Moving from the studio into the laboratory provided the fine arts in recent years with a variety of new materials like bacteria, cells, tissue cultures, or transgenic organisms as a means of artistic expression, but made it also necessary for artists to get acquainted with new epistemologies and the logic of the techno-scientific regime, which governs experimental bench work through protocols, techniques and methods, instruments and equipment, as well as a complex set of human and non-human agents and most notably with patents and the flow of global capital.

With the emergence of BioArt, biotechnology became part of the art world and provoked a wider reflection about the epistemological status of biofacts and the ethics of turning biology into technology. Whereas in the early days BioArt primarily tried to reveal the state of the art of biotechnology, current practices interrogate the limits, boundaries, frontiers, and frameworks within which life can exist. Traditional distinctions between the natural and the artificial, subject and object, human and non-human agents no longer hold when confronted with the enormous ecological challenges that exist today, provoking new narratives about speculative biology, which is becoming a major issue in art and design. The lecture series will discuss a number of current approaches of bringing art, design and speculative biology into a fruitful liaison and offer insights into the fact that the way biotechnology is perceived and utilised today is deeply rooted in current forms of capitalism and mass consumer culture. Speculating about how “life” could be in the near future is an apposite cross-disciplinary approach to collectively rethink how we want our future to be and what kind of aspirations will be possible or even probable under the auspices of turbo capitalism and mass consumerism.

Students are expected to attend the lecture series each week. It is important for participants to attend the introductory session on March 3, 2020. The topics for the lecture series will be assigned and information provided about the subjects and issues that will be discussed with over the course of the term, as well as the course policy.

You have to attend the lecture each week, unless you have a very good reason for your absence. Attendance will be registered on a sign-in sheet at the beginning of each class. To participate effectively in class it is expected that students have read the works on the required reading list. Students are required to use concepts and themes from the reading assignments in their final exam. Each student will take a final oral exam (20 minutes) at the end of semester. On March 3, 2020, topics for the lectures will be assigned to students and information provided on topics and issues that will be covered during the course of the term. Documents and materials will be available online at Base Angewandte from March 1, 2020 onwards. Please be ready to give your full attention to the lecture each time we meet.

BASE Angewandte is an important source of information for the lecture. Useful resources such as this subject guide and digital documents for further readings will be available there. Check also the website medientheorie.ac.at regularly for subject announcements and updates.