# data[].attributes.body
Research Forum on Bio-Material Art

Welcome! This Padlet will serve as a shared visual and conceptual map of bio-material art practices

How to use it:

1. Post Examples: Share images, links, or photoes of your own work/projects in progress that use bio-materials (e.g., bioplastics, kombucha/SCOBY, mycelium, algae-based art, or other experimental natural materials).

2. Categorize or Tag: Use tags or labels to organize posts by material type, method, or concept.

Goal: Be Creative and Exploratory: This is a space to learn from - a collaborative research forum where you can explore and share different approaches to bio-material art.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
These sculptors reveal what fungi can teach us about surviving a climate crisis.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Connected series~ Living mycelium sculptures – Hannah Hardy Art

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Making of Fine Mycelium™ - MycoWorks

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Eileen Roscina lives and works in Denver Colorado.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mycelium: The Art of Sculpting with Fungi – Amhuru

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Within the arena of bio-art, one material has breathed life into the world of sculpture, metamorphosing both conception and creation—mycelium. “Mycelium: The Art of Sculpting with Fungi” deftly explores this fascinating intersection of biology and artistry. This article guides you through the avant-garde universe of utilizing fungi’s expansive root system—mycelium—in sculpture. It casts light on its revolutionary contributions, illuminating how these intricate, organic networks are coaxing artists and ecologists alike into redefining traditional boundaries of craft and cultivation. So, brace yourself to traverse through the unexpected yet extraordinary realm of mycelium sculpture.

# data[].attributes.body
Bæredygtig kunst

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Bæredygtig kunst - Midtjysk Kulturakademi

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Den bæredygtige omstilling drejer sig blandt andet om at mindske et ressourcespild. Det gælder også i kultursektoren, hvor der efterhånden findes mange gode eksempler på, hvordan kunstproduktionen kan gøres grønnere og mere bæredygtig. Vi har spurgt en række kunstnere og andre kulturaktører om, hvordan de arbejder med at producere kunst og kultur med bæredygtighed for øje.

# data[].attributes.body
Use your phone and upload and share photoes of your work in progress

# data[].attributes.body
Art + kombucha = Kombuchart!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Saviez-vous qu’en plus de boire le kombucha, on peut s’en servir pour faire de l’art ? Tour d’horizon du Kombuchart, concept valise composé de kombucha + art.

# data[].attributes.body
Art Made With Kombucha Explores the Science of the Microbiome

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Artist Alanna Lynch uses kombucha as an art medium to explore our relationship with the microbiome, which is now in the spotlight of human health.
An ancient drink made of fermented tea, kombucha is now, over 2,000 years later, exploding in popularity. This week, Coca-Cola acquired an Australian kombucha company in an aim to enter this promising market.

Kombucha is believed to have many health benefits. Among them is the fact that it's a probiotic drink, as the drink is fermented using a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.

In recent years, scientific research has revealed that the human microbiome has a key role in our health, influencing all sort of processes from digestion to the immune response and the brain. Kombucha could help keep it healthy by increasing the diversity of microorganisms that live in our gut.

As an artist and scientist, Alanna Lynch is fascinated by this idea of microorganisms becoming an essential part of our bodies and therefore our identity. Her artwork Gut Feelings takes the form of performative lectures where she invites attendees to drink kombucha with her and get their hands dirty to become familiar with the microorganisms that ferment the drink.

In the process of making kombucha, the bacteria and yeast culture transform sugar into acid compounds and alcohol. The microorganisms also produce films of cellulose, a flexible material with a unique texture and smell. The material is being investigated as a sustainable alternative to textiles - Lynch herself has used it to make cellulose gloves -, and scientists have even proposed it as the ideal material to manufacture on Mars in the future.

In her performances, Lynch explains how the microorganisms in the kombucha attendees are given to drink have been shown to influence the mind. She also explores how, by drinking it, the concept of 'self' becomes blurred given the essential role that the microbes living in our gut play in our health.

Originally from Canada, Alanna Lynch is now based in Berlin, where she has been performing Gut Feelings. Her work offers a unique opportunity for anyone to come closer to microbiology science and the fascinating new concepts that the most recent research in the microbiome field is starting to unveil.
This article was originally published in June 2017 and has since been updated.
Pictures credits: Alanna Lynch, Matthias Reichelt, and Tim Deussen

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Art Made With Kombucha Explores the Science of the Microbiome

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Artist Alanna Lynch uses kombucha as an art medium to explore our relationship with the microbiome, which is now in the spotlight of human health. An ancient drink made of fermented tea, kombucha is now, over 2,000 years later, exploding in popularity. This week, Coca-Cola acquired an Australian kombucha company in an aim to enter this promising market.

