[macro]biologies & [micro]biologies. Art and the Biological Sublime in the 21st Century

This book provides a sustainable theoretical supplement to the [macro]biologies & [micro]biologies series which took place at Art Laboratory Berlin between 2013 and 2015. The whole programme consisted of four group shows, several seminars and talks on contemporary art and the life sciences. Four exhibitions – the biosphere, organisms, the bacterial sublime, and proteo – featured renowned international artists working across the borders between the arts and different fields of biology.

Next to a theoretical reflection about the exhibited artists the publication also includes artist statements and documents a number of outstanding events from the series – workshops and seminars with artists, biologists, and scholars, discussing synthetic biology, speculative design, DIY Bio, and practical exercises in citizen science.

Texts and authors

• Art and the Biological Sublime in the 21st Century | Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz, p. 8-52
• Rhythms of a Living World | Katya Gardea Browne, p. 61
• The Center for PostNatural History | Richard Pell, p. 62
• Nature and Us – Between Boundless Desires and Limited Compassion | Mathias Kessler, p. 64
• Mapping the Urban Grind Mill | Alexandra Regan Toland, p. 66
• Petri’s Panoply | Suzanne Anker, p. 69
• BioBASE – The Eco Utopian Agent | Maja Smrekar, p. 71
• The Cry of Silent Forms | Brandon Ballengée, p. 72
• The Bacterial Sublime | Anna Dumitriu, p. 75
• πρωτεο / proteo | Joanna Hoffmann, p. 76
• Reflecting my Artistic Practice and Collaborating with Art Laboratory Berlin | Pinar Yoldas, p. 79-80
• Biostrike as Soil Art: Biotech Guerrillas in the Post-Antibiotic Age | Denisa Kera, p. 83-88
• Under the Surface, under the Skin. The Use of Synthetic Biology within the Artistic Practice of C-LAB | Desiree Förster, p. 93