Conference

BioArt and the Public Sphere
October 17, 2005
UC Irvine October 2005

The BioArt and Public Sphere Conference is hosted by the University of
California Humanities Research Institute <http://www.uchri.org/> (UCHRI).

This conference aims to bring together artists, biologists, and science
studies scholars, to address a broad range of questions about science in
the public sphere. The list of possible research domains to be
investigated includes, but is not limited to, genomics, tissue
engineering, genetic engineering and stem cell research.

1. What types of models of interdisciplinary engagement might
facilitate rich, well-informed public participation in scientific
discourse?

2. How do we go beyond the "demo" model often used by science museums
and approach the subject matter in an experiential hands-on way
that allows for failure, redirection of research questions and the
promotion of agency towards an area that is usually reserved for
the expert community?

3. What types of epistemological questions emerge at the intersection
of biology, art, and the public sphere? How would an exchange
mutually benefit the research areas of each discipline? Under
which umbrella could research collaborations of this kind be
supported?

We are specifically interested in the relationship of these research
areas to the social landscape of the pharmaceutical industry, the
agricultural industry, global trade and corporate license agreements,
the framing of biosecurity and biodefense, constructions of disease, and
the global politics of the reproductive health industry.

9.00 am Coffee/Breakfast Reception
9.30 am Conference Introduction (Beatriz da Costa & Kavita Philip)
10-12.30pm OPENING PLENARY: "CROSS-CATALYSIS"*

Sujatha Byravan
"Using the CRG as a case study for public engagement in science."

SymbioticA
"SymbioticA Biotech Art Workshop"
Paul Rabinow
"Contemporary Nature: On Modernism and Romanticism in Paul Klee, Gerhard
Richter, and Synthetic Biology"
Jens Hauser
"Bio Art - Taxonomy of an Etymological Monster"

12.30-1.30pm Lunch Break
1.30-3pm SESSION I: "SYNERGETIC SYMBIOSIS"*

Claire Pentecost
"Outfitting the laboratory of the symbolic: towards a critical inventory
of bio art"
Michael Dorsey

Tau-Mu Yi
"The Aesthetics of Biological Design"

3-3.30pm Coffee Break
3.30-5pm SESSION II: "SURFACE TENSION"*

Charis Thompson
"Stem Cells and the Politics of Things in Science"
Abha Sur
"In the contradiction lies the hope": Reflections on Science, Race, and
Caste"

Gabriella Coleman
"The Performance of Rationality: Psychiatric Survivors Critique of
Bio-medical Psychiatry"
5-6.30pm SESSION III: "FERMENTATION"*

Jenny Reardon
"Reckless Driving: Race Through Global Capital and Mass Spectrometry on
Highway 5 " (multimedia presentation)
Faith Wilding
"A Cyberfeminist Politics of BioArt"
Rachel Mayeri
"Stories from the Genome" (screening)

Location:

University of California
Humanities Research Institute
338 Administration
Irvine CA 92697-3350
http://publicsphere.parasitelab.net/conf_program.php

Registration Form
http://publicsphere.parasitelab.net/conf_register.php