSORS:

The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 50 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website.