January 2006

SymbioticA at the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia, is an evolving place of artistic investigation that is accessible to people throughout Western Australia and beyond, offering artists-in-residence cutting edge technology and the ability to realise projects that involve scientific/biological experiments. See http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au

SymbioticA Tissue Engineering and Art Workshop prepared by Oron Catts of SymbioticA – The Art & Science Collaborative Research Laboratory, Laboratories of the Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona.

Tissue culture and tissue engineering 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 enable researchers to grow three dimensional living tissues constructs of varying sizes, shapes and tissue types.

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Arte Contemporáneo arranges the following seminars on biomedicine / biotechnology and art in Madrid, 9 – 13 February 2006:
— “The Era of Posthuman Engineering” (presentation vs. participants),
— “From Body Art to the Transgenic Body” (participants vs. presentation) ,
— “The Posthuman Body: Hybridization Between Flesh and Prosthesis” (presentation vs. participants),
— “Biotechnology: the Theoreticians and the Artists” (presentation vs. participants),
— “Biotechnological Thinking” (presentation vs. participants), and
— “A Mutating Corporality” (presentation vs. participants).
For further information, see Arte Contemporáneo’s website.

Peter Morris har lige sendt følgende overblik over Louise Thorn’s PhD-project ved Science Museum/Imperial College — som forberedelse til Museion-seminaret tirsdag den 31. januar. Read More

The Nobel Museum in Stockholm opens a new exhibition, ‘Läkekonst blir vetenskap’ (‘Medicine from art to science’), Tuesday 28 March 2006. It’s not on their website yet, but soon …

Here’s the abstract and a link to the full paper “Who’s afraid of the recent biomedical heritage?” from the UMAC conference in Uppsala, September 2005.
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Endo-Ecto is an interdisciplinary symposium on endoscopy and related themes organised by live artist Phillip Warnell (thanks to Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick for telling us).

Endo-Ecto – Phillip Warnell
February 10, 2006, 3-8 PM
Nash Room, ICA, The Mall, London SW1

Presented by The Arts Catalyst, devised by Phillip Warnell — http://www.guestplushostequalsghost.com

(the pill camera)
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In our series of posts about medical museums that must be seen (for earlier presentations, see here and here), the turn has now come to the on-line Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art which “exhibits the world’s largest collection of anatomically correct fabric art inspired by research from neuroscience and dissection”. This “world’s largest” collection is on a single web page with four pics: three quilts with images from PET and MRI scannings and a knitted brain (which, by the way, reminds me of the human anatomical knittings by Arrmatie, see here).:

The ‘exhibition’ is created by Marjorie Taylor, Professor and Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon; she is otherwise mainly working on children’s imaginary companions.
(thanks to Mind Hacks, The Eyes Have It, Faustus, M.D., and Mymarkup)

Universeum meeting, Strasbourg, 22-24 June 2006
First announcement:
Inventorying and preserving university collections – what for?
During the last few years, due to a significant rise in concern about academic heritage, special attention has been given to university museums and collections. Numerous initiatives have emerged all over Europe, mainly focused on building databases, i.e. inventories made accessible online on more or less complex websites.
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Følgende anmeldelse af udstillingen “In the croak room” ved University of Kansas kan — selv om den bruger præparater af frøer og padder — give ideer til hvordan man kan udstille medicinsk-anatomiske præparater på en “æstetisk” måde (fra Nature, 3 nov. 2005):

Nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species are endangered, and countless have already been lost. Frogs used to be creatures of the wild, but are fast becoming creatures of the lab — pickled, jarred and preserved as a static piece of history. Now some long-dead frogs are taking centre stage as part of an exhibition at the University of Kansas. Creatures from the university’s herpetology collection, along with some from the Field Museum in Chicago, have been cast in urethane in a floor-to-ceiling display of froggy glory.
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