ABOUT THE FESTIVAL 2014

The second BIO·FICTION Science Art Film Festival took place in 2014 at the Museum of Natural History in Vienna, Austria.

BIO·FICTION discussed, documented and explored the emerging field of synthetic biology and initiated a public discourse on this current and highly relevant topic. In order to facilitate this creative conversation, the event featured a large variety of content: 32 presentations, panel discussions, 5 do-it-yourself biology demos, 3 art performances, and of course film screenings.

PROGRAM

You can have a look at the details of festival program by scrolling down in this page. We’ve hosted many talks, screenings,  art performances and exhibitions during the festival.  If you want to check the guides which we’ve printed and distributed during the festival, check the pdfs on the right side.

ON TOUR

After the festival took off in Vienna, the festival has been on tour accross the world initiating a public discourse between people from different backgrounds in 35 different venues in 30 different cities. Below you can find our report to get more information about BIO·FICTION on tour!

FILM FESTIVAL

One cornerstone of the festival was of course the international short film competition, which introduced documentaries, animation and fiction shorts that explored the thematic.

Our call for submissions was answered by 100 submissions from 17 countries and four continents. The 60 shortlisted entries were widely diverse; judging them was certainly not undemanding for our international jury of nine tasked with reviewing the films and selecting the winners.

Winners

Animation Winner

“Copy & Clone”. Louis Rigaud / FR, 2010 / 03:15

Fiction Winner

“Hybris”. Arjan Brentjes / NL, 2014 / 06:22

Documentary Winner

“New Mumbai”. Tobias Revell / UK, 2012 /09:17

Special Award of the Jury

“Vermin”. Ade Gelbart / DE, 2011 / 23:09

Shortlisted Films

BioArt, Art from the laboratory
Robert W. K. Styblo / UK, 2011 / 55:00
https://vimeo.com/33838447

Electrostabilis Cardium
Agi Haines / UK, 2013 / 03:27
https://vimeo.com/122320018

(In)visible
Sonja Bäumel / Austria, 2009 / 04:07
https://vimeo.com/22097924

Scentsory Design ®
Dr. Jenny Tillotson / UK, 2005/ 05:00
https://vimeo.com/22099932

The Culturists
David Benqué / UK,2014 / 02:09
https://vimeo.com/92832294

The Outline of Paradise
Ursula Damm / DE, 2012 / 04:06
https://vimeo.com/109417730

Black Gold
Tim Clark & Frank Kolkman / UK, 2014 / 03:49
https://vimeo.com/86143603

Quanticare
Amy Congdon, Jenny Lee, Ann-Kristin Abel / UK, 2012 / 02:23
https://vimeo.com/57805216

Aflatoxin Biosensor
Ari Dwijayanti & Dimas Dwi Adiguna / INO, 2013 / 03:09
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLJoJhOFNOo

Exploring Indonesia
Ari Dwijayanti / INO, 2013 / 02:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21MVELe8Lw0

Consultation
Ping Lu / DE, 2013 / 03:50
https://vimeo.com/81173229

Local Unit
Tad Ermitagno / Philippines, 2006 / 09:18
https://vimeo.com/22119938

Bacteria to the Future
Sam Ireland / UK, 2014 / 03:59
https://vimeo.com/99494243

Bacteria Compass
Howard Boland, C-LAB / UK, 2012 / 02:08
https://vimeo.com/38836981

Travelling Research Kit
The Extrapolation Factory / US, 2014 / 05:40

Protocell Technology
Shamees Aden & Sam J Bond / UK, 2012 / 01:49
https://vimeo.com/119878552

Preparing for Tomorrow
Nathan Burr / UK, 2014 / 06:29

I Wanna Deliver a Dolphin
Ai Hasegawa / JP, 2013 / 02:35
https://vimeo.com/77692389

Bio Flaneur
Aleks Cicha / UK, 2014 / 02:20
https://vimeo.com/95976994

Living Food
Minsu Kim / UK, 2013 / 00:55
https://vimeo.com/68978347

Streichhölzer
David Hochgatterer / AT, 2011 / 01:44
https://vimeo.com/107911283

Alien Fanfare
Jonathan Monaghan / US, 2014 / 12:50
https://vimeo.com/88073020

Bioplastic Fantastic
Johanna Schmeer / UK, 2014 / 03:51
https://vimeo.com/161725162