# data[].attributes.body
How Eco-Art Combines Art and Nature and Contributes to Sustainability

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Eco-art, a dynamic and evolving movement, merges the areas of art and nature, creating works that…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Eco-art, also known as environmental art, encompasses a diverse range of practices that focus on the intersection of art, nature, and…

# data[].attributes.body
BioBat Art Apace

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NYC art gallery focusing on the intersection of art and science. Located in the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Brooklyn, NY.

# data[].attributes.body
IGem

# data[].attributes.body
FASEB Bio-Art Award

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
FASEB BioArt Awards are presented annually to honor original, visually stunning imagery or videos that effectively communicate an important aspect of 21st century biological research.

# data[].attributes.body
ARS Finland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Interactive stations, works of art, research projects, large-scale projections and laboratories. The new Ars Electronica Center invites you to exciting and inspiring excursions into the future fields of artificial intelligence and neuroscience, robotics and autonomous mobility, as well as genetic engineering and biotechnology!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Interactive stations, works of art, research projects, large-scale projections and laboratories. The new Ars Electronica Center invites you to exciting and inspiring excursions into the future fields of artificial intelligence and neuroscience, robotics and autonomous mobility, as well as genetic en

# data[].attributes.body
Art as we don´t know it

# data[].attributes.body
Biofriction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
biofriction | Biofriction is a Creative Europe project led by Hangar.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dear visitor, you are currently on the Biofriction Online Platform. Biofriction is a project that ran from October 2019 to October 2021 and that focused on the intersection of art…

# data[].attributes.body
WAAG society

# data[].attributes.body
Eduardo Kac

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pioneering Digital Artist Eduardo Kac on his Controversial Career And Sending His Art Into Space | Artnet News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The artist will present his project “The Time of the Chimeras” at Venice Biennale this April.

# data[].attributes.body
Ani Liu

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a system designed to allow women to control the directional movement of sperm with the agency of their thoughts. It was developed as a response to Donald Trump's statement "Grab them by the pussy" in the 2016 election.

The female body has long been a site of contention, where opposing ideologies in religion, politics, and cultural differences often play out. The female body has become a vessel by which systems of ideas are manifested. Can a woman vote or serve in the military? Can she wear pants, or must she be veiled? Does she have agency in deciding her own reproductive health choices?

Reflecting on the cultural and scientific discourses that shape notions of the female body, this project challenges the status quo. In an expression of female empowerment, a woman controls something symbolically male: spermatozoa (sperm). Through the use of a brain-computer interface, she controls the movement of sperm with the agency of her thoughts.

This project uses a brain EEG device to translate thoughts onto a custom circuit on a glass slide, where the movement of sperm is controlled through electric fields in a phenomena known as galvanotaxis.

As a work of art, the goal is to create an act of female empowerment, responding to patriarchal regimes in which female reproductive rights are being challenged. Investigating the body as a medium of culture, this project raises questions on how we operate in our politically gendered landscape. Through the use of science and technology as a medium, this thesis presents a hope to expand our notions of what is possible in the cultural landscape of reality.

The female body has long been a site of contention, where opposing ideologies in religion, politics, and cultural differences often play out. A body is not just a body; it has become a vessel by which systems of ideas are manifested. Can a woman vote or serve in the military? Does she have agency in deciding her own reproductive health choices? Can she wear pants, or must she be veiled? The first two examples-- voting and serving in the military-- reflect the way we construct our political reality through the civic administration of bodies. The second example, that of reproductive health, reflects the complex interplays between our scientific and cultural beliefs surrounding biology and what we consider "natural." The last two examples-- the type of garment she is or is not allowed to adorn her body with-- serve as reinforcing cultural signifiers for our beliefs.

It is well into the twenty-first century, and although I live in a well developed Western democracy, gender inequalities still persist. These inequalities are pervasive in a myriad of ways: reflected in the disparity of gender diversity in political representation and participation, in the gender pay gap, in prejudice, and in violence and sexual assault. Closely related to these issues of gender inequality is that of women's health, and who has control over these choices. In 2017, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order which cut off all U.S. funding to international NGOs whose work includes abortion services or advocacy. Images of this executive order being signed by Donald Trump flanked by a cabinet of men have widely circulated, with the subtitle, "As long as you live you'll never see a photograph of 7 women signing a legislation about what men can do with their reproductive organs." This image, along with the caption, brings to light the gender imbalances in the authorities making policies concerning women.

Devastatingly, beyond his political actions, U.S. President Trump has also been recorded making incredibly misogynist statements, including: "You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." Statements such as these, combined with executive orders that specifically impact particular genders create a biased illusion of normality. Recent events such as these, along with a long history of gender inequality, have caused me to investigate the interwoven forces that shape our perceptions of gender, and to consider how we might shift them.

