The course provides both a large scope of contemporary practices that use biomedia and examines the underpinning philosophical and esthetical concepts. It also loops this art of staging a/liveness back to historical paradigms such as the indexicality of imprints, animation and simulacrum, automata as early ‘artificial life’, as well as to the concept of ‘micro-performativity.’ Artistic forgery of DNA fingerprints, tissue cultured ‘victimless leather’ growing in bioreactors, programmed pigeons that defecate soap, photo-tactic bacteria that first destroy and then ‘repaint’ ancient Roman frescoes, socialized green lab rabbits, or robotic ‘plantimals’ which move through polluted waters thanks to microbial fuel cells – while often these contemporary art projects are being seen as spectacular but unrelated manifestations of a still unclear post-digital paradigm in art, the course provides a media art history based grid of analysis.

Active participation in the whole course on December 11 and 12 is required. A final assignment of 2-3 pages is required to be submitted until the end of the semester, either a) a theoretical analysis of a chosen art project based on the literature and discursive tools presented in the course; or b) a project outline for an own artistic project based on the discussed criteria.

Literature:

Hauser, Jens: Observations on an Art of Growing Interest. Towards a Phenomenological Approach to Art involving Biotechnology.In: Da Costa, Beatriz & Philip, Kavita (ed.): Tactical Biopolitics. Art, Activism, and Technoscience. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008, p. 83-103.

Hauser, Jens: Fingerprints: Naturally Technical. In: Hauser, Jens (ed.): Paul Vanouse. Fingerprints... Index—Imprint—Trace. Berlin, 2011; p. 7-27.

Hauser, Jens: Biomediality and Art. In: Scott, Jill & Hediger, Irene (ed.): Artists-in-Labs: Recomposing Art and Science. Berlin: Springer, 2016, p. 201-219.