On the quest for another world, Carsten Höller follows in the Hamburger Bahnhof the origin of Soma, a mythical libation of the Indo-Germanic Vedas from the 2nd millennium BC. Soma brought the Vedas enlightenment and access to the divine sphere and was highly praised in their hymns. The herbal ingredient of this libation has not been passed on without a doubt, but from a botanic, ethnologic and etymologic view there is evidence that it could have been the fly agarics.

Based on these circumstances Carsten Höller develops a scenario between laboratory and vision, alleged objectivity and increased subjectivity.

Before the eyes of the observers unfolds an expansive “living picture”, a symmetrical experimental field, which is divided in two parts along its center line and which compares the ordinary world with the realm of Soma in a double-image experiment. This is an experiment, that find its completion in the imagination of the observer and whose evaluation is subject to your power of observation. On a mushroom like platform in midst of the arrangement resides a bed, where guests will have the opportunity to spend a night at the museum and to dive into the world of Soma.

Carsten Höller was born 1961 in Brussels and is counted among the most prominent contemporary artists. The artist, who lives in Stockholm, has presented significant work at the Documenta X (1997), the Expo in Hannover (2000) and at the Venice Biennial (2005). 2006 he installed an expansive piece in the “Turbine Hall” of the Tate Modern, which attracted worldwide attention.

But Carsten Höller has not always been an artist. To begin with he studied agricultural science in Kiel, Germany and habilitated 1993 in Phytopathology. Parallel to his work as a scientist he began his artistic career and integrated the experiment as a method into his artistic work.

All text and images from Somainberlin.com
More info here.

Studiolab Utopian Practices: Richard Pell and Allison Kudla

What do living organisms and biology offer as matter for art and what does bio art offer society and public awareness?

Monday 22 November 2010, Waag Society, Nieuwmarkt 4, Amsterdam, Netherlands starting 8.00 pm, free entrance

Biotechnology guarantees to erase problems humanity and its ecology has ahead: it promises no less than to solve the future energy and food crisis and to cure modern diseases. Bio Art is hot, not only within the art world itself but also for its potential creativity teaming up with scientists and technologist to find what real innovations next generations will benefit from.

Allison Kudla and Rich Pell present their works and activities this evening, followed by a talk about their respective positions within bio-arts.

Richard Pell works at the intersections of science, engineering and culture. He is the founder of the Center for PostNatural History, an outreach center dedicated to the collection and exposition of genetically engineered life-forms. The Center has been awarded a Rockefeller New Media fellowship, a Creative Capital fellowship, a Smithsonian research fellowship and is currently in residence at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon.

Allison Kudla, an artist-in-residence at Srishti School of Art Design and Technology in Bangalore, India and PhD Candidate at the Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media at the University of Washington, Seattle, will be discussing her work at the intersections of art, technology and biology.  She will describe three major works she has made over the past 5 years on the subject of patterns and plant biology.  She will also describe her work’s relationship to contemporary art practices and ideas of re-materialization and emulation.  Finally, she will discuss the practical logistics of developing, making and exhibiting work across disciplines which she has encountered in pursuit of these areas of engagement.

More Information

Studiolab Utopian Pratices, Monday 22 November 2010, Theatrum Anatomicum, Waag Society, Nieuwmarkt 4, starting 8.00 pm, free entrance

Studiolab Utopian Practices is a collaboration of Waag Society and The Arts & Genomics Centre and is made possible by the Innovatieregeling Cultuuruitingen of the Ministry of OCW.

http://events.waag.org/genomics-award/studiolab/

“Imagine if we could grow clothing…
BioCouture aims to address ecological and sustainability issues around fashion.
The BioCouture research project is harnessing nature to propose a radical future fashion vision.
We are investigating the use of bacterial-cellulose, grown in a laboratory, to produce clothing.
Our ultimate goal is to literally grow a dress in a vat of liquid…”

See the Bio-Couture website here for more information.
All text and images from Bio-Couture.

“AMKK is a company developing the experimental creation by Makoto Azuma, a flower artsit, whose subject is flowers and plants. The activities of AMKK aim to increase the existential value of plants by finding out the most mysterious figure only owned by flowers and plants and converting it to the artistic expression.”

To be truly convinced, see the rest of his work here.
Azuma Makoto

GO TO THE SUPERORGANISM BLOG

“Superorganism” comes as a pragmatic exhibition exploring the point of connection between people, their environment, and their objects.

Together we create a society; a tightly interconnected society which can be compared to an organism in which every unit is like a cell in the body.

Human society is one fundamentally built on a cultural basis. Whether urban or rural, manmade or organic, the common line attaching what we are and how we perceive, is the artifact, intended as a mean of cultural expression.

How we exhibit ourselves is defined by the artifacts and objects we surround ourselves with, which identify our desired place in the world, our hopes and future dreams. No matter the origin of the artifact, no matter how “natural” or contrived it is, it has a life of its own adapting to a world of constantly changing contexts.

Our intervention comes as a collective collaboration for reciprocal understanding; a platform for objects that can change the way we act and consider life in small ways.

“Exploring the congruity of humans and animals is a dimension bearing considerable implications since it forces us to review our self-perception and our relative stance in society. Though it is acknowledged that animals and humans share striking similarities physiologically, parallels between the human psyche and animal behavior are frequently overlooked. A feeling of superiority accompanies the self-aware human, as does the neglect of recognizing primitive behavioral likenesses between humans and other animals. However, the specific emotional resemblances are arguable.
The concept of ‘natural selection’ describes the evolution of animals within their current environment due to genetic advantages; however in humans, this topic is equally important regarding social capacity within social situations. Various human behavior is governed by emotions innate within us; however these actions are also to some extent mirrored within the animal kingdom as they can root from a primal instinct. Through studying humans and animals anatomically and creating hybrid creatures on a skeletal, muscular and cutaneous level, biological affinities are explored. Furthermore, through considering various social scenarios and relating them to those animalistic, I have begun a moralistic study of the human condition.”

Text and images by Jala Wahid.