BIOTECH ART MASTERCLASS

BIOTECH ART MASTERCLASS
Organized by i/o/lab and run by SymbioticA’s director, Oron Catts and laboratory research scientist Katharine Adcroft.
Stavanger, November 2008

I participated in the intensive four day workshop dealing with hands on exploration of biological technologies and issues stemming from their use. The practical components included DNA extraction and fingerprinting, genetic engineering, plant and animal tissue culture and basic tissue engineering techniques. These tools of modern biology were demonstrated and performed through artistic engagement, which in turn opened discussion about the broader philosophical and ethical implications into the extent of human intervention with other living things. Emphasis was placed on developing critical thought, ethical issues and cross-disciplinary experimentation in art.

Broadcast on national TV - Culturenews
http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/indeks/151457

Documentation on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/iolabmedia

Reportage in Billedkunst (Art magazine – in Norwegian only)
http://www.billedkunstmag.no/Content.aspx?contentId=1507

ALCHEMY AWARDED JURY PRICE

Alchemy was awarded the jury price at the exhibition Nordnorsk Kunstutstilling. The show opened in Bodø on Saturday the 17th and will be touring to various places in Northern Norway.

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nordland/1.6431708
http://www.an.no/kultur/article4051629.ece
http://www.bodokunst.no/?a_id=720&PHPSESSID=5f2e6780acdf3efacb533dbe455a7e63
w.ab24.no/default.asp?page=5349&item=37766,1&lang=1

ALCHEMY TO NEW YORK

Alchemy has been selected to show at MoMA, New York during Documentary Fortnight 2009.
Friday, February 20, 2009, 6:00 p.m., Theater 1, T1
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/660

See also the blog for Alchemy on: http://poeticsofbread.blogspot.com/

ALCHEMY IN TORONTO

Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival, Toronto, October 2008
http://planetinfocus.bside.com/2008/films

"A poetic evocation on the alchemy of bread brings the act of baking the most basic of staples, into a high art form. Here nature and human culture collude. Hands pounding, mixing, kneading and stretching, reveal the choreographed rhythms and movements of bread making. Alchemy is a beautifully executed and lyrical film about an activity once ubiquitous in almost every household."

See also the blog for Alchemy on: http://poeticsofbread.blogspot.com/

JOIKING THE SEA

...making the invisible visible
A circular conversation between joik and the ocean. Performance with Johan Anders Bær, International Conference on Globalization and Challenges for Oceans and Marine Regions organized by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Oslo, August 2008

"Our earth consists of 71% water and yet we call it earth, says the Swedish writer Isabella Lövin.
We humans also consist of around 70% water.
It is not a coincidence.
We are born from water and depend on it for our survival.
Without water we cannot live. We are inseparable."

DIRECT CONNECTIONS

Direct Connections – a circular conversation between joik and aesthetics by Eva Bakkeslett and Johan Anders Bær.
Art of Adaptation, Fritdjof Nansen Institute, Oslo June 2008

"When I first met joik,
I mean the very moment I realized with my body and soul what joik really is,
I started sensing the coming to knowing from another perspective.
I became aware of a different way to perceive the world.

I understood the difference between being separate from nature and that of being inseparable – a part of – to be connected.

Joik is not ABOUT – it IS.
An amplification of relationships.
A direct connection with no beginnings or ends.
A circular conversation."

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Ethical and aesthetical perspectives on nature as resource
25.October 2008, Kunstkvarteret Lofoten
Seminar curated by Eva Bakkeslett in collaboration with Kunstkvarteret Lofoten featuring Maasai artist Riziki Kateya, Eirik G. Jansen, Dr. Philos in Social Anthropology and cultivator Eva Bakkeslett.

http://www.kunstkvarteret.no/Prosjekter/AfricaNowIndex.html

People define nature as a resource. What does this really mean?
Has profit replaced sustainable management and have we lost our respect and humility for the beauty of nature? How is it possible to approach nature with new eyes and review our present attitude of seeing nature merely as source for human explotation? This seminar will look at ethical and aesthetical perspectives on this subject in Norway and Tanzania, through the eyes of two artists and one social anthropologist.

THE WISHING TREE

Collaboration with PLAN at the University of Oslo
during the Research Open Days (Forskningsdagene,
Oslo, September 2008.

Workshop aimed at children between 4 and 12 about visioning the future. All the stories about the devastating effects of climate change can be paralyzing, and we wanted to go beyond the fright and reach out to catch glimpses of the children´s hopes and wishes for the earth. We created an environment to inspire new perspectives, with a great selection of books looking at the earth from a micro and macro view, a corner of cushions to think and read and a table of two microscopes and things to look at like leaves and bark and moss. " It is a landscape on Mars!" - one boy said while gazing at a piece of birch bark.
We also had a selection of "fly eye specs" to inspire future vision. People wrote their wishes on multi-coloured strips of cloth and tied it onto an ashtree that finally was planted in a park in Oslo by the mayor and a group of children.

http://www.iss.uio.no/forskning/prosjekter/plan/nyheter/2008-09.26.xml