Uncolour Me Courious
Georgia Bondy / UK, 2014 / 03:07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=2p3L-6K3_wo

A new way in Evolution
Uwe Sleytr / AT, 2014 / 03:41
https://vimeo.com/102540883

Expanded Self
Sonja Bäumel / AT, 2012 / 03:28

Chlorotherapy
Marie-Sarah Adenis & Hugo Kreit /FR, 2014 / 03:58
https://vimeo.com/268247267

Decapoda Shock
Javier Chillon / ES, 2011 / 09:11
https://vimeo.com/25155350

I wish my life
Joachim Huveneers / BE, 2014 / 15:05
https://vimeo.com/groups/fcpx/videos/98049744

Eugene
Catalina Hoyos-Restrepo / US, 2014 / 16:05

Sensorbricks
Lucas Schirmer / Germany, 2010/ 02:00
https://vimeo.com/22155907

Talking Life
Bâr Tyrmi & Rafael Linares / ES, 2012 / 10:21

Hybris
Arjan Brentjes / NL, 2014 / 06:22
https://vimeo.com/110386857

The Arsehole Gene
Eric Romero / UK, 2013 / 06:48
https://vimeo.com/68730448

The world of synthetic biology
Klemen Trupej / Slovenia, 2010 / 02:07
https://vimeo.com/22154476

Bioluminiscent Streetlamps
Steven van Eekelen / NL, 2013 / 02:22
https://vimeo.com/82544956

Reinventing the Dodo
Steven van Eekelen / NL, 2013 / 03:08
https://vimeo.com/82544957

Copy & Clone
Louis Rigaud / FR, 2010 / 03:15
https://vimeo.com/110381374

Beastliness
Deborah Kelly / AU, 2011 / 04:30

Cytoplasmic Playgrounds
Markos Kay / UK, 2013 / 01:10
https://vimeo.com/79712760

Pet Genesis
Ingrid Hulskamp, Pras Gunasekera, Ting Lin, Amy Chin / UK, 2011 / 02:35
https://vimeo.com/48817152

Cinderella 3.0
Sebastian Harrer / Germany, 2010 / 08:00
https://vimeo.com/23578039

KATERED
Howard Boland, C-LAB / UK, 2011 / 00:55

Proteo
Johanna Hoffmann-Dietrich / DE, 2013 / 07:10
https://vimeo.com/71412103

The life alchemists
The Babbling Vagabounds, Dr. Sandrine Soubes, James Parsons/ UK, 2010 / 14:55
https://vimeo.com/22889779

Quasi-Objects / Cinematic Environment #8
Lorenzo Oggiano / IT, 2012 / 04:32
https://vimeo.com/61794540

The thread of life: the ethical issues of synthetic biology for human health
A.M. Calladine / UK, 2010 / 37:00
https://vimeo.com/22139790

The Perfect Humus
Marcello Mercado / DE, 2010 / 16:26
https://vimeo.com/37691031

Stress-O-Stat
Howard Boland, C-LAB / UK, 2011 / 03:22
https://vimeo.com/37522188

Super Cell
Katarina Sengstaken and the iGEM students from the Bauhaus University Weimar and the University Heidelberg / Germany, 2010 / 12:40
https://vimeo.com/22126294

East End Journey
Lindsay Goodall / UK, 2013 / 09:17

Inorganica
Valerie Mellon / UK, 2013 / 15:48
https://vimeo.com/148773383

New Mumbai
Tobias Revell / UK, 2012 / 09:17
https://vimeo.com/110383932

Zero Park
Sascha Pohflepp / DE, 2013 / 11:22
https://vimeo.com/87231850

Public Misunderstanding of Science

Bruce Gilchrist / UK, 2011 / 06:20
https://vimeo.com/groups/3114/videos/33826993

Daughter Cell
Kristina Korsholm / US, 2014 / 04:33
https://vimeo.com/118689947

DIYSECT: Learning in Public
Mary Tsang & Benjamin Welmond / US, 2013 / 15:32
https://vimeo.com/103021116

Soluble Structures
Yuki Yoshioka / JP, 2014 / 14:32

History of the Automobile
Scott Dorsey / US, 2011 / 05:02

Puppet Earth
Laurens Roorda & Thijs Molenaar / NL, 2012 / 07:28
https://vimeo.com/69889403

ART

For its artistic explorations, BIO·FICTION hosted two performances and one exhibition.