Reflecting on the cultural and scientific discourses that shape notions of the female body, I seek to challenge this status quo by engineering a system by which I (a woman) can control something inherently and symbolical male: spermatozoa (sperm). Through the use of a brain-computer interface, I control the movement of sperm along an XY axis with the agency of my thoughts.

While at first glance the idea of controlling sperm might be absurd, it is my hope that it causes the viewer to reflect on the very real absurdities of control happening to the bodies of women. Genital mutilation, forced sterilization, sexual abuse, rape, and contraceptive regulation currently occur as forms of control projected onto female bodies. In creating a subversive counter-narrative to these practices of control, this thesis presents a hope for reimagining and shifting our notions of gender.

As a work of art, this work creates an act of female empowerment, responding to patriarchal regimes in which female reproductive rights are being challenged. Investigating the body as a medium of culture, this project raises questions on how we operate in our politically gendered landscape. Through the use of science and technology as a medium, this thesis presents a hope to expand our notions of what it is possible in the cultural landscape of reality.

The subjectivities of humans have long been influenced by scientific and technological breakthroughs. Some scientific revolutions, such as Copernicus' model, which shifted the center of the universe from the Earth to the Sun had religious implications. Other breakthroughs, such as that of synthetic biology, raise philosophical and existential questions on what life is. With every technology and scientific development, our plastic subjectivity goes through modifications and expansions.

As Sophia Roosth and Astrid Schrader eloquently ask in their article " Feminist Theory Out of Science: Introduction ":
"What is the relationship of critical feminist theory to science studies? How might we envision critical theory's encounter with scientific accounts of the world? Might we read scientific theories as already critical, the lived world as already doing science, busily generating theories of itself?.... How do scientific theories inform cultural critique? How might scholars generate critical theories out of scientific ones?"
With every technology and scientific breakthrough, our plastic subjectivity goes through modifications and expansions. As an artist, I reflect on and expose these forces in works incorporating the language and techniques of science and technology. In the creation of this work, two systems of thought related to gender are investigated: that of biology, and that of body politics. Bridging between these systems is culture- our notions of gender do not solely exist anatomically- they are constructed culturally, subjectively, and socially. These social constructs are effected by our scientific objectivity and political veracity. It is my aim to harness what I've learned to subvert the status quo of what we know about the egg and sperm to draw to reveal the absurdities of current control practices regarding gender and reproductive health.

What are some counter narratives to this male dominated history of female discrimination? In an age of technological advancement where we often speak of transcending our bodies to the point of posthumanism, why are we still influenced by dubious theories of biological determinism? In this project, I explore these themes through the symbolic act of controlling the cellular unit of male reproduction.

I am creating a system by which a woman can control the movement of sperm with her mind. This system utilizes several different technologies, which are described in further detail below. A Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is used to read the electrical signals from my brain, and these signals are translated into commands for a microcontroller. Through these commands, the microcontroller moderates the charges on a circuit on which semen is placed. The directional motility of sperm is gained through a phenomena known as galvanotaxis, where cells migrate towards a specific charge in an electric field. A microscope connected to a digital camera sends live images to a video screen to allow viewers to see the directional movement of the sperm. Through this system, the motility of sperm on an XY coordinate system is gained through the thoughts of a woman.

Galvanotaxis and Electrophoresis in Sperm

Galvanotaxis, also known as electrotaxis, refers to a phenomena where cells migrate directionally towards electrodes in a direct current (DC) electric field (EF). Galvanotaxis has been observed and documented in over 14 cell types, including mammalian granulocytes, bone cells, amphibian neural crest cells, and mouse sperm.

Electrophoresis refers to the motion of dispersed particles in a fluid under an electric field. Standard, mature human sperm carry a net negative charge, and electrophoresis can be used to move sperm towards the positive electrode under an electric field. This technique has been used to separate out larger, more robust sperm for processes related to in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Using a combination of the phenomena of galvanotaxis and electrophoresis, I am directing the movement of sperm through the manipulation of electric fields. As mentioned above, the specifications I have come to through experimentation is 12V/cm.

Brain Computer Interface (BCI / EEG)

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a method of electrophysiological monitoring- recording the electrical activity of the brain. A brain-computer interface (BCI) takes this EEG electrical activity, analyzes them, and sends the signals to a computer which can be programmed for various commands and outputs.

Within the last 15 years, commercially available BCIs have unlocked a proliferation of its usage for creative means of expression. Reflecting on an era of continual human computer symbiosis, I am incorporating BCI technology into my project to further investigate the threshold and continuum between the mind and the body as augmented by a computer interface.

