TABOO TRANSGRESSION IN ART & SCIENCE 2025 TRANSCENDENCE SEPTEMBER 9-13τη, 2025 INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE Kino Š i š ka, Ljubljana Book of Abstracts https://ttt-conference.org TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE in Art & Science Content: 3 Introduction 4 Committees 5 Participants Roundtables and Sessions 6 Conference Works - Day 1 64 Conference Works - Day 2 116 Conference Works - Day 3 168 ArtShow Coining Utopias 169 Exhibition 180 Screening 189 Performances 204 Reels 207 X-Coining Utopias - Satellite Acts 209 Forensic Performativity / Kapelica Gallery 210 Mestna Jaga (Urban Hunting) / Cirkulacija 2 211 Future Legacies / MAO 212 Lament & elixir at Karst / GO2025! 215 Colophon Please note that these are the original abstracts and bios submitted by authors to TTT2025 Ljubljana until 31 August 2025. Eventual revised abstracts and bios are available in the online conference program. Also, the final versions of abstracts, authors bios and accepted full papers will be published in the conference Proceedings containing an ISBN number. Introduction TTT2025 Ljubljana The international conference Taboo - Transgression - Transcendence in Art & Science (TTT) is an interdisciplinary and nomadic event, where both practitioners as well as theorists present and discuss the status of art-science and/or art & technology research under extreme conditions. TTT was launched ten years ago and it has been hosted in Greece (2016-2017), Mexico (2018), Austria-Online (2020), Malta (2023), and is now being hosted in Slovenia (2025). The complete program of activities of TTT2025 Ljubljana taking place at the Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture in Ljubljana on September 9-13th, counts with approximately 170 speakers from more than 30 countries focusing (a) on questions about the nature of the forbidden and about the aesthetics of liminality, and (b) on the opening of spaces for creative transformation in the merging of science and art. Topics explored in the TTT conferences include: Biopunk, hybridity and aesthetics of mutation; Cyborg, augmentation, and body modification; Chemistry of the mind, natural healers, and mind enhancement; Biotechnology, DIY&DIWO, and biohacking; Ethology, human and nonhuman; Evolution, genetics, and plasticity; Post-gender, transgressive identities, and social models; Human sexual response, laws of attraction, and queer eroticism; Parasitology, symbiosis, and microbiome; Biopolitics, displacement, and resistance; Pandemic, bioterror, and scientific trust; Witchcraft, gender narrative, and history of science; Rewilding, degradation and restoration; Underground ecosystems, geological formations, and subterranean life. Taboo – Transgression – Transcendence in Art & Science 2025 conference is organized with Kino Šiška, Projekt Atol, Pixxelpoint – GO!2025, and the Ionian University – Department of Audio and Visual Arts. Besides the conference sessions structured into 30 sessions and six roundtables, TTT2025 Ljubljana presents its art-show entitled “Coining Utopias”, which includes an exhibition, screenings and performances at the Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture, as well as “Forensic Performativity” organized by Kapelica Gallery, “Mestna Jaga: A Decade of Urban Hunting” organized by Cirkulacija 2, and a guided tour to the exhibition “Future Legacies” at the Museum of Architecture and Design. The program includes contributions by the Rewilding Cultures Consortium, local Slovenian institutions, and international collaborators, culminating with the performances “eliXir” and “Lament” co-organized with Projekt Atol and Pixxelpoint 2025 festival in the context of GO!2025 European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica - Gorizia, taking place in the Karst region. About TTT Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence in Art & Science (TTT) conferences program is the result of an initial open call and peer-reviewed selection of abstracts. TTT, created by Dalila Honorato, is based on the support of a large informal worldwide network of researchers and practitioners that develop their activities at the edge of art and science intersections. Since its beginning TTT seeks to provide a comfortable setting for the interaction of its participants and the attendees at the institution hosting it. This is accomplished through coordinating the conference’s agenda with the development of events developed within the hosting institution in collaboration with other organizations. The major outcomes of the conference are the publication of its proceedings in the peer-reviewed journal Technoetic Arts published by Intellect and an open-access e-book with ISBN number by the Ionian University Publications. Each TTT conference has a different hosting institution as well as a distinct organizing committee (responsible for the entire structure of the program and production) and a new guest artistic-scientific committee (responsible for peer-reviewing the presentation proposals submitted). The TTT conference series is supported by its Steering Committee. Contact us if you would like to host a TTT conference at: av-ttt@ionio.gr Support As an organization we defend that the access to TTT conferences should be financially sustainable to all its participants. We provide fee waivers to all requests and, when possible, no fees. If you wish to support the organization of further TTT events please contact TTT communication department for sponsorship and donations at: av-ttt@ionio.gr Committees 4 TABOO ‒ Scientific & Artistic Committee: Dalila Honorato, Ionian University, Greece TRANSGRESSION ‒ Polona Tratnik , Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Adam Zaretsky, BEAK, United States Andreas Giannakoulopoulos, Ionian University, Greece pETER Purg, University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia Roberta Buiani , University of Toronto, Canada TRANSCENDENCE in María Antonia González Valerio Claudia Westermann, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China , National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico Marta de Menezes, Cultivamos Cultura, Portugal Andrew Carnie, independent artist, Emeritus Lecturer Southampton University, United Kingdom Margerita Pulè , Unfinished Art Space, Malta Ingeborg Reichle, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam, Germany Sunčica Ostoić, independent art theorist, Kontejner | bureau of contemporary art praxis, Croatia Lyndsey Walsh, Independent Artist and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany Art & Science 2025 Nigel Helyer, Macquarie University, Australia Kathy High, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, United States Hari Marini , Ionian University, Greece Boryana Rossa, Syracuse University, United States John Bardakos, Université Paris 8, France Clarissa Ribeiro, University of São Paulo, Brazil Book of Heidi Hehnly, Syracuse University, United States Abstracts Maria Iakovos Panagopoulos, Ionian University, Greece Chalkou, Ionian University, Greece Robert B. Lisek, Institute for Research in Science and Art, Poland Jasna Jernejšek, Kino Šiška, Slovenia Uroš Veber, Zavod Projekt Atol, Slovenia Robertina Šebjanič, Independent artist, Slovenia Aisen Caro Chacin, University of Texas, United States Laura Splan, Interdisciplinary Artist + Founder of Plexus Projects, United States Darya Warner, The United States Air Force Academy, Ukraine / United States Daphne Dragona, Independent, Germany/Greece Steering Committee: Roy Ascott, De Tao, Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, China / UK Andreas Floros, Ionian University, Greece Dalila Honorato, Ionian University, Greece Gunalan Nadarajan, University of Michigan, United States Melentie Pandilovski, Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art - AICA Macedonia, North Macedonia Stelarc, Independent, Australia Polona Tratnik , Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Adam Zaretsky, BEAK, United States Organizing Committee: Dalila Honorato, Ionian University, Greece Jasna Jernejšek, Kino Šiška, Slovenia Uroš Veber, Zavod Projekt Atol, Slovenia pETER Purg, University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia Lara Mejač, Zavod Projekt Atol, Slovenia Communication Team: Dalila Honorato, Ionian University, Greece Ioanna Logaki, InArts Lab, Greece Andreas Giannakoulopoulos, Ionian University, Greece Tania Tsiridou, Ionian University, Greece Aristeidis Lamprogeorgos , Ionian University, Greece Minas Pergantis, Ionian University, Greece Roubini Oikonomidou, Ionian University, Greece Angeliki Charalampidou, Ionian University, Greece Dimitris Boumparis, University of Antwerp, Belgium Viktoria Koniaeva, Ionian University, Greece Rea Vogrinčič, Zavod Projekt Atol, Slovenia 5 TABOO ‒ PARTICIPANTS: TRANSGRESSION ‒ 44 Abbiatici, Elena Giulia 115 Hong, Bora 137, 146 Poulou, Despoina 16 Achter, Nicolas Van 83, 165 Honorato, Dalila 211 Požar, Cvetka 29 Ağın, Başak 59, 184 Hood, Beverley 99, 105 Pranjić, Kristina 14 Aguirre, Audrey Rangel 35 Hu, Demi 55, 193 Prinčič, Luka TRANSCENDENCE in 62, 173 Almukhametova, Angelina 62, 67, 78 Hunter, WhiteFeather 145 Prizova, Veronika 65 Antonopoulou, Caterina 69 Isoré, Julien 30 Pubalova, Denisa 93, 109 Armet, Alizée 7 Jablanovec, Bojan 96 Purg, pETER 25, 194 Arnold, Rudolf 102 Jain, Puneet 38, 51 Radomska, Marietta 39 Athanasekou, Maria 156, 169 Jernejšek, Jasna 53 Regis, Isadora 54 Athanassakis, Irini 160 Kabouridis, Theodore 56, 62, 123 Ribeiro, Clarissa 46, 57 Bacaran, Mihai 68, 113 Kaliaskar, Dauren 15 Richter, Ana Laura 143 Bautista, María Nonantzin (MAGENTA) Martínez 19, 36 Kedziora, Anna 197, 213 Risba, Jatun Art & Science 2025 32 Blanchette, Cynthia 10, 210 Kocmur, Tatiana 63, 74, 113, 116 Rodriguez, Laura 43 Brewer, KS 97, 201 Koehne, Anya 34 Rosenbluth, Brandon 213 Brezavšček, Uroš 50 Kokot, Jordan 27, 95, 176, 190 Rothenberg, Stephanie 131, 178 Brown, Adam 135 Koniordou, Markela 92 Roussel, Vivien 145 Burnusuz, Alexandra 153 Krom, Line 20 Roy, Anshul 157, 196 Calero, Nathalie Dubois 8, 209 Krpan, Jurij 87, 174 Saarinen, Leena 118, 179 Cano, Melisa 158 Kuipers, Bart 209 Sajovic, Sandra Book of 13, 171 Carnie, Andrew 84 Kumerdej, Mojca 161 Santomieri, John 195 Ceolin, Leo 58 Kundračíková, Barbora 63 Sarson, Janet 180 Chalkou, Maria 82 Laketić, Tane_Tanya 142 sartori, matilde Abstracts 72 Chan, Wun Ting 122 Lamprogeorgos, Aristeidis 133 Sawada, Hana 84, 91 Chardronnet, Ewen 163 Lapinskas, Augustas 166, 211 Šebjanič, Robertina 148 Chewie 40 Lapointe, François-Joseph 115 Shih, Wei Chieh 63 Chieh, Shih Wei 123 Laurentiz, Silvia 110 Shirzadian, Mehrta 139 Ciclon 119, 198 Lester, Max 144 Shkirando, Liza 183 Cinti, Laura 35, 41, 52, 97, 150, 201 Li, Jiabao 62, 76, 138 Siegmund, Callum 151, 162 Cogne, Ingrid 122, 129 Limniati, Laida 30 Sikau, Lea Luka 135 Darr, Rimon Alyagon 16 Linares, Esteban Lloret 84 Smrekar, Maja 153 Degger, Brian 31, 42 Linn, Olga Majcen 33 Sofokleous, Stella 138 DePriest, Jimi 79 Littlejohn, Elizabeth 89 Søndergaard, Morten 71, 202 Dezi, Cristina 124, 200 Liu, Pinyao 53 Sordini, Laura 45 Diamantopoulou, Evangelia 79 LoCascio, Monica C. 182 Stanza 62, 120, 192 Disciglio, Dann 63, 157, 196 Lucas, Kristin 149 Steward, Anna 148 Dolejšová, Markéta 210 Mahnič, Dominik 130 Strapatsakis, Marianne 112 Donnarumma, Marco 140 Maksymchuk, Anastasiya 154, 195 Sudati, Carolina 63 Dubois Calero, Nathalie 135 Markovic, Dejan 47, 76 Sutherland, Paul 107, 186 Duncan, Monica 47 Markovic, Marko 128, 141 Šutić, Gjino 114, 206, 210 Dusseiller, Marc 133 Matsutani, Yosaku 115 Tan, Fransisca 60, 191 edna 147 Meister, Marie-Luise 187 Tao, Yukang 130 Eloul, Ioustini Antigoni 90, 94, 106 Melanitis, Ioannis 127, 136 Tapio, Hege 29, 121 Erel, Tuçe 100, 111 Menezes, Marta de 63 Tarenidi, Kelly 79, 158 Estrada, Daniela Brill 126 Minder, Maya 113 Testo, Daria 71 Farina, Isabel 64, 135 Mirza, Zahra 115 Thaweechuen, Jirapat “Bos” 108 Fedorova, Natalia 158 Morin, Julie-Michèle 71, 202 Tomasello, Giulia 23 Ferrari, Arianna 145 Moshchenskaia, Mariia 135 Tóth, Márton Emil 213 Floravita 89 Nacher, Anna 73 Tratnik, Polona 49 Forte, Arianna 35 Nations, Colin 22 Tsakaliadis-Sotirakoglou, Anastasios 81 Friedrich, Verena 181 Oliveira, João Pedro 33 Tsoumas, Johannis 70 Fröschl, Martina R. 155 Olszewska, Anna 9 Turšič, Miha 15 Garibaldi, Eva 42 Ostoić, Sunčica 26, 80 Ullrich, Jessica 33 