 

BIO·FICTION was fortunate enough to utilize the Narrenturm (Fool’s Tower), The historic building and its specimen collection served as an eerie and fantastical backdrop to Klaus Spiess and Lucie Strecker’s evocative performance piece “Hare’s Blood+”. The piece contrasts the use of dead animal matter in artwork, with its value of liveness for commercial and genetic purposes. The artists consider concepts of ‚living money’ when the artwork is consigned to its “collectors” in a performative auction.

 

Set in an exhibit room of the Natural History Museum, Herwig Weiser introduced and temporarily installed and demonstrated his current work in progress “Lucid Phantom Messenger”. The piece consists both of a live protocell-like experiment and its cinematographic restitution; it brings together ingredients of a cristal garden with luminescent so-called nanodots from the forefront of scientific research, which mix and change in a live life-like hypnotic process.

 

Artefacts from the US based Center for Post- Natural History were exhibited also in the Natural History Museum. The artifacts featured a curated collection of genetically modified organisms, like the skull of the first spider silk protein “steel-goats”, the leaf of a genetically engineered chestnut tree, or the supersafe bacteria E. coli 1776.

 

DIY BIO

Tying into a Bio-Commons event held after BIO·FICTION ended, the festival offered a highlight on DIY-Bio groups and their projects with interactive demonstrations.

Grow Your Ink

by La Pailasse, and presented by Thomas Landrain

bento·lab

by a London collective, and presented by Philip Boeing

Juicyprint

by London Biohackspace, and presented by Ilya Levantis

Amplino

by Waag Society, and presented by Pieter van Boheemen

Yeastograms

by Pavillon 35, presented by Günter Seyfried, Lucas Czjzek, Niki Passath

TALKS

BIO·FICTION gathered some of the best scientists, social scientists, designers, artists, biohackers and filmmakers to host many interesting talks and panel discussions. BIO·FICTION organized 5 panel discussion, in which the exhausted Homo sapiens broadens his understanding of synthetic biology by engaging with Homo faber, H. oeconomicus, H. aestheticus, H. societatis and even H. ludens.

Have a look at these mesmerizing encounters below or follow our vimeo account to watch all the amazing discussions.

Panel Diskussions

HOMO FABER: ENGINEERING LIFE

Moderator: Lei PEI (Biofaction) 

Christopher COENEN 

(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – ITAS, Germany) 

SYNENERGENE – the European synthetic biology RRI initiative 

Vitor MARTINS DOS SANTOS 

(Laboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology – Wageningen University, Netherlands) 

Synthetic biology – programming living matter 

Nediljko BUDISA 

(TU Berlin – Dep. Chemistry, Germany) 

Expanded genetic code as a route to change the basic chemistry of life 

Uwe SLEYTR 

(University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 

Department for Nanobiotechnology, Austria)

A Technology based on living parts 

Philippe MARLIERE 

(Isthmus, France) 

Charting the xenobiotic continent

HOMO AESTHETICUS: LIFE AS MEDIUM FOR ARTISTIC EXPRESSION

Moderator: Günter SEYFRIED

Jens HAUSER 

(Univ. of Copenhagen, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies & Medical Museion, Denmark) 

‘The new Green’? Art between Synthetic Biology and Biohacking

Richard PELL 

(The Center for PostNatural History, USA) 

That was then… This is now: recent developments in PostNatural history 

Herwig WEISER 

(Independent Artist, Austria) 

Phantom Lucid Messenger

Erich BERGER 

(Finish Bioart Society, Finnland)

HYBRID MATTERs

Anna DUMITRIU 

(Independent artist, Institute of Unnecessary Research, UK) 

Trust Me, I’m an Artist – Towards an Ethics of Art and Science Collaboration

HOMO SOCIETATIS: RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (RRI)

Moderator: Christopher COENEN 

Sheref MANSY 

(Univ. of Trento, CIBIO, Italy) 

Integrating artificial with natural cells 

Virgil RERIMASSIE 

(Rathenau Institute, Netherlands) 

SynBio Politics: bringing a synthetic biology into debate in the Netherlands 

Erwin RICHTER 

(Österreichisches Bundesheer – ABC Abwehrschule, Austria) 

Bioweapons and Biosecurity 

Karen KASTENHOFER 

(Austrian Academy of Science – Institue of Technology Assessment, Austria) 

The Power of Framing in Technology Governance 

Jordi MAISO 

(Inst. of Philosophy – Center for Human and Social Sciences – CSIC, Spain) 

Addressing the Ethical Issues of Synthetic Biology

HOMO COMMUNIS: DO-IT-YOURSELF BIOLOGY

Moderator: Jens Hauser 

Ilya LEVANTIS 

(London Biohackspace) 

London Biohackspace: Growing cellulose, growing potential 

Philipp BOEING 

(University College London/Darwin Toolbox, UK) 

bento·lab

Thomas LANDRAIN 

(La Paillasse, France)

Is biohacking the future of biology? 

