BIO-ART / DESIGN: Transdisciplinarity in Art, Science and Creativity Symposium and Workshop
7th - 8th March 2016
School School of Art, Design & Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Bio-Art and Bio-Design are growing transdisciplinary fields that span the experimental fine arts, product and environmental design, medicine and medical technology, engineering, and the natural sciences especially biology and biochemistry. In fine art, it ranges from the use of living things such as bacteria and genetic engineering as materials and processes for collaborative research and creative intervention, to the transformation of non-living materials into systems that mimic or interface with a range of scientific, biological and biophysical processes. In design one focus has been on the innovative and aesthetic use of sensors, biomaterials and smart materials, including wearable technologies and medical devices that can improve the care of patients, including diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up, emphasizing individual and social well-being including remote regions of the world. Some of the important issues being addressed are empathy, ethics, embodiment, sentience, ecology and sustainability. Current discourse regarding the Anthropocene and challenges of creating symbiotic relationships between humans and nature are relevant to this.

Increasingly artists and designers are in residence in scientific and medical research labs, and scientists and engineers are collaborating with artists in their studios. Fields such as neuroscience, biomaterials, and biotechnologies are already being explored by artists and designers. Engineers are working with 3D printing of organic materials and collaborating with fashion designers, and inventing new technologies for use in public artworks and in architecture that clean air and green cities. There are artists, designers, scientists and engineers with multiple competencies, with expertise in art/design and science/engineering. As a quick growing transdisciplinary field with profound implications socially and environmentally, what are the potentials and challenges, including from the creative, ethical, and practical perspective? This symposium will address these and other questions related to the development of the bio-art/design field through keynote talks and panels with experts and pioneers.

A workshop on day 2 will provide participants the opportunity to discuss their ideas and concerns for possible futures. Questions include: given rapid advances in hybrid physical-digital technologies, deeper scientific understanding of natural phenomena, and new approaches to artistic research, what is on the horizon for transdisciplinary creativity, and collaborations between art, design, science, medicine, and engineering? What kinds of academic and research programs should universities and research centres be conceiving or building in response, and what is needed to realize them? What would a transformative, transdisciplinary bio-art/design research laboratory, course, or curriculum in a major global research university or art school look like today and 10 years from now?

Organised and hosted by Vibeke Sorensen, professor and chair, School
School of Art, Design & Media, Nanyang Technological University, 81
Nanyang Drive, 637458, Singapore

BIO-ART / DESIGN: Transdisciplinarity in Art, Science and Creativity
Symposium and Workshop
Date: 7th - 8th March 2016
Symposium Venue: ADM Level 2, Room 2-15
Workshop Venue: ADM Level 3, Room 3-25

See more: www.adm.ntu.edu.sg