Gemtou, Eleni 150 Ozgen, Ceren 170 Valiquette, Michael 149 Gfellner, Sebastian 45 Papageorgopoulou, Penny 6 Veber, Uroš 122 Giannakoulopoulos, Andreas 11, 28 Paterson, Andrew Gryf 135 Vélez, Carolina Páez 24 Gillon, Lex 74 Peled, Amos 167, 203 Vesna, Victoria 91 Godec, Miha 66 Pelovska, Iona 50 Vimal, Vivekanand Pandey 18 Gogova, Andrea 88 Peluso, Fara 135 Vincent, Ethan 111 Gold, Efrat 214 Penov, Ivan 115 Vlaanderen, Anne 132, 159 Guzman-Serrano, Rodrigo 122 Pergantis, Minas 62, 125, 152 Walsh, Lyndsey 17 Hadziselimovic, Adnan 12, 177 Petrič, Špela 172 Warner, Darya 104, 188 Haig, Ian 117 Petzer, Tatjana 12 Wołodźko, Agnieszka 101 Hallemans, Emma 21, 37, 214 Pevere, Margherita 86, 185 Yildiz, Müge 115 Hardian, Helmi 35 Phung, Nhu 98, 175 Zaineh, Jude Abu 84 Hauser, Jens 62, 103, 199 Pilar, Praba 61, 77, 205 Zaretsky, Adam 133 Hayashi, Yuki 107, 186 Pirler, Senem 48 Zepka, Erik 111 Herter, Cosima 34 Pogačar, Tjaša 97, 163, 201 Zuo, Annan 111 High, Kathy 115 Pongruengkiat, Weeratouch “Wave” 75, 85 Żyniewicz, Karolina Roundtable 1: Slovenian Contingency chair: Uroš Veber, Zavod Projekt Atol This roundtable brings together key figures from Slovenia’s contemporary art and cultural landscape to examine local practices within global contexts. Our panelists represent diverse institutional and artistic approaches that challenge conventional boundaries between performance, technology, and social engagement. Together, these practitioners will discuss how Slovenian cultural contingency operates within broader European and international networks, examining questions of locality, collaboration, and critical artistic practice in contemporary contexts. Via Negativa - Bojan Jablanovec Kapelica - Jurij Krpan KSEVT Collection & More-than-Planet online library - Miha Turšič Cirkulacija 2 - Tatiana Kocmur Event Hours: 10/09/2025 (09:15-10:00) Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 7 Roundtable 1: Slovenian Contingency TABOO ‒ Via Negativa TRANSGRESSION ‒ Bojan Jablanovec Via Negativa since 2002, providing an open space for artists working across diverse performance and researcher known for his work in contemporary performance art and for practices. Founded to explore theatre’s meaning at the turn of the millennium, VN has Via Negativa is a Ljubljana-based contemporary performance platform operating Bojan Jablanovec is a theatre director TRANSCENDENCE in founding the international project Via become a key player in the “production of contemporaneity” in Slovenia and European Negativa in 2002. contemporary performance art. Operating through the VN Lab, the platform develops innovative performance strategies and creative processes that cross boundaries between performance art, theatre, dance, Art & Science 2025 lecture, concert, video, installation, and intervention. VN’s heterogeneous formats reintegrate various disciplines into unexpected and unconventional artistic expressions. Through twenty years of conceptually focused activity and long-term cycles, Via Negativa has marked significant shifts in creative practices and performance strategies. Artistic director Bojan Jablanovec will discuss the platform’s sustained commitment Book to experimental performance practice and the redefinition of contemporary artistic of Abstracts expression. 8 Roundtable 1: Slovenian Contingency TABOO ‒ Kapelica TRANSGRESSION ‒ Jurij Krpan Kesnikova Institute visitors, as their artistic potency pushed the boundaries of the perceivable. Their Gallery - Gallery for Contemporary Investigative Art as a non-governmental unrepeatability leaves behind a tangible void and a commitment to historicize these Many performances presented at Kapelica Gallery have left a profound impact on In 1995, Krpan conceived the Kapelica TRANSCENDENCE in and non-profit organization. As a curator extraordinary events. Attempts to capture the structure of the environment that and commissioner, he has contributed are entirely absent in the case of reenactments. In order to offer the most authentic exhibitions and festivals, the largest international productions to date being experience of the performance as artwork, Kapelica Gallery curators are developing a provided the context for these amazing artworks often elude video documentation, and to both national and international the organization and artistic leadership Art & Science 2025 presentation method that includes forensic remnants, video and photo documentation, of the Slovenian national pavilion at the exhibition set at Kapelica Gallery during the TTT conference. A restricted number of conceptual gallery Cosinus BRX at the European Commission building in time slots are available. A precise schedule is still to be announced. and the performative experience of personal storytelling within the intimate setting of the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, the Brussels, and U3 the 5th Triennial of Contemporary Investigative Arts 2006 at Book the Museum of Modern Art - Ljubljana. In September 2008 he curated the of Abstracts presentation of the Kapelica Gallery in the Featured Art Scene section of Ars Electronica in Linz and in 2009 the survey of contemporary investigative art relating to 80 years of avant-garde art in Slovenia. In 2014 he co-curated the Designing Life section of the Ljubljana Design Biennale and was co-curator of the Slovenian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. He has been a member of the Prix Ars Electronica jury for the Hybrid Arts category in 2010, ‘13, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17 and 2023. Since 2012, he become the artistic director of the Kesnikova Institute. BioTehna, Rampa, and Vivarium research and development laboratories have become important R&D platforms for the Kapelica Gallery. Since early 2017 he has worked on systemic solutions for innovation design, bringing artistic ideations as innovation catalysts in the innovation process for smart industries and communities for a more sustainable, safer, inclusive, and ethical future. In 2020, he co-curated the symposium The Future of Living with AI for EUNIC at Bozar Brussels, where the selection of Slovenian artists was presented in the framework of the S+T+ARTS awards. In 2019, the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy awarded him the title of Ambassador of Smart Specialisation of the Republic of Slovenia. He is a member of the National Council of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia representing and advocating cultural NGO interests from 2019 to date. Jurij Krpan lectures on the artistic profile of the Kapelica Gallery and the cultural profile of the Kersnikova Institute in Slovenia and abroad. 9 Roundtable 1: Slovenian Contingency TABOO ‒ KSEVT Collection & More-than-Planet online library TRANSGRESSION ‒ Miha Turšič Waag Futurelab knowledge of space art, culture, humanities and social studies more visible, accesible Lab lead, as well as a concept and project developer. He focuses on international and possibly integrated into space programmes. Talk at TTT will share insights and KSEVT Collection & More-than-Planet online library combine the effort of making the Miha Turšič works at Waag as the Space TRANSCENDENCE in collaboration and initiates projects that stories in the first year of their founding. explore themes such as art-science, space art and culture, planetarity, biotechnology, digital fabrication, and open-source hardware. As part of the European S+T+ARTS Art & Science 2025 collaboration, Miha works at the intersection of science, technology, and the arts, specializing in research and methodology of collaborative innovation. He has been involved in several key Waag projects, including Book OpenNext, which addressed community and concern-driven innovation through of Abstracts open-source hardware, as well as VOJEXT and Better Factory, which fostered collaboration between artists, technologists, and industry. He also serves as the initiator and coordinator of the More-than-Planet European project. Miha studied Industrial Design at the University of Ljubljana. He is the co- founder of Asobi Design Studio and KSEVT, the Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies. In collaboration with space and cultural organisations, KSEVT has produced cultural programmes on the International Space Station, introduced space architecture to the Venice Biennale, and publicly presented the Voyager instruments for the first time. Miha is also the founder and a member of the Postgravityart group, which created the first-ever theatre production in zero gravity and is working on the 50-year performance project Noordung 1995-2045. 10 Roundtable 1: Slovenian Contingency TABOO ‒ Cirkulacija 2 TRANSGRESSION ‒ Tatiana Kocmur Cirkulacija 2 as an association in 2009. Functioning as a local hub for independent artistic production, artist and contemporary art producer, representing the Cirkulacija 2 association it fosters interdisciplinary practices grounded in mutual support, shared methods, and Cirkulacija 2 is an artist-led initiative based in Ljubljana, founded in 2007 and registered Tatiana Kocmur (BA, 1992) is a visual TRANSCENDENCE in and co-creator of the TRANSLACIJA/ social cohesion. With a flexible, process-oriented approach inspired by tactical media, TRASLACIÓN platform for the the initiative develops dynamic forms of expression across media such as radio, sound, production, exhibition, and research of internet, video, performance, robotics, and digital technologies. Its name (cirkulacija) performative art. reflects an ongoing commitment to evolution and experimentation in contemporary art. Art & Science 2025 Book of Abstracts Session 1A: Karst chair: Andrew Paterson, Aalto University / Pixelache Helsinki 10:15 On Awkward Intimacy: Affective Encounters with Greenhouse Automation Agnieszka Wołodźko, Špela Petrič 10:30 GROUNDSWELL Andrew Carnie 10:45 Soil Stations Audrey Rangel Aguirre 11:00 Swamp_Matter: Exploring Ecological Thresholds through Art, Science, and Speculative Narratives Eva Garibaldi, Ana Laura Richter Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 12 Session 1A: Karst TABOO ‒ On Awkward Intimacy: Affective Encounters with TRANSGRESSION ‒ Greenhouse Automation Agnieszka Wołodźko Artez University of the Arts research into automation of care and Wołodźko philosophy of contamination (Wołodźko, a lecturer and researcher teaching contemporary philosophy and art- 2023) as a framework for encountering industrial greenhouses. The proposed presentation will be a multilayered dialogue between Petrič’s artistic Agnieszka Anna Wołodźko, PhD, is TRANSCENDENCE in science at AKI Academy of Art and Design ArtEZ since 2017. At AKI she we identify the necessity to address the complex, omnipresent and potentially violent and the BIOMATTERs, an artistic research programme that explores how relationships emerging within all-enveloping infrastructures of automation – what Positing the greenhouse as a test-bed for future automation-centered ecosystems, has founded a biolab kitchen space to work with living matters. Her research Art & Science 2025 we term as an awkward intimacy. Intimacy here is understood as never neutral; it is focuses on post-humanism, ecocriticism, transformations that cannot be predicted or controlled. In this way, intimacy has a the intersection of art, ethics and (bio) technology. Selected publications capacity to contaminate, to penetrate bodies in ways that intensify their multiple scales of close and transformative and thus inherently risky. To be intimate is to be open to affect theory and new materialism at include: “On Špela Petrič’s Performative existence, albeit unevenly. But rather than imagine possibilities of escaping automation, Ethnography or How to Contaminate Book rather than desiring the position of innocence, we propose to embrace difficult and Automation” in Šum 2024; Špela of Abstracts Petrič and Agnieszka Anna Wołodźko, complex relationalities with it, as already practised by Petrič in her “Performative “Awkward Intimacies” in Antennae 2024; Ethnographies” – it is “an embodied observation practice that creates a possibility for Affect as Contamination. Embodiment in the lay audience to not only experience these spaces but also to employ a particular Bioart and Biotechnology, Bloomsbury a ping-pong player, a vampire, a farmer, an engineer” (Wołodźko, 2024). In her work, in Footprint. Delft Architecture Theory Journal; “Demonological re- Petrič experiments with creating encounters with the multiple bodies of automation embodied perspective from which their observation will take place, e.g. a plant, a DNA, 2023; “Ars Demones*2022*Manifesto,” enchantments – or how to contaminate through intimate because embodied relations of care - relations that migrate, that are through intimate stories of commons thin, elusive, and yet significant (Kasmani 2023). without consensus,” in Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research; In our presentation, we will look into how Petrič’s artistic research practice and her ‘Living Within Affect As Contamination: Breathing In Between Numbers’ in residency together with Wołodźko in the greenhouse help us to not only understand Capacious: Journal for Emerging Affect how it is possible to encounter automation as affective relation, but also, what are the Inquiry. implications of closely embracing its unequally transformative relationality. Špela Petrič independent Špela Petrič is a Slovenian hybrid media artist with a background in the natural sciences. Her artistic research and practice combines (bio)media and performativity to enact strange relations between bodies that question the underpinnings of our (bio)technological societies. Recently she has been busy with looking closely at automation of care in agriculture and medicine. 