Pieter van BOHEEMEN 

(Waag Society/Amplino, Netherlands) 

From tinkering to trading: Amplino’s frugal health care innovation 

Günter SEYFRIED, Lucas CZJZEK, Niki PASSATH 

(Pavillon 35, Austria) 

Yeastograms

Opening of DIYbio Demo Tables

HOMO OECONOMICUS: INNOVATION AS RATIONAL BEHAVIOUR?

Vincenzo PAVONE 

(Institute of Public Goods and Policies, CSIC, Spain) 

Synthetic life, neoliberal society: biopolitics in the XXI century 

Nadine BONGAERTS 

(Hello Tomorrow/Kairos Foundation, Netherlands) 

Hello Tomorrow: a European technology & entrepreneurship competition 

Panel discussion with Vincenzo Pavone, Nadine Bongaerts, Lucie Strecker and Klaus Spiess

HOMO PATIENTS: THE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE THREAT

Moderator: Wolfgang KERBE (Biofaction)

Sven PANKE 

(Bioprocess Laboratory D-BSSE – ETH Zuerich) 

A combinatorial approach to design novel antibiotics 

Anna DUMITRIU 

(Independent artist, Institute of Unnecessary Research, UK) 

The MRSA Quilt 

Rüdiger TROJOK 

(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – ITAS, Germany) 

BioStrike – Open Antibiotics Discovery 

Panel discussion with Sven Panke, Anna Dumitru, Rüdiger Trojok

HOMO CULTURALIS: SCIENCE IN FILM

David KIRBY 

(Univ. of Manchester, Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, UK)

Science on the Silver Screen: Scientists’ Impact on Cinema, Cinema’s Influence on Science 

Katherina T. ZAKRAVSKY 

(Independent scholar of science and society, writer, performance and concept artist, developer, Austria) 

Dark Star Dystopia – From the Sad Tropes of Technology in Seventies Science Fiction Cinema to the Dawn of Decomponautics 

Panel discussion with David KIRBY, Katharina T. ZAKRAVSKY, Kristina KORSHOLM (Actress and filmmaker) and Steen RASMUSSEN (University of Southern Denmark – Fundamental Living Technology FLinT, Denmark)

HOMO LUDENS: PLAYING WITH LIFE, SERIOUSLY

Moderator: Olga RADCHUK 

Asi BURAK 

(Games for Change, USA): Games for Change 

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility 

Mario HERGER 

(Enterprise Gamification, USA) 

Gamification in Science 

Discussion with Asi Burak, Mario Herger, Uwe Sleytr and Virgil Rerimassie (iGEM)

HOMO RECIPROCANS: BIO-COMMON AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Moderator: Erich BERGER 

Philipp PFINGSTAG 

(TU Munich – School of Management – Technology and Innovation Management, Germany) 

The changing nature of intellectual property rights in synthetic biology 

Thomas MARGONI 

(Faculty of Law – University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Intellectual property, licenses and science 

Laurens LANDEWEERD 

(TUDelft/Bioart Laboratories, Netherlands) 

Who owns nature? issues of social exclusion in the instrumentalisation of life

Rüdiger TROJOK 

(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – ITAS, Germany) 

The bio-commons whitepaper 

Panel discussion with Philipp Pfingstag, Thomas Margoni, Laurens Landwerd, Rüdiger Trojok

TEAM

DR. MARKUS SCHMIDT

Producer

Tech assessment,
art-science

CAMILLO MEINHART

Co-producer

Film maker,
game designer

SANDRA YOUSSEF MA

Hosting

Cultural anthropologist, art lover

SONJA SCHACHINGER

Production assistance

Art exhibitions, art education, trouble shooter

BIRGIT SCHMIDT MA

Communication

Designer and lecturer, experienced in finding virtual and real-world design solutions

JENS HAUSER

Curatorial advisor

Curator, researcher, writer

PARTNERS