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