Optics / Microscope

The system for optics in this project is a USB enabled digital camera connected to a microscope. The video footage gathered from the microscope will be collected onto a computer and live streamed through a projector, to allow for an immersive experience of the performance. Human spermatozoa are typically 50 micrometers in length, and require a microscope objective of at least 10X. In my tests, a magnification of at least 40x is desired, for clarity and proper resolution for projection.

Allen, Greg M., Alex Mogilner, and Julie A. Theriot. "Electrophoresis of Cellular Membrane Components Creates the Directional Cue Guiding Keratocyte Galvanotaxis." Current Biology 23, no. 7 (2013): 560-68. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.047.

Bullock, Penn. "Transcript: Donald Trump's Taped Comments About Women." New York Times. October 8, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html?_r=0.

Buzsáki, G. 2006. Rhythms of the brain. n.p.: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.,

Cira NJ, Chung AM, Denisin AK, Rensi S, Sanchez GN, Quake SR, et al. (2015) A Biotic Game Design Project for Integrated Life Science and Engineering Education. PLoS Biol 13(3): e1002110. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002110

Fleming, Steven, and R. John Aitken. "Electrophoretic Sperm Separation." Sperm Chromatin, 2011, 423-29. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-6857-9_29.

Foucault, Michel, and Michel Senellart. The birth of biopolitics lectures at the college de France, 1978-1979. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Foucault, Michel, and François Ewald. Society must be defended: lectures at the Collége de France, 1975-76. London: Penguin, 2008.

Gao, R.-C., X.-D. Zhang, Y.-H. Sun, Y. Kamimura, A. Mogilner, P. N. Devreotes, and M. Zhao. "Different Roles of Membrane Potentials in Electrotaxis and Chemotaxis of Dictyostelium Cells." Eukaryotic Cell 10, no. 9 (2011): 1251-256. doi:10.1128/ec.05066-11.

Ihde, Don. Bodies in technology. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

Koran, Laura, and James Masters. "Trump reverses abortion policy for aid to NGOs." CNN. January 24, 2017. Accessed February 05, 2017. http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/politics/trump-mexico-city-policy/.

Nijholt, Anton, and Chang S. Nam. "Arts and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs)." Brain-Computer Interfaces 2, no. 2-3 (2015): 57-59. doi:10.1080/2326263x.2015.1100514.

Riedel-Kruse, Ingmar H., Alice M. Chung, Burak Dura, Andrea L. Hamilton, and Byung C. Lee "Design, engineering and utility of biotic games." Lab Chip 11, no. 1 (September 23, 2010): 14-22. doi:10.1039/c0lc00399a.

Roosth, S., and A. Schrader. "Feminist Theory Out of Science: Introduction." Differences 23, no. 3 (2012): 1-8. doi:10.1215/10407391-1892880.

Rouge, Melissa. "Sperm Motility." Sperm Motility. January 20, 2003. Accessed February 05, 2017. http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/reprod/semeneval/motility.html.

Rytis, Maskeliunas, Damasevicius Robertas, Martisius Ignas, and Vasiljevas Mindaugas. 2016. "Consumer-grade EEG devices: are they usable for control tasks?." Peerj, Vol 4, P E1746 (2016) e1746. Directory of Open Access Journals, EBSCOhost (accessed April 16, 2017).

WITW STAFF. "Photo of Trump and male staffers signing anti-abortion measure inspires feminist satire." New York Times. January 27, 2017. Accessed February 5, 2017. http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2017/01/27/photo-of-trump-and-male-staffers-signing-anti-abortion-measure-inspires-feminist-satire/.
Press: VICE: This Woman Just Figured Out How to Control Sperm with Her Brain Fox News: This Artist Used Tech to Control Sperm with her Mind PCMagazine: Transdisciplinary Artist Ani Liu Uses Cutting Edge Technologies to Create New, Fascinating Art Adafruit Blog: Mind Controlled Spermatozoa Art F City: In "Mind-Controlled Sperm: Woman of STEAM Grabs Back" Ani Liu Flips the Script Art Tech Blog PijamaSurf: MUJER CONTROLA ESPERMA CON SUS PENSAMIENTOS Vietnamese Newspaper VN CITY: This woman found a way to control sperm with brain, turn it into artwork Addivism.org: This Woman Figured Out How to Control Sperm with Her Brain

single channel film 00:03:12
sperm, glass slide, custom made circuit, microscope, projector, microcontroller

2016-2017

exhibitions
Mana Contemporary
Boston Center for the Arts
MU Hybrid Arthouse

tags
biopolitics, reproduction, gender, technoscience, feminism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a system designed to allow women to control the directional movement of sperm with the agency of their thoughts. It was developed as a response to Donald Trump's statement "Grab them by the pussy" in the 2016 election.