13 Session 1A: Karst TABOO ‒ GROUNDSWELL TRANSGRESSION ‒ Andrew Carnie Southampton University, UK In 2024, one of the most significant acts in my creative practice was two days spent at Andrew Carnie is an internationally TRANSCENDENCE in Groundswell, Regenerative Agriculture Festival, Lannock Farm, Hertfordshire. exhibiting contemporary visual artist practising in the UK. His main concerns focus on the interface of art and The Groundswell Festival, with 8000+ delegates, provides a forum for farmers, science, often working in collaboration the theory and practical applications of regenerative farming systems, including no- His approach is media agnostic, using methodologies and media as till, cover crops and re-introducing livestock into the arable rotation, to improve soil growers, and anyone interested in food production and the environment to learn about with scientists, though not exclusively. informed by the context, concepts, Art & Science 2025 health. It is a ‘festival’ with little music but with five marquees hosting over a hundred and concerns. Drawing, painting, and a practical show aimed at anyone who wants to understand the farmers’ core asset, his practice, but video, projection, and installation are his primary strengths. the soil, and make better-informed decisions from leading international soil health talks, forums and discussions from two hundred speakers from around the globe. It is sculpting have an enduring place in He creates environments that are experts, experienced arable and livestock farmers, agricultural policy experts, practical endlessly fascinating around subjects, Book demonstrations and field trials, from policy-makers attracted by the ‘public benefits’ of like heart transplants, metabolism, and of Abstracts neurological conditions that intrigue him, such systems as carbon sequestration and flood/drought prevention. and engage audiences in how we see ourselves through the world of science. Attending the conference strengthened my artistic focus on the relationship between my current project, “The Pond in Us” with Prof. Sian Harding, looking at how our gut Fundación Telefónica, Madrid. the CCCB, Barcelona, Brain Observatory, microbiome originates in our evolutionary time in the water through a series of drawings land, soil, and our ecosystem. Through 2025, I plan to expand my work in this field with Recent work has been shown at the RSU Anatomical Museum, Riga, and and 3D PLA sculptures and in a specific work I am making for Groundswell 2025, “The Spencer Museum, Kansas. Tree Beneath Our Feet”, a work linking nutrition, soil, water and sunlight, our need to care for this ecosystem, made in the language of festival going, using the material of tents and marquees. I want to discuss these projects in my talk, their production and exhibition, the important lessons gleaned from the festival, and how these ideas radically adjust how we should view and live on this planet. 14 Session 1A: Karst TABOO ‒ Soil Stations TRANSGRESSION ‒ Audrey Rangel Aguirre Independent Artist and Researcher (some institutional, some cultural), the artist is revealed as the enabler of new spaces interdisciplinary Mexican artist based in England, researching at the intersection for production. Soil Stations are links of connection with the Earth, plugs for energetic In the context of emerging innovations trying to materialize within obsolete schemes Audrey Rangel Aguirre is an TRANSCENDENCE in of art and science, focusing on artistic transference between soil matter and body matter, and through connection, energetical intuition to create new systems that of consciousness. Soil Stations are units of soil carved from the inside of the Earth, Currently developing the ongoing research project Terras Lux, focusing on using soil as an element to sculpt shapes and volumes made by hand. By sculpting and conceptual dialogues emerge as thinking systems that belong to primal states belong to the future of human civilisation. the relation between energy on microbial Art & Science 2025 the volumes, a connection between the body’s dimension and natural soil occurs, and micro ecosystems on soil and the energy surface to produce exchange, by touch, triggering a system of energy between the she uses creative intuition as a tool to create speculative scenarios that may Earth, body, forest, and the planetary energetical system connecting the atmosphere the results are soil extensions that fit the body. The stations are sculpted on the forest on the human body. In her practice, be a possibility for our nearest future in with outer space. Insights on bioenergy related to environmental engineering have our society and research through the Book informed the project, which delves into the study of properties of microorganisms on lenses of art and philosophy, diverse of Abstracts fields of science. Using artistic intuition, soil and biomass that are capable of producing bioelectricity by means of chemical reciprocity and caring for others as a exchange, and such process can be amplified by the implementation of the union of way to weaving politics, poetics, and technological systems like the microbial fuel cell system with the human body. The consequences through contemporary of a microbial fuel cell system of soil, but with a novel component: the body and cosmic of art and science may be the key to unlocking new possibilities and the rays. Soil Stations is one of the outcomes of the collaboration with engineer Ioannis result is the direct use of the body as a connector element per se, using the principles art practices. The current convergence development of human consciousness Ieropoulos. This collaboration advances the creation of energy production systems and towards the next phase of civilisation. In sustainable art making, while transcending spiritually, the ecological and global crisis. her research, she allows herself to free artistic intuition to power and enhance scientific research with the aim of the creation of new systems that belong to the future of human civilisation, in which, with the collaboration of other beings like microbes and ecosystems, a new way of living and collaborating between all beings on Earth can be achieved, through reciprocity. 15 Session 1A: Karst TABOO ‒ Swamp_Matter: Exploring Ecological Thresholds through TRANSGRESSION ‒ Art, Science, and Speculative Narratives Eva Garibaldi independent The Stones Only Appear to Be Non-Living (caves), Fantastic Glitch Swamp (swamps), a Slovenian multidisciplinary artist, designer, and researcher based in The and Salinarum (halobacteria and extremophiles). Our presentation explores the We will present an artist talk reflecting on three projects produced in the last year: Eva Garibaldi (b. Ljubljana, 1996) is TRANSCENDENCE in Netherlands. Her practice focuses on intersection of art and science through the lens of subterranean ecosystems, focusing dissolving binary understandings of spaces—ecologically, temporally, and epistemologically—through interdisciplinary ecologies. Her research engages with marginal spaces focusing on swamps as methodologies, blending field research, digital technologies, and speculative narratives on caves, swamps, and extremophile habitats. Each project interrogates liminal landscapes and bodies through critical spaces of resistance through a through Art & Science 2025 to reveal the fragile (un)balance deriving from division of human and non-human worlds. a glitch feminist lens. She works with the mediums of spatial installation, In The Stones Only Appear to Be Non-Living, we examine caves as dynamic, living experimental film, and speculative fiction. systems, challenging static perceptions of geological formations. Through 3D scanning and speculative storytelling, we expose the temporal depths of karstic landscapes She is a member of CBK Rotterdam Book and the slow violence of anthropogenic impact. Similarly, Fantastic Glitch Swamp and Architectural Humanities Research of Abstracts Association. Her work has been uses augmented reality (AR) and speculative narratives to reimagine swamps as vital presented in several publications and ecosystems, countering their stigma as stagnant wastelands and positioning them as exhibitions across Europe such as spaces of resistance through a feminist lens. In Salinarum, we delve into halobacteria BIO27, Milan, Berlin and Dutch Design magnified microbial projections, the installation explores the fragility of ecosystems, Garage Rotterdam and HuidenClub among others. Together with Ana Laura challenges human-centric perspectives and scales, and questions the illusion of control as metaphors for resilience in the Anthropocene. Using dissolving salt sculptures and Week, Soapbox Journal, Art Rotterdam, Richter, she is the founder of duo over natural processes. Swamp_Matter. Their work has been supported by Creative Industries Fund Together, these projects bridge art, science, and speculative storytelling to interrogate NL, Škocjan Caves Public Service Agency, Aksioma U30+, Kino Šiška and ecological thresholds, challenge anthropocentric thought, and inspire new ways of P74 Gallery. engaging with the natural world. In response to the challenges of the Anthropocene, we emphasize the importance of collective reimagination, proposing social structures that transcend human dominance and incorporate non-human agents into collaborative Ana Laura Richter processes. This approach fosters multispecies resilience, urging us to rethink our independent relationships with both the environment and each other in an era defined by ecological transgression. Ana Laura Richter (1996, Ljubljana) is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, dramaturg, and visual storyteller. She holds an MA in Ecology Futures from the Master Institute of Visual Cultures in Den Bosch (2022) and a BA in Dramaturgy from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana (2019). Her projects often employ mixed reality tools to present stories from more-than- human perspectives, blending ecological speculative fiction with immersive narrative forms. In 2023, her graduation project I Remember the Place I Have Never Seen was exhibited at The New Current during Rotterdam Art Week. She is also co-founder of the critical art and design duo Swamp_Matter, based between Rotterdam and Ljubljana. Session 1B: Speleothem chair: Nicolas Van Achter, Unmade Frames Collective - Esteban Lloret Linares, Unmade Frames Collective 10:15 Performing and Exhibiting Immersive Virtual Experience Queering of Digital Heritage Assets: A Framework for Artistic Research and Practice Adnan Hadziselimovic 10:30 Danube body of water. Trans corporeality of Danube River protection Andrea Gogova 10:45 Heimkehren Anna Kedziora 11:00 Rage Against the Archive Anshul Roy Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 17 Session 1B: Speleothem TABOO ‒ Performing and Exhibiting Immersive Virtual Experience TRANSGRESSION ‒ Queering of Digital Heritage Assets: A