Alumni

In the mid-nineties I became more and more interested in questions about life, how our relationship with the idea of life is changing in the light of our new knowledge about it, and our abilities to manipulate it. It became apparent to me that life is transforming into a raw material to be engineered and that we have no cultural language to deal with it. One of the technologies that started around that time was called tissue engineering, which promised the ability to grow body spare parts. For me it opens up a much wider range of possibilities and challenges. One of the “poster boys” of tissue engineering was a mouse with a human ear growing from its back. This ear-mouse became one of the triggers and inspirations for using living tissue as a medium for artistic expression. It demonstrated the potential of sculpting with living tissue and as H.G Wells said “a living being may also be regarded as raw material, as something plastic, something that may be shaped and altered”. I am now working on an exhibition commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the first public appearance of the ear-mouse. The exhibition will take place later in the year at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

As our work deals with life, it touches on many aspects of the everyday. Fifteen years ago, we grew meat in the lab as a comment on one of the most intimate and fundamental relationships with other living beings - digesting them as food, making them one with our body. We have done similar work with leather and other aspects of human interaction with other living systems. It is interesting to note that there are now start-up companies trying to commercialise similar ideas. Taking ‘engineered’ life out of labs and into a cultural context is required, as it creates awareness of areas that challenge our perceptions.

SymbioticA has been recognised as the first artistic laboratory dedicated to providing artists with support for research into life within a scientific, institutional setting, and it is referred to as a benchmark for similar labs. It specialises in Biological Arts and develops programs such as artistic research residencies, workshops, academic courses and public engagement through exhibitions and forums. To date, SymbioticA has had more than a hundred artists/researchers that were mentored to develop skills and make use of scientific techniques in manipulating life forms. Some of our past residents included ORLAN, Critical Art Ensemble, Kira O’Reilly, Chris Salter, Peta Clancy and Helen Pynor. Through their hands-on experience, these artists become deeply engrossed in scientific methodologies and technologies. As a consequence, their projects may intentionally provoke, expose hypocrisies, meditate and question the limits of what is acceptable by current societal standards.

The support SymbioticA has received from UWA is phenomenal; the openness and patronage of people like Professor Miranda Grounds and the whole School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology was instrumental to its creation. For all involved, it was a bit of an adventure and a huge surprise to see what happens when you allow artists into the lab. It has opened up a new art form which attracts a lot of interest and more and more people are getting engaged. UWA is being recognised at the hotbed for much of it. Now, SymbioticA is recognised internationally and gaining support.