A creative workshop titled “Lactose intolerant? Let’s employ bacteria!” will be organised in an alternative non-disciplinary research laboratory AltLab on the 7–8 December 2019, located in a new cultural centre “Sodas 2123” (Vitebsko 21 & 23, Vilnius). The workshop will invite everyone interested in art and science projects, the influence of microorganisms to our bodies and our ability to control them, to join for a session of experimentation.
The use of microorganisms for “self-improvement”, for example, through the use of fermented tea, yogurt or various probiotics, is being rapidly actualised today, thus activating or even altering natural functions of the body. The question is, however, whether similar experiments could be used for aesthetic experiences. How those aesthetic experiences could be shaped by employing yoghurt bacteria? And to what extent could contemporary art contribute to this discussion by raising similar questions and looking for answers?
This creative workshop will not only give an overview of various aspects of interrelation between our organisms and bacteria – its participants will also be able to isolate Lactobacillus and Streptococcus bacteria from yoghurt, to identify their stems and to analyse their possible influence on human body. Participants will have a possibility to experiment, to discuss and to realise their visions together with artist Mindaugas Gapševičius and scientist Auksė Gaižauskaitė. Finalised results of this workshop will be presented in a public event of the opening of AltLab, which is planned to take place at the end of this year.
Mindaugas Gapševičius obtained his MA at Vilnius Academy of Arts in 1999, and his MPhil at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2016. Since 2016, he has been conducting PhD research at Bauhaus University, Weimar, where he holds an artistic associate chair. Gapševičius’ works question the creativity of machines, and do not presume humans are the only creative force. www.triple-double-u.com [1]
Auksė Gaižauskaitė is an alumna of Vilnius University who specialises in Genetics and Molecular Biology. She has worked and trained in high profile scientific laboratories at Vilnius University Life Sciences Centre and at “Thermo Fisher Scientific” Vilnius’ division for more than four years now. She was a member of “Vilnius-Lithuania iGEM” team, which won the Grand Prize in the largest, most prestigious, international Synthetic Biology Competition iGEM in 2017.
Location: AltLab laboratory (Vitebsko Str. 23, room 304, Vilnius, cultural centre “Sodas 2123”)
Time: 7–8 December 2019, 12 noon to 4 pm.
Please register by email if you would like to take part o-o@o-o.lt. Please include brief motivation in your email.
Organiser: Institutio media
Sponsor: Lithuanian Council for Culture
Partners: Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association, Synthetic Biology Organisation
More about the project http://www.howto-things.com [2] and @altlabvilnius Instagram