BioForge — DIYbio at MICROWAVE 2011
A public hands-on DIYbio genomic-exploration installation led for the MICROWAVE International New Media Arts Festival in Hong Kong, on behalf of the UCLA Art|Sci Center. Romie's name for it was BioForge.
- Workshop lead (UCLA Art|Sci Center)
- MICROWAVE International New Media Arts Festival (2011, "Alchemy"), Hong Kong
- 2011
- Hong Kong
- Art-science
- Completed
What it is. A public hands-on DIYbio installation presented at the 2011 MICROWAVE International New Media Arts Festival (“Alchemy”) in Hong Kong, on behalf of the UCLA Art|Sci Center. The festival programmed it as the “DIYBio Genomic Exploration Workshop”; Romie’s name for it was BioForge. It ran at Hong Kong City Hall on 6 November 2011.
The name. BioForge was the name Romie wanted for LA Biohackers during the community lab’s naming. It did not win — the crew kept LA Biohackers — so the name carried over informally to this MICROWAVE installation, the work it ended up attached to.
The context. Same early community-biology period as co-founding LA Biohackers and the UCLA Art|Sci work: putting the materials and methods of biology in front of a general audience as something to do, not just watch. A new-media arts festival was an unusual venue for a hands-on DIYbio activity, and that was the point.
The role. Led the installation, credited on the festival programme as “Led by UCLA Art|Sci Center: Romie Littrell.” The festival handled production and audience logistics.
BioForge is the name Romie gave this work, a hands-on DIYbio installation programmed by MICROWAVE at Hong Kong City Hall in November 2011.
Collaborators
- UCLA Art|Sci Center — presenting lab/center
- MICROWAVE International New Media Arts Festival, Hong Kong — festival host
Press and references
Related work
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Blue Morph
Aesthetic, interaction, and technical design of the interactive platform on Blue Morph, Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski's bio-art installation, during the UCLA Art|Sci period.
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BioDesign Studio
A permanent exhibition on synthetic biology at The Tech Interactive. A working biological design lab on the museum floor, with tangible-tabletop microbe simulators, live cell-culture stations, and visitor-runnable design tools.