Framework for Artistic Adnan Hadziselimovic Research and Practice University of Malta heritage assets, a transformative approach explored within the IMPULSE research resident academic in the Department of Digital Arts, at the Faculty of Media project. IMPULSE investigates innovative methods for experiencing and interpreting This paper delves into the performing of immersive experience queering of digital Adnan Hadzi is currently working as TRANSCENDENCE in and Knowledge Sciences, University digitised cultural heritage within immersive virtual environments, challenging of Malta. Hadzi has been a regular emerging immersive technologies, the project re-imagines the role of digital heritage in decade, a period over which he has developed his research at Goldsmiths, contemporary cultural discourse. conventional narratives through speculative and inclusive frameworks. By integrating at Deckspace Media Lab, for the last University of London, based on his work Art & Science 2025 At its core, IMPULSE employs artistic research methodologies to interrogate and with Deptford.TV. It is a collaborative and exhibitions, the project creates dynamic, user-centered experiences that foster Deckspace’s racks, based on free and open source software, compiled into a emotional and cognitive engagement. These speculative interpretations serve to expand the potential of digital heritage archives and assets. Through performances video editing service hosted in unique suite of blog, cvs, film database “queer” digital heritage archives, questioning normative understandings and reshaping and compositing tools. Through Deptford Book their cultural significance. This approach highlights the capacity of immersive TV and Deckspace TV he maintains a of Abstracts strong profile as practice-led researcher. technologies to make digital heritage more accessible and inclusive while addressing Directing the Deptford TV project critical challenges such as interoperability and design. requires an advanced knowledge of The paper also examines the role of artistic research in transforming digital heritage current developments in new media art By queering digital archives, IMPULSE transcends traditional boundaries, offering different platforms. Hadzi runs regular workshops at Deckspace. Deptford.TV audiences an active role in the reinterpretation of heritage. The findings underscore the practices, emphasizing its power to unlock new layers of meaning in cultural artifacts. practices and the moving image across / Deckspace.TV is less TV more film potential of immersive and performative methodologies to redefine the dissemination production but has tracked the evolution Ultimately, this paper showcases how IMPULSE’s integration of technology, artistic such as those included on the excellent PureDyne linux project. research, and speculative design contributes to a more inclusive and dynamic cultural and experience of cultural heritage in the digital age. of media toolkits and editing systems heritage landscape. It highlights the project’s significance in addressing pressing issues of accessibility and representation, demonstrating how performing digital heritage can challenge and enrich our understanding of the past. This innovative approach not only expands the scope of heritage research but also positions immersive experiences as a vital tool for cultural engagement and reinterpretation. 18 Session 1B: Speleothem TABOO ‒ Danube body of water. TRANSGRESSION ‒ Trans corporeality of Danube River protection Andrea Gogova Faculty of Natural Sciences University Comenius in Bratislava Keywords: Trans corporeality of Danube, environmental ecology, Danube River TRANSCENDENCE in I am a full researcher at the Faculty protection of Natural Sciences, Department of Environmental Ecology and Landscape The project is outgoing from interdisciplinary approach to the Danube River Management in Bratislava. I received conservation as trans corporeal interacting bodies of water. We seek to understanding transdisciplinary research involving my doctorate in multimedia arts. In my contribute to meaningful responses to ecological crises. posthuman phenomenology, hydro- Art & Science 2025 environmental artistic practices and The aim of the project is to develop specific transcorporeal “Danube body of water” of the relationships between humans, more than humans and water environment, and art, science and technology, I focus on (forth DBW), which manifests bio-cultural diversity in the certain time-space. It refers to and communication between humans approaches to sympoietic relationships and its reflection in language [1]. reflect the interconnection of various experiences – literature, environmental Mapping evolved trans corporeal complexicity of DBW, intermeshed with the dynamic, the continuing co-evolution and adaptation between biological and cultural diversities and more than human. My works material world of each connected human or more than human hybrid assemblage [2] of visual art. It is a space of thought in which of Abstracts studies, ecophilosophy, semiosis and Book bio and cultural diversity is passed down through language [5]. It follows to Maturana sustainable view of the relationship between human and non-human species and Varela`s ‘Structural coupling’ notion and its reflection in the patterns of cognition equal water-based togetherness [3] organised by ‘matters agential realism’ [4]. Mapping approaches of an equal, environmentally and biocultural diversity are created. and communication embedded in a biological, psychological and cultural context. [6] Trans corporeal Danube body of water is dynamic transformative material world in which human is the more influential actor of developing figuration of DBW. It is presented by the figuration of ArtSci work, which is communicate possible environmental posture to Danube River protection as komplex of mentioned relations. [1] Maffi, L.. (2007). Jules Pretty; et al. (eds.). The SAGE Handbook of Environment and Society. p. 269. ISBN 9781446250082. Retrieved 27 October 2012 [2] Alaimo, Stacy. In Braidotti, Rosi. and Hlavajova,Maria. 2019. The Posthuman Glosary. Bloomsbory Press. [3] Neimanis, Astrida. 2017. “Bodies of Water – Posthuman Feminist Phenomenology”. Bloomsbury Academic, London [4] Barad, Karen. 2007. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham: Duke University Press. [5] Alaimo, Stacy. In Braidotti, Rosi. and Hlavajova,Maria. 2019. The Posthuman Glosary. Bloomsbory Press. [6] Varela, F.J., Rosch, E. and Thompson, E. 1991. The Embodied Mind. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 19 Session 1B: Speleothem TABOO ‒ Heimkehren TRANSGRESSION ‒ Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts Anna Kedziora in Poznan, Poland explores the pre-war collections in Natural History Museums in Western Europe in Arts, teaches at the Photography Faculty, University of the Arts in Poznan. (currently the Natural History Museum at the University of Wrocław). These collections My presentation focuses on the ongoing research-art project Heimkehren, which Born in 1982, visual artist, holds PhD TRANSCENDENCE in Co-curator and curator of photography stem from research expeditions and exchanges between scientific institutions in the exhibitions (eg. during: Photokina of these expeditions and exchanges, as well as the materiality of the preserved Month of Photography, Berlin, 2016; Riga Photo Month 2019; Chiang Mai objects. Some items have suffered degradation due to incomplete descriptions and late 19th and early 20th centuries. I am particularly interested in the colonial contexts Academy, Cologne,2014; the European Photo Festival 2020). Art & Science 2025 minor damage, which has caused them to be relegated to the margins of scientific Participated in artist residencies in they no longer serve as part of museum displays or scientific circulation. The subject works in individual and group exhibitions and conferences in Poland, Germany, of my visual analysis is the materiality of these non-human bodies, which, through and institutional history. Despite this, they are carefully stored and protected, even if Spain, Thailand, France, presented her Austria, Belarus, Slovakia, Lithuania, the processes of acquisition, preparation, and cataloging, have become “objects of Spain, Sweden, Greece, Wales, Book science”. I’m also interested in their more inaccessible and fragmentary biographies. Indonesia, Korea, Portugal, Malta, of Abstracts Thailand. The focus of my work is on the materiality and history of museum’s „objects”, particularly My artistic research is centered around bird eggs and bird specimens from pre-war collections. In the scientific section, I what I call “Conflicted Landscapes,” examine birds that were damaged due to difficult collection conditions and hasty a term that reflects my exploration of for display, which reveal the theatrical aspect inherent in all natural history museums. rather than static vistas to be admired or consumed. I understand landscapes The main part of the project involves photo sessions at the Wrocław Natural History preparation. From the exhibition section, I am interested in birds that were intended landscapes as dynamic processes, as deeply entangled in various Museum, along with archival research from museums in Berlin, Görlitz, Dresden, relationships between humans, nature, accompanying the photographs. The reconstructed and newly created biographies work, I focus on the traces of human presence and decisions both tangible of these scientific objects will reflect the concept of “returning home” (Heimkehren). and Leipzig. Based on these archives and object descriptions, I will create brief texts and the broader environment. In my and metaphoric, imprinted in the very Additionally, small sculptural works and installations will be developed from the visual fabric of the land itself, and echoed in and archival research. its history, in macro and micro-scale manifestations. The recurring themes in my practice are deeply connected to the concepts of power and loss as they manifest in landscapes. I explore how landscapes are shaped by historical and social forces—whether the imprint of colonialism, the consequences of environmental exploitation or smaller scale interventions. My approach to the research combines both field and studio work, blending observational and archival studies to create a more comprehensive understanding of the land’s complex narratives. Photography is my primary medium, I also work with ceramics and installation. 20 Session 1B: Speleothem TABOO ‒ Rage Against the Archive TRANSGRESSION ‒ Anshul Roy Independent new media art that critically probes how the New York Public Library’s (NYPL) website artist and educator with an MFA in Art Photography from Syracuse University catalogs, displays and even sells dehumanizing ethnographic photos from the 19th- Rage Against the Archive is an artivist project comprising video, performance, and Anshul Roy (b. 1997, India) is a visual TRANSCENDENCE in in New York. In 2020, he received a century colonial-era publication The People of India. This work conceptually interrogates B.Tech in Bioengineering from the screen-recorded browser videos, this series also documents the “hacking” methodology where he became interested in the intersection of STEM and Arts and how employed to insert different texts using HTML to activate NYPL’s digital archives in an how images can get decontextualized in archives, thus losing their gravitas. Through Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, these diverse knowledge systems could Art & Science 2025 act of Electronic civil disobedience. merge. Roy’s current artistic practice comprehensive ethnographic books, commissioned by the British colonial government exploring issues like identity, historical memory, cultural representation, and in India after the 1857 First War of Independence. After having experienced violent The People of India, published between 1868-75, is one of the world’s oldest and most is inspired by Postcolonial discourses, visual ethics. He is interested in probing uprisings and the first challenge to their colonial rule, the British were keen to understand how British colonizers employed Book the native tribes and their cultures to rule them better and prevent future rebellions. The photography in India for “othering” of Abstracts and visual propaganda, and how camera, masquerading as an objective device, was employed as an imperial tool by these ethnographic photos exist in our the colonial government to document natives, “othering” them in this process. How do contemporary institutional archives. these problematic historical images exist in our archives in the contemporary networked Through appropriation techniques, Rage Against the Archive scrutinizes whether institutional archives like NYPL perpetuate photographs to question and challenge their enduring impact on collective colonial exploitation and the camera’s violence, raising ethical questions about how we, image culture? Roy recontextualizes such historical consciousness. as a more conscientious society, should consume exploitative images online. I believe His work has been exhibited in prestigious be just another way to amplify the visual violation of some people, and they must be he received the “Best in Show” award in 2024 for his project Rage Against questioned. that digital archives, in some cases, instead of being harbingers of free knowledge, can venues like ACM SIGGRAPH, where the Archive. Roy has also shown his This work aligns with TTT2025’s themes of taboo, transgression, and transcendence by work at places such as the Art Gallery as sites of resistance, advocating for a more conscientious engagement with historical IEEE VIS Arts Program (St. Pete Beach, FL), :iidrr Gallery (Manhattan, imagery. addressing the boundaries between art and technology. It reimagines digital archives of Peterborough (Ontario, Canada), NY), Light Work (Syracuse, NY), The Photographers’ Gallery (London, UK), Society for Photographic Education’s Media Festival (St. Louis, MO) and Society for Visual Anthropology’s Film and Media Festival (Tampa, FL). In 2024, he was a student at the School for Poetic Computation and an Artist-in- Residence at the ESRC-funded Digital Good Network, where he further refined his new media art practice. Session 2A: Eukaryote chair: Margherita Pevere, Margherita Pevere Studio 11:45 The politics of striptease: taboos, transgressions, and post-pandemic heterotopias Anastasios Tsakaliadis-Sotirakoglou 12:00 Leaky Networks and Bareback Browsing: Towards reclaiming Promiscuity Online Arianna Ferrari 12:15 Pleasure Expansion: Building ethical frameworks for global AI pleasure applications Lex Gillon 12:30 Cassiopeia’s Secret - The Future of Intimacy in Space Rudolf Arnold Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 22 Session 2A: Eukaryote TABOO ‒ The politics of striptease: taboos, transgressions, TRANSGRESSION ‒ and post-pandemic heterotopias Anastasios Tsakaliadis - Sotirakoglou Department of Cultural Technology and According to Freud, the term “taboo” encompasses two opposite meanings. It may Communication, University of the Aegean TRANSCENDENCE in characterise something as sacred and sanctified, while simultaneously denouncing it Anastasios Tsakaliadis-Sotirakoglou was born in 1995 in Thessaloniki, but as unholy and forbidden. This contradiction should not surprise us, as the essence is currently based in Athens. He is the of taboo is the sanctification of an object through a process of prohibition. Within the owner of a bachelor’s and a master context of modern western civilisation, such practices of fetishism are most often degree from the Department of Art sexual in nature. However, if there is one such practice that best represents capitalism’s Theory and History at the Athens’ School of Fine Arts. He is currently a ability to apply a spiritual (sublimated through a financial process) aura upon a sexual Art & Science 2025 Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of subject through the enforcement of a taboo, it is none other than the art of striptease. In Cultural Technology and Communication contrast to other forms of prostitution, striptease is a process of commodifying a sexual at the University of the Aegean. His body not by means of consummation, but prohibition. It is this process of prohibition academic interests include aesthetic philosophy, art theory and critique, as that creates a surplus of desire that sanctifies and simultaneously over-commodifies well as digital aesthetics. As of today, he the stripping subject. has participated in various international Book Nevertheless, staying true to its contradictory nature, striptease does not only constitute conferences, many of which were itself as a taboo, but also as a form of transgression. Not only does it subvert the organised by the Ionian University. of Abstracts traditional mononormative attitudes of sexual expression, it also shifts the understanding of sexuality from being exclusively regarded as something reclusive, hidden and personal, to something public and spectacular. Michel Foucault defines the brothel as one of the most extreme examples of heterotopia, noting their contradictory ability of simultaneously creating an illusory space, while denoting the “real” space as even more illusory. In fact, I would like to propose the strip club as a more fitting example, as the “real illusion” that it provides does not adhere to the norms of privacy as a requirement for sexual expression, but functions as a space that publicly accommodates a prohibited natural need, revealing the illusory nature of the prohibitive norm itself. In particular, the strip club shined as a quintessential case of heterotopia during the recent pandemic. While the media used a real crisis as the basis for the enforcement of a set of disciplinary practices that essentially denounced any unrestrained form of physical contact as a taboo, the strip club continued to illegally function as a sort of “underground” public space, in which all norms of social distancing and medical requirements for allowing contact where ignored, revealing the largely illusory character of the public biopolitical hysteria itself. For the purposes of this paper, I will attempt to investigate the contradictory capabilities of this peculiar art form, using a selection of references on articles and books, as well as works of art, such as The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even by Marcel Duchamp and The Center of the World by Wayne Yang. 23 Session 2A: Eukaryote TABOO ‒ Leaky Networks and Bareback Browsing: TRANSGRESSION ‒ Towards reclaiming Promiscuity Online Arianna Ferrari Accademia di Belle Arti Santa Giulia networked machines and network culture has been obscured—both technically and performance maker and writer whose current research delves into the culturally—to uphold ideals of closure that reflect a phallocentric logic. Leaky Networks and Bareback Browsing examines how the inherent promiscuity of Arianna Ferrari (she/them) is a TRANSCENDENCE in complexities of postdigital society and Drawing parallels between the stigmatization of bodily promiscuity and the securitization technopolitics. She has showcased “leakiness” and “promiscuity” as generative conditions that have the potential to disrupt galleries, and cultural centers across Europe and North America, including the phallocentric fiction of impenetrability embedded in cybersecurity narratives. of digital interactions, the talk engages queer theory and digital media studies to reframe their projects in independent spaces, ]Performance Space [ in London, Art & Science 2025 Inspired by Wendy Chun’s call “to build new forms of interaction that cannot leak Defibrillator Gallery in Chicago, Onassis (Chun, Friedman, 2015) Leaky Networks and Bareback Browsing proposes to look at Contemporary Art in Bergamo. Their work has been featured in collections the subculture of Barebacking as a framework to reclaim the inherent promiscuity (and because they do not seek to be private or close or monogamous in the first place” Cultural Centre in Athens, and The Blank such as Keep it Dirty Vol.a (Punctum vulnerability) of networked interactions and reshaping them into practices of radical Books, NY) and EmergencyINDEX Book openness and collective care. By linking barebacking to browsing practices, the talk (Ugly Duckling Press, NY), as well as of Abstracts in scholarly texts like ¡Mamá, de mayor re-frames digital promiscuity as a form of resistance to the macho technopolitics. quiero ser un cyborg! La performance como resistencia somatopolítica (Manuel Lopez Garcia, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia) and The Embodiment of Gender Identity in Contemporary Female Performers (Felicie Kertudo, King’s College London). Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Visual Arts and Techno Humanities at Accademia Santa Giulia in Brescia, Italy. 24 Session 2A: Eukaryote TABOO ‒ Pleasure Expansion: Building ethical frameworks for global TRANSGRESSION ‒ AI pleasure applications Lex Gillon Independent challenges. These systems have the potential to transform access to pleasure, alleviate Group, a pleasure think tank dedicated to exploring the intersections of sexuality, loneliness, and democratize sexual education. However, they raise critical concerns The rise of AI in intimate settings, such as AI companions in SexTech, presents ethical Lex Gillon is the founder of Modality TRANSCENDENCE in society, and emerging technologies. around privacy, consent, and societal norms, particularly in culturally diverse contexts. With over a decade of experience in that guide AI design in intimate contexts, ensuring privacy protection, consent, and nuanced and data-driven perspective to conversations about intimacy, culture, inclusivity across cultural, linguistic, and religious boundaries. My research aims to address these challenges by developing ethical frameworks sex industry research, she brings a and innovation. Art & Science 2025 Ethical safeguards will include transparency in AI processes, user control over personal A two-time SXSW speaker, Lex has design (VSD), the project will ensure AI systems align with human values and societal insightful presentations that bridge the worlds of sex, data, and Web3, offering expectations. data, and consent mechanisms tailored to individual needs. Drawing on value-sensitive captivated global audiences with thought leadership that challenges norms To address cultural adaptability, I will explore how AI can dynamically adjust to diverse and fosters deeper understanding. Book religious, cultural, and linguistic values. Key features will include customizable ethics Lex holds a Chinese degree from Yale of Abstracts University and an MBA from the Asia settings, adjustable content filters, and multilingual support. Inclusivity is central to the School of Business. She has lived on project, and AI models will be trained on diverse datasets to reduce bias and promote three continents, in cities such asNew fairness across different user groups. York City, Shanghai, and Berlin. As “The research, prototype development, and iterative feedback. In the first phase, I will to redefining the narratives around pleasure and creating multifaceted conduct interviews across cultural contexts to gather insights into user needs and This research follows a user-centered design approach, incorporating cross-cultural Pleasure Researcher,” Lex is committed conversations which consider macro and ethical concerns. These insights will guide the design of AI prototypes with adaptive microeconomic perspectives. features, which will be tested and refined based on diverse user feedback. Regular ethical audits will ensure the system remains fair and aligned with global standards, creating new standards where necessary. The project will deliver an AI prototype designed to respect privacy, foster inclusivity, and adapt to varied cultural values, along with a comprehensive ethical framework for AI in intimate contexts. 25 Session 2A: Eukaryote TABOO ‒ Cassiopeia’s Secret - The Future of Intimacy in Space TRANSGRESSION ‒ Rudolf Arnold SEADS Collective connection? It is the human body as a musical source and interface for tactile stimulation physics graduate from the University of Ulm, has been a media educator and sexual arousal. Art, science, and technology are creating new forms of intimacy Space sexology, gender identity, and music: It sounds exciting, but what is the Rudolf Arnold, a mathematics and TRANSCENDENCE in since 1980, co-founding Radio Free and sensory perception. An innovative piece of clothing called the Pleasure Spacesuit FM in 1995. A cosplayer since 2006, and desire for oneself, human beings, and cosmic entities. Moreover, the lecture Be Here” and joined the smart fashion community in 2013. Since 2014, he has performance “Cassiopeia’s Secret” raises questions about intertwining science fiction, makes it possible. It transforms the wearer into a musical instrument driven by devotion he has embodied Hatsune Miku in “Still been an experimental musician and won Art & Science 2025 space travel, and gender identity. Despite their male biology, the performer expresses Berlin’s Fashion Hack Day awards. In mission is to promote the Spacegirl Science Academy project “Cosmic Caresse: Prause to develop a novel sensor for the sonification of sexual arousal, The Future of Intimacy in Space.” For them, performative experiments are a medium their lifelong desire to become Cassiopeia, a Multi-Gender Science Spacegirl. Their 2018, he collaborated with Dr. Nicole showcased globally. His “Pleasure with which they can let their imagination run wild and reveal their hidden fantasies. Space Suit” concept debuted at the Book Cassiopeia uses medical sensors and computation to translate their sexual arousal “7th International Congress on Love of Abstracts and Sex with Robots.” Presenting as into art and music. The tactile stimulators of their Pleasure Suit are controlled by music “Cassiopeia, the Science Space Girl,” played by the performer or a musician, as well as data generated by human physiology, Rudolf’s art merges technology, gender environmental sensors, and cosmic phenomena. identity, and space exploration, with works like “Cosmic Caresse” featured internationally. Recent performances include “Cassiopeia’s Secret” at NIME 2024, exploring themes of space sexology, music, astrophysics, and gender identity. 2B: Alveolate Session chair: Jessica Ullrich, University of Fine Art Münster 11:45 AQUADISIA 2.0 Stephanie Rothenberg 11:45 VJ Clew: Encouraging vermicomposting through interactive visual media and other senses Andrew Gryf Paterson 12:00 Between Life and Non-Life: The Temporal Cycles of Storied Matter in Eco- and Bioart Başak Ağın, Tuçe Erel 12:15 as we synch Dr. Lea Luka Sikau, Denisa Pubalova Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 27 Session 2B: Alveolate TABOO ‒ AQUADISIA 2.0 TRANSGRESSION ‒ Stephanie Rothenberg University at Buffalo potion that would create an equal playing field between all entities, human and other- traditional media and digital formats to make visible the inequitable systems and than-human? And now imagine that this special potion is made by a new species of What if humans could cure climate change by simply drinking a special potion? A Stephanie Rothenberg works in both TRANSCENDENCE in infrastructures of techno utopias. Moving bioengineered oysters. These new and improved cyborg oysters secrete a fluid that between real and virtual spaces her sentience – an “aquadisia”! Our insatiable consumptive desires are transformed into emerging economies and their underlying sociopolitical impact. Earlier projects sensorial and energetic pleasures beyond the mere sexual, leading to new forms of when ingested turn that ecstatic feeling of aphrodisia in humans into a new state of artworks focus on themes concerning explored the rise of digital currencies and Art & Science 2025 sentient interconnections with the cycle of life. their effect on global labor. More recently aphrodisiac to reimagine a more mutually symbiotic relationship between humans and conservation initiatives and sustainability myths around new blue economies such other-than-humans. The project narrative engages a pseudo-scientific overview of Aquadisia is a speculative design project that plays on the myth of the oyster as an she has been researching the politics of as aquaculture. She is also currently the process for creating this magical fluid. Anyone can access it by simply turning on developing a collaborative artwork on Book their faucet and taking a drink. It begins with extraction and gene manipulation of the the impact of anthropogenic sound as of Abstracts an environmental detriment on marine organisms in the lab, studies on its effect on the human body, and then moves outward life. Her artworks engage a variety to the ocean where the futuristic aquaculture vessels are being harvested around the of platforms that include interactive world. These structures allow the fluid to be pumped into public water systems. installation, drawing, sculpture, video, The project explores several critical issues significant to our ecological crisis within sound and performance. the intersection of biotechnology and marine science: the use of nonhuman life for https://stephanierothenberg.com/ human survival through genetic engineering, the illusion of conservation within the “blue economy” enabled through ecosystem services, and the neoliberal desire to transcend climate change through individuated responses. Moving between reality and fantasy, Aquadisia not only questions human action but also the ethical and economic dimensions of our solutions. The project aims to generate discussion on what are the real-world possibilities and action steps for moving forward in this vulnerable real-world situation we are all in. 28 Session 2B: Alveolate TABOO ‒ VJ Clew: Encouraging vermicomposting through interactive TRANSGRESSION ‒ visual media and other senses Andrew Gryf Paterson Aalto University / Pixelache Helsinki interactions with my ‘clew’ (a community of Eisenia fetida composting worms) through organiser’, cultural producer, educator, curator and independent researcher. playful photo collages shared on a popular blogging platform. These posts, under the For over eight years, I’ve practiced vermicomposting at home, documenting my Andrew Gryf Paterson is an ‘artist- TRANSCENDENCE in Paterson specializes in exploring Scots-familiar title ‘Me an ma Wormies #1’, record a symbiotic relationship: I provide connections between art, digital culture, into nutrient-rich worm-cast humus, or ‘black gold’. While far removed from the live the commons, DIY-Do-It-With-Others. Do-It-For-Research, ecological and visual art loops I created 25 years ago, these collages have become a meaningful way organic materials, and the worms and their microbial collaborators transform this waste science, cultural activism related to sustainability movements, along with Art & Science 2025 to engage with my micro-environment, and share this practice with others. cultural heritage and collaborative vermicomposting. Beyond zine-making and photo blogging, I propose a new project Paterson has an international practice, including activity over the past ~20 years for Summer 2025: a prototype ‘visual-jockey’ (VJ) system that visually reveals the Recently I’ve been interested in exploring ways to inspire youth to embrace networks. Originally from Scotland, in the Baltic Sea region, based for most hidden processes that takes places snugly within the compost bins. This system will of the time in Helsinki, Finland. He works Book include a specially constructed bin equipped with infra-red or night-vision lighting to across the fields of media/ network/ of Abstracts environmental arts and activism, minimize disruption to the worms while capturing their activity among the compost pursuing a participatory practice materials and other organisms. Using a microcontroller and mini-projector setup, the through workshops, performative system can switch between viewing angles, apply real-time visual filters, and integrate events, and storytelling. Strengths lie in to transform vermicomposting into an engaging, educational experience that appeals and network arts: the ability to bring together and involve people in creative, to younger audiences through interactive visual media rather than static imagery, and with open-source VJ software to create dynamic, interactive projections. The goal is hybridity, communications, organisation collaborative exploration, developing encourage getting their hands dirty. To complement this, an accompanying zine, ‘Us an temporary communities, gathering personal VJ Clew system. as new spaces of/for cultural activity. What is left behind as social, digital, The paper presentation will contextualise this activity with reference to similar eco- Oor Wormies #1’, will provide accessible, commons-oriented instructions for building a unexpected elements and components material and ephemeral residue of ‘being art-media-tech projects, and autoethnographic reflections on the challenges of the t/here’ has been a consistent concern. different senses that may or may not be engaged between the species involved, and More or less archived here: http://www. their respective communication capacities. agryfp.info 29 Session 2B: Alveolate TABOO ‒ Between Life and Non-Life: The Temporal Cycles of Storied TRANSGRESSION ‒ Matter in Eco- and Bioart Başak Ağın Associate Professor, TED University Based on the new materialist concept of vibrant matter, which foregrounds the living, TRANSCENDENCE in Başak Ağın, PhD, is Associate Professor of agentic, and energetic qualities of matter, the idea of storied matter emphasises how English literature at TED University, Ankara, matter is also story-laden and holds narrative capabilities, transgressing the conventional Türkiye. She is the founder of PENTACLE, understanding of narrativity as a human activity. Often invisible to the human eye and the first Turkish website on environmental and post-humanities (https://thepentacle.org), the difficult to perceive at first glance, matter’s narrative agency is, for us, best understood author of Posthümanizm: Kavram, Kuram, Bilim-Kurgu [Posthumanism: Concept, Theory, through eco- and bioart practices, as exemplified by the work of Nergiz Yeşil, Maya Science-Fiction] (2020), and the Turkish Minder, Rice Brewing Sisters Club, and Gülşah Mursaloğlu. In this paper, we discuss translator of Jane Bennett’s Vibrant Matter: A Art & Science 2025 Political Ecology of Things, which is currently kombucha, potato, and algae as nonhuman agents of temporality and life cycles, in its production stage. In 2021, she edited where the concepts of life and non-life merge with one another. We explore through the Turkish translation of Simon C. Estok’s Ecophobia Hypothesis (Routledge, 2018). fermentation and plant-based material,we build a conversation on how these examples She also co-edited two volumes, Posthuman of (non-)living matter formulate narratives on posthuman time and temporal cycles. Pathogenesis: Contagion in Literature, Arts, Yeşil’s LOREM İPSUM II. series (2020-ongoing) is based on kombucha mushroom, and Media (Routledge, 2022) and Beşerî Book Bilimlerin 50 Rengi: Çevreci, Dijital, Tıbbi ve in which the artist uses the kombucha byproducts as a canvas for her installation. Posthüman Sesler [50 Shades of Humanities: of Abstracts Similarly, Maya Minder’s film KombuMe (2020) shows the scoby-based material used Environmental, Digital, Medical, and Posthuman Voices] (2023), the only handbook to explore social action and fermentation. Rice Brewing Sister Club’s defines their core available for the Turkish academia in the practice as social fermentation, where they bring “aunty wisdom” into the sustainable relevant fields, the second volume of which is forthcoming in 2024. Her scholarly articles and eco-friendly ways of artistic practice. In their project at Seoul MMCA and SEMA, appeared in such journals as Ecozon@, they explored algae-based plastic production. As an artistic exploration, Gülşah CLCWeb, Neohelicon, Translation Review, Mursaloğlu’s Merging Fields, Splitting Ends (Sequence II and III) (2021-22) showcases Configurations, and EJES. potato starch-based plastic material, which continuously changes, dissolves and degrades. With the help of these works, we argue that bioart provides us with profound Tuçe Erel ways of thinking-with and becoming-with vibrant and storied matter, whereby the artists Independent Curator intra-act with life and non-life, blurring the boundaries between the two and narrating the myriad stories of biodegradable matter. Tuçe Erel is a Berlin-based independent curator, researcher, and cultural worker. She studied sociology at METU (2005) and art theory and criticism (MA program) at Anatolian University (2009). She did her second MA in Art Arts Policy and Management (with curating pathway) at Birkbeck College (2015). After working at various institutions in Istanbul as a content editor, event manager, archivist, and gallery assistant, she has been a freelance curator and art writer since 2013. She was an active member of >top e.V. between 2017 and 2021, where she curated and hosted events, exhibitions, and a Posthumanism reading group. She was a team member and co-curator at Art Laboratory Berlin from December 2019 to December 2024, assisting and co-curating their hybrid-art-oriented programme. Her curatorial interests are ecology, Capitalocene, and posthumanism. Erel uses her sociology education in her curatorial research, and in her research methodology, she prefers to twist and challenge conventional social science methodologies. In recent years, she has explored the concept of hacking as a way to unbox the concepts of bio-politics, Anthropocene, ecological crisis, cultures, non-human agency, artistic speculation and imagination. Since 2017, Erel implemented a curatorial narrative focusing on Capitalocene and environmental crises. Some of the curatorial projects focusing on ecology are “Now You are Here” (2017, curated with Seval Şener at Arte Sanat, Ankara); “Leviathan: A Capitalocene Beastiarium” (2021, curated with Käthe Wenzel and Lisa Glauer at TOP e.V. Berlin) “Vicious Cycles” (2022, Art Laboratory Berlin), “Echoes of the Future” (2024, at Biosphere Potsdam). 30 Session 2B: Alveolate TABOO ‒ as we synch TRANSGRESSION ‒ Dr. Lea Luka Sikau ZKM This impulse zooms into inter-species communication happening within our collective The artist duo sikau/pubalova was founded TRANSCENDENCE in in 2020, exploring the intersection of media bodyminds. The focus of our artistic research project ”as we synch“ lies on the arts, speculative research and experimental vibroacoustic rhythms of fermenting: how we synchronize through processing and sound theater. They have been commissioned by Ars Electronica Festival, Science Gallery becoming processed. During a year-long residency at LABoral (Studiotopia) and Bangalore, Climate Week NYC, European BIONUC, we listened to sonified signals, sounding ferments and gut noise in Asturian Commission, S+T+ARTS, LABoral, IMPAKT, Transmediale, Ensemble Modern and Ligeti cider factories, laboratory cultures and blue cheese caves, working out reocurring Center. patterns while guts engage in evolving ferments. We trained ourselves to attune our Art & Science 2025 As artist-researcher, Dr. Lea Luka Sikau gastrointestinal tract to the howls, growls and grumbles of local nutraceutical foods. (she/her) situates herself at the intersection of sound, music theater and media art. As Via the tactility of vibration motors, called actuators, we rehearsed to co-create the Curator for Music and Sound Art at the a multisensory experience that provokes the intestinal rhythms of audiences to ZKM Hertzlab, Dr. Lea Luka Sikau (she/her) shapes the sonic profile of artistic research synchronize with Asturian microbes. and programming, responsible for the artist residency programs and the performance Book series at KUBUS. Having received a doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge for of Abstracts her research on posthumanism, rehearsal ethnography and new opera, she became a Fellow at Harvard University’s Mellon School for Performance Research and was awarded with the Bavarian Cultural Award for her research at MIT’s Center for Art, Science and Technology. She has worked with Romeo Castellucci, Marina Abramović and Rimini Protokoll. Denisa Pubalova LABoral The artist duo sikau/pubalova was founded in 2020, exploring the intersection of media arts, speculative research and experimental sound theater. They have been commissioned by Ars Electronica Festival, Science Gallery Bangalore, Climate Week NYC, European Commission, S+T+ARTS, LABoral, IMPAKT, Transmediale, Ensemble Modern and Ligeti Center. Denisa Půbalová (she/her, CZ/NL) is an audiovisual artist, a researcher on environmental philosophy, critical posthumanism, and technological infrastructures, a creative coder and a lecturer. She works at the intersections of arts and science. Exploring microscopic and macroscopic climates, her current research expands from climatic storytelling with diatoms (microalgae), to critical research of the phenomenon of Earth’s digital twin. She works with microorganisms (molds, fungi, diatoms, biofilm). For her artistic research, she worked with Waag Futurelab, Posthuman Art Network CA, and Artbiom Prague. Together with Dr. Lea Luka Sikau, she forms duo sikau/pubalova, an artistic initiative focusing on embodied multi-sensory encounters within the arts. sikau/pubalova were commissioned by S+T+ARTS, Ars Electronica, BASE Milan, Science Gallery Bengaluru, IMPAKT Utrecht, transmediale Berlin, LABoral, Ensemble Modern, TONALi Hamburg, and ligeti zenter Hamburg. She is a visual artist in Metanoia Creatives, a collective that focuses on digital animation, generative arts, projection mappings, and large-scale audiovisual installations presented worldwide. roglophiles Session 3A: T chair: Olga Majcen Linn, KONTEJNER - bureau of contemporary art practice 14:15 sacrificial holes of devolution Cynthia Blanchette 14:30 Noise, Parasites, and Digital Coexistence: An STS Approach to Theo Triantafyllidis’ Ork Haus Stella Sofokleous, Eleni Gemtou, Johannis Tsoumas 14:45 Algo-Rhythmic Ideation Assembly Tjaša Pogačar, Brandon Rosenbluth 14:45 Octet Demi Hu, Colin Nations, Nhu Phung, Jiabao Li Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 32 Session 3A: Troglophiles TABOO ‒ sacrificial holes of devolution TRANSGRESSION ‒ Cynthia Blanchette Aalto University develops an argument for devolution. In a climate that appears more obsessed than researcher based in Finland, working as a Doctoral Researcher in the Department ever with the ideology of progress and human advancement, the author looks to the As an adoration mania for human exceptionalism grows ever stronger, this paper Cynthia Blanchette is a Canadian artist- TRANSCENDENCE in of Art and Media at Aalto University, taboos of the non-progressive, even luddite or primitive, to find a world of biological and a member of the RAT research intrinsic aspect of the morphological complexity of human adaptation and evolution. research interests fall into the abject facets of human-microbial-technological In the same way that viruses are said to once have been more evolved, humans too, devolutionary possibility. The regenerative power of devolution is viewed as an equally group led by Laura Beloff. Blanchette’s evolution. Within her artistic practice she Art & Science 2025 could de-evolve. re-evaluates ubiquitous cultural-societal ‘self’, disgust can also be understood as a useful guide to otherness. Parasites, and so ideation drawing, artifact collecting, bioart, and textile art. Blanchette has a called evolutionary ‘cheaters’ are explored to develop new perspectives on the morally While disgust is said to be the evolutionary gatekeeper at the boundary of the individual notions of the lived experience through Master of Arts degree in Visual Cultures, disgusting phenomena of becoming less. These so-called lower life forms which Curating and Contemporary Art with a Book disgust us, are also intrinsic to the human microbiome. As the human condition oozes minor in Textile Design (Aalto University, of Abstracts 2021), and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with holes of disgusting biofluid otherness, anything is possible in the intrusion and degree (University of Saskatchewan, extrusion of genetic information. The author proposes the outsider notion of devolution, CA, 2014). to romanticize the plasticity to become a less complex life form through lateral gene transfer and co-evolution, not out of existential distress but out of passion for the simple structures within highly complex systems. Through literature and art review the paper maps out artistic, scientific, and philosophical perspectives on devolution, in addition to reflecting on the author’s own artistic practice within the context of evolutionary disgust and sacrifice. In this context the author understands sacrifice to be the movement away from the current state of exceptional human ‘being’ and its parallel ideology through the manifestation of mutational metagenomic therapeutics. 33 Session 3A: Troglophiles TABOO ‒ Noise, Parasites, and Digital Coexistence: An STS Approach TRANSGRESSION ‒ to Theo Triantafyllidis’ Ork Haus Stella Sofokleous Νational and Κapodistrian University of Athens This analysis explores Ork Haus (2022), an experimental simulation by Greek artist Stella Sofokleous holds a PhD from the TRANSCENDENCE in Department of History and Philosophy of Theo Triantafyllidis, critiquing socio-technological tensions within Web3-enabled digital Science at the National and Kapodistrian platforms. In this speculative space, a family of orcs grapples with survival in a chaotic, University of Athens (NKUA), supervised by Associate Professor Eleni Gemtou. Her incomplete household, echoing pandemic-era isolation. Inspired by The Sims, the orcs research focuses on the history and philosophy face absurd challenges—crying on the toilet, meditating at night, and striking walls— of digital art. After completing an MA in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, she emphasizing their alienation within a fractured, never-ending work-from-home reality. worked at the National Gallery of Scotland. The orc family’s indefinite lockdown is symbolized by shifting shadows in the scenery, Art & Science 2025 She received scholarships for both her MA with their passive immersion in a technologically mediated “onlife” (Floridi, 2015) and PhD studies from the A.G. Leventis Foundation. Her work has been published in deepening their detachment from the physical world. Ongoing disturbances—such as conference proceedings and scientific journals a constant kitchen fire, a leaking sink, and accumulating trash—serve as metaphors (DRHA2020, RISE IMET 2021, ISEA 2022, Automaton). In 2022, she translated 19 texts for contagion, both literal and figurative, within the physical and the digital space. The into Greek for the volume Digital Technologies “digital storm,” full of noise and disruptions, symbolizes the interplay between contagion & Arts, edited by Assistant Professor Vassiliki Book Lalioti (NKUA). In 2023, she joined the network and immunity in digital environments. Striking twice, the storm acts as a parasite of the TECHNO-LOGIA project (ASFA & Dept. of Abstracts (Serres, 1982), destabilizing the household and exposing the orc family’s apathy — of PHS). Serres’ concept of noise as both disruptor and catalyst highlights vulnerabilities in the digital space while offering potential for transformation. Eleni Gemtou Applying Science and Technology Studies’ (STS) theoretical lenses to Ork Haus Νational and Κapodistrian University of sheds light to the socio-political impact of digital platforms and their role in shaping Athens human experience (van Dijck, 2013; Spagnoletti, Resca & Lee, 2015) and identity Eleni Gemtou is Associate Professor at (Srnicek, 2017; Brown, 2019) within emotionally charged, work-from-home contagion the National and Kapodistrian University forms. Ork Haus’ connotations connects to the broader discussion on digital platforms, of Athens (Department of Philosophy and History of Science). Her research explores the which, though seen as neutral spaces for tasks and transactions, act as socio-political intersection of Art, Science, and Technology. frameworks shaping individual and collective identities. They prompt us to reconsider She has published widely in scientific journals and conference proceedings, and is the author isolation, control, and the ethical implications of technology in our lives, aligning with of the Greek-language books History of Art. STS views on technology as an active force in shaping social processes and cultural An Epistemological Approach (2nd ed., 2022) and Art and Science. Interpretive Approaches dynamics (Grau & Hinterwaldner, 2021). to Modern and Contemporary Art through Additional info: Link to the artwork: https://slimetech.org/works/orkhaus the Influence of Science (2018). She also translated and edited the Greek edition of The Books that Shaped Art History (2022). She has coordinated and authored several University of Athens e-learning programs and is a member of the TECHNO-LOGIA project (ASFA & Dept. of PHS), as well as teaching staff at the Open University of Greece. Johannis Tsoumas University of West Attica, Greece Johannis Tsoumas earned his MA in History of Design from Middlesex University (1993) and a PhD in Art History from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2002). He has published extensively in scientific journals and is the author of four books on design and visual culture, including The History of the Decorative Arts and Architecture in Europe and America (1760–1914), The Emergence of Plastics Culture in Greece (1950–1970), Women in Greek Advertisements in the 1960s, and Japan and the West: Mutual Influences in Applied Arts (1540–1960). He currently teaches at the Department of Interior Architecture at the University of West Attica as an Art and Design Historian and Fine Arts Tutor. His research interests include nineteenth-century design and twentieth-century European visual and material culture. 