SymbioticA: The Art and Science Collaborative Research Laboratory.

School of Anatomy and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia.

http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au

SymbioticA is a research laboratory dedicated to the exploration from an artistic perspective of scientific knowledge in general, and biological technologies in particular. It is located in The School of Anatomy & Human Biology at The University of Western Australia. SymbioticA is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in wet biology practices in a biological science department. The interaction of art, science, industry and society is recognized internationally as an essential avenue for innovation and invention, and as a way to explore, envision and critique possible futures.

There is a need for artists and other non-scientists to actively participate in research into possible and contestable futures arising from the application of newly acquired knowledge. While non-scientifically trained artists may have a limited ability to analyse the detailed veracity of scientific work, “outsiders” working in a different mental framework can bring both insights and distractions into the debates about the mechanisms, ethics and philosophy behind scientific work. This can only be effective if those same artists engage actively in the science and the debate so that they have enough understanding of the process and work to engage meaningfully with it.

SymbioticA sets out to provide a situation where this can happen, an opportunity in which interdisciplinary research and other knowledge and concept generating activities can take place. Designed as an evolving place of artistic investigation, SymbioticA welcomes undergraduate and postgraduate students, artists and scholars from all disciplines, to work in interdisciplinary research teams exploring new directions for new technologies and the effects on society that they might have. SymbioticA also offers a new means of artistic inquiry, one in which artists actively use the tools and technologies of science, not just to comment about them, but also to explore their possibilities. The internationally acclaimed artists from the Tissue Culture and Art Project (www.tca.uwa.edu.au) are the leading artistic proponents of tissue culturing. Resident artists, Oron Catts (who also is the Artistic Director of SymbioticA) and Ionat Zurr spent one year at Harvard Medical School at the invitation of Professor Joseph Vacanti, working on Tissue Engineering related projects. The construction of semi-living objects and many other aspects of Tissue Engineering are a central focus of their work and this extends into vigourous ethical debate (often using the internet) related to such emerging technologies. The SymbioticA Research Group (SARG) produced Fish and Chips – a robotic arm run by the acitivity of goldfish neurones which in its second phase is known as MEART (www.fishandchips.uwa.edu.au). In this collaboration with Dr Steve Potter at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, SARG are working on interfacing a biological neural network in the USA to a remote robotic/drawing arm in WA to produce art. Other projects using tissue culture are cinematic spectatorship through projecting movies onto living cells/tissues (Guy Ben Ary); cell ownership (Cynthia Verspaget) and matrix and lacemaking (Kira O’Reilley funded by the Wellcome Trust, UK).

In addition to hosting the research of artists and academics in the space, SymbioticA runs an elective teaching unit, open to all disciplines, at the University of Western Australia in Art and Life Manipulation (252.249/252.349); organises intensive BioTech Art Workshops e.g. at the 2004 Adelaide Festival, Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth 2004, National Science Week and will participate in Combio 2004 a major National scientific conference; and biannually surveys artists dealing in biology. In September 2004, SymbioticA will present to the public the BioDifference Exhibition and Conference, as a part of the Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth – an opportunity for techniques, concepts and concerns regarding scientific advancements to be discussed from artistic perspectives with the wider community.