Workshops

Biological Art Masterclass

SymbioticA’s Biological Art Masterclass is an introduction to biological techniques and issues surrounding the manipulation of living systems, run over an intensive five-day period.

The masterclass empowers participants to not only carry out, but to also critique the manipulation of living systems from an informed practical perspective.

Demonstrating the tools of modern biology through an artistic engagement, the masterclass explores biological technologies and the life sciences through practical and ‘hands-on’ methods.   Led by SymbioticA’s Director Oron Catts and his scientific collaborator Greg Cozens from the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, the masterclass is a theoretical and practical introduction to the basics of biological techniques and the creation of biological art.

The masterclass engages artists and researchers from various disciplines who take away the basics of new techniques and knowledge to utilise in their practice as researchers and artistic practitioners.  Scientists are also involved in discussing the ethical issues raised by artists' work in this area in conjunction with a visit to a laboratories. The Masterclass has run at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, National Centre for Biological Sciences, in Bangalore, and Arts Catalyst. (10-14 March, 2008)

SymbioticA Tissue Engineering and Art Workshop
 
Tissue culture (TC) and tissue engineering (TE) represent a new area for artistic engagement. These branches of biomedical research have a major influence on perceptions of body, self and medical thinking. Tissue engineering enables researchers to grow three dimensional living tissues constructs of varying sizes, shapes and tissue types.
 
This two-day intensive workshop introduces artists and other interested people to basic principals of animal tissue culture and tissue engineering, as well as to its history and the different artistic projects working with TC and TE.
 
This workshop has been developed by SymbioticA¹s Artistic Director Oron Catts, Dr. Stuart Hodgetts from The School of Anatomy & Human Biology and SymbioticA¹s Academic Co-ordinator Ionat Zurr.
 
It is an advanced and focused hands on exploration of tissue technologies, and has beem run  at the Dies of Bioart in Barcelona (15-16th February, 2006) and as part of AV06 Festival, University of Teesside (7-8th March 2006), Israeli Centre for Digital Art (17 March 2007) and at Subtle Technologies Festival, Canada ( 18-20 May 2007).
 
To discuss running one of the SymbioticA Workshops at your organisation please contact: sym@symbiotica.uwa.edu.au

SymbioticA BioTech Art Workshop 

Previous workshops include the five day intensive workshops where the tools of modern biology are demonstrated through artistic engagement, which in turn gives voice to the broader philosophical and ethical exploration into the extent of human intervention with other living things.

Activities include DNA extraction and fingerprinting, genetic engineering, selective breeding, plant and animal tissue culture and basic tissue engineering techniques.

The SymbioticA BioTech Art Workshop was originally commissioned by the Experimental Art Foundation (www.eaf.asn.au) as a part of the Art of the Biotech Era Exhibition during the Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts 2004. It has since been run during the Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth 2004 (20-24 September 2004), with Arts Catalyst in London (28 March – 2 April 2005), Wollongong University (June 20-24 2005) and the University of California Irvine (10-14 October 2005).