34 Session 3A: Troglophiles TABOO ‒ Algo-Rhythmic Ideation Assembly TRANSGRESSION ‒ Tjaša Pogačar 2023 and 2024. Adopting a role-play format, it sought to break free from entrenched of contemporary art and co-founder and editor-in-chief of Šum, a Ljubljana-based ways of being and thinking amid political and ecological upheaval. Drawing on mystical Algo-Rhythmic Ideation Assembly (ARIA) was a summer school held in Ljubljana in Tjaša Pogačar is an independent curator TRANSCENDENCE in magazine and platform for art and theory- techniques, contemporary cultural theory, speculative thought, occult traditions, and fiction. She worked with the Museum worlds—allowing new forms of subjectivity to emerge and bleed into consensus reality. Gallery and Aksioma Project Space, among others, curating solo and group The presentation will outline the project’s core ideas and consider what they might offer digital technologies, ARIA aimed to prototype alternative selves, collectivities, and of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Škuc shows and collaborating mostly with the Art & Science 2025 for creative and institutional practices. younger generation of artists. In 2019/20 she curated two editions of IFCA – International Festival of Computer Arts in Maribor titled Automated Ecologies and Infrastructure Complex: Altered Earth that focused on questions arising Book from the intertwining of technology and planetary ecologies. She works also as of Abstracts a curator and producer of intermedia art at the Projekt Atol Institute in Ljubljana. With Šum and Projekt Atol she launched an offsite/online exhibition project Plaza Protocol that is developing new formats and plots for and from an unfinished construction site of an underground shopping mall on the outskirts of the city. She is also the curator of ISKRA DELTA – 34th Ljubljana Graphic Biennale. (https://linktr.ee/tjasa.p) Brandon Rosenbluth (@skeptic_mystic) is a chimeric cultural engineer currently operating out of Ljubljana. 35 Session 3A: Troglophiles TABOO ‒ Octet TRANSGRESSION ‒ Demi Hu Independent Demi is an interaction designer and developer. Her work spans multiple disciplines, from physical fabrication to programming to UI/ UX design. Demi is passionate about how Octet is a speculative browser-based game that combines interactive storytelling tangible, immersive interactions can help us TRANSCENDENCE in live more meaningfully in an increasingly digital with tactile feedback to explore connection, control, and cooperation. Inspired by world-her vision for the future is one where the decentralized intelligence of octopi, it invites players to engage physically and technology is used to augment our everyday socially, challenging dominant ideas of individuality and autonomy. In a world shaped sensory experiences and social connections, not replace it. Octet asks how we might think and act differently. Through collective play and embodied by environmental destruction, inequality, and isolation—often fueled by self-interest— Colin Nations experience, it prompts reflection on human behavior, non-human intelligence, and Independent Art & Science 2025 the possibility of more empathetic, cooperative futures. A modified TENS unit adds a Colin Nations is a Texas-born visual designer sensory layer that reinforces the game’s central question: What happens when we feel and printmaker whose work spans editorial and textile design. His practice emphasizes together? By blending speculative design, social critique, and participatory technology, storytelling through material and form, Octet becomes a space for reimagining connection—not only with each other, but with often drawing connections between design, community, and shared experience. Beyond the living systems we inhabit. the studio, Colin organizes and participates in Book local cultural events, from live music to clothing and collective gathering. of Abstracts markets, reflecting his interest in collaboration Nhu Phung Independent Nhu Phung is a Vietnamese American designer with a passion for print, ecology, and critical design. Her work often explores overlooked or underestimated subjects— whether celebrating the everyday pigeon or imagining new forms of connection through the intelligence of the octopus. Guided by feminist and experimental approaches, Nhu’s practice seeks to create thoughtful and playful interventions that challenge human-centered perspectives while highlighting beauty and interdependence. The University of Texas at Austin Jiabao Li Jiabao Li is an artist, assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin, founding director of Ecocentric Future Lab, and visiting professor at Stanford. She creates works addressing climate change, multispecies futures, humane technology, and perceptions. Her mediums include wearable, robot, AR/VR, performance, scientific experiment, installation. In Jiabao’s TED Talk, she uncovered how technology mediates the way we perceive reality. Her recent solo exhibitions include “Chill Out: The Arctic Couldn’t”, “Progenitorial Hysteresis”, “Perception Omnifold”, and “Ecological Soup: Interspecies Encounters”. Jiabao is the recipient of numerous awards including Forbes China 30 Under 30, STARTS Prize, Falling Walls, Fast Company, and the Outstanding Instructor Award from Bio Design Challenge. Her work has been exhibited internationally, at MoMA, Venice Architecture Biennale, Ars Electronica, Exploratorium, Today Art Museum Biennial, SIGGRAPH, Milan and Dubai Design Week, ISEA, etc. Her academic papers have been published in top conferences and journals including SIGGRAPH, CHI, IEEE VIS. Her work has been featured on Fast Company, Art Forum, Business Insider, Bloomberg, South China Morning Post, Domus, Yanko Design, Harvard Political Review, Leonardo. She is a member of Onassis Foundation and a Fellow at Ars Electronica Founding lab. She graduated from Harvard GSD with Distinction and thesis award. roglophobes Session 3B: T chair: Anna Kedziora, Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznan, Poland 14:15 Death, vulnerable Margherita Pevere 14:30 Transgressing Death, Transgressing Grief Marietta Radomska 14:45 Aestheticized and Necrogamic Themes in Contemporary Art Maria Athanasekou 15:00 From Kusōzu to Microbial Forensics: Exploring Thanatomorphosis in Art and Science François-Joseph Lapointe Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 37 Session 3B: Troglophobes TABOO ‒ Death, vulnerable TRANSGRESSION ‒ Margherita Pevere Margherita Pevere Studio I am already dying. work with living matter, ecology and biotechnology, Dr Margherita Pevere I am a dying being.’ ‘I am a living being. Known internationally for her otherworldly TRANSCENDENCE in is an artist and researcher addressing taboos like death, sex and vulnerability. death from an ecological perspective. installation, performance, and writing, which she waves seamlessly thanks to The series builds upon my practice around leaky and vulnerable bodies and ecologies I formulated this statement in 2020 to mark the inception of an artistic series investigating Her practice embraces object-making, her transdisciplinary background. Art & Science 2025 featuring the direct manipulation of living processes with (bio)technology. The series Her project Lament on wildfire ecologies lingering taboo with tangled ethical implications. These implications can be seen e.g. in territories mention (2024) and she was nominated for the Falling Walls Awards how the biomedical extension of life is praised as an indisputable value, whereas the thus develops my practice’s core by addressing how, in the Global North, death is a received the COAL Prize / Transformative / Category Art and Science (2023) for deadly exploitation of those considered ‘less worth’ (because of gender, species, etc) is the body of work around her concept Book legitimized. The taboo rests on a binary assigning a positive value to life and a negative ‘arts of vulnerability’. Her artworks of Abstracts have been shown at iMAL - Center to death – but depending on whose life or death. for digital cultures and technology, Following these reflections, questions arise from the 2020 statement, such as: what Bruxelles; Foundation L’Art Pur, Ryhad; kind(s) of death(s) am I dying? What does it mean to be a dying being in times of Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin; Kiasma performance, manipulation of biological processes, ecological observation, and Kersnikova, Ljubljana; KONTEJNER, Zagreb; Ars Electronica, Linz; Wiener philosophical inquiry. technoscience and eco-disruption? The series addresses such questions though Theatre, Helsinki; Kapelica Gallery / Festwochen; Casa Viva, Mexico City, Philosophically, concepts from queer death studies and environmental humanities among other. Artistically, different projects radically engage with macro and micro ecologies. Lament Vacuo with Marco Donnarumma to create works that combine body art, looks at post-wildfire ecologies in soil and features an installation-performance and help critically examine how death’s processuality unfolds through ecology and biotech. She runs the performance group Fronte dance, theatre, audiovisual performance community engagement. Hlymia interrogates the conflictual relation between my and technology. Among the projects she Ultimately, the series asks: by embracing death as a vulnerable, generative agent, Order (co-curated with Theresa Schubert and Karolina Żyniewicz) featured an what novel ways of inhabiting the world may emerge? My talk will discuss the series’ immune and skin cells in my auto-immune condition. initiated, the show Membranes Out Of innovative exhibition concept based on current development and underpinning questions with a situated approach, to prompt a artworks and research materials. Recent discussion on how death may catalyse ideas, ethics and aesthetics. art and science partnerships include the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and the Heimholz Centre for Infection Research. She is a member of the Finnish Bioart Society and the Queer Death Studies Network, and affiliated researcher of The Eco- and Bioart Lab. Pevere holds a doctorate in artistic research from Aalto University on art, biotechnology and queer studies. Her publications cover arts, aesthetics, environmental humanities and queerfeminist studies. 38 Session 3B: Troglophobes TABOO ‒ Transgressing Death, Transgressing Grief TRANSGRESSION ‒ Marietta Radomska Linköping University The Eco- and Bioart Lab It is a point of implosion, where past, present, and future collapse – a presence/absence Associate Professor of Environmental Humanities at Linköping University; of that which dies. Death is a node. Marietta Radomska, PhD, Docent, is TRANSCENDENCE in director of The Eco- and Bioart Lab And perhaps, a collapse for those who remain. (https://ecobioartlab.net/); co-founder of A point of reference. A term eternally re-appropriated by discourse. queerdeathstudies.net/). Radomska is the author of Uncontainable Life: Subject to both pornification and tabooisation at the same time. A key concern in Western philosophy and culture. Queer Death Studies Network (https:// A Biophilosophy of Bioart (2016); Art & Science 2025 co-editor of the book series ‘Focus inception. And yet, something has changed in the 20th and 21st century. The planetary (Routledge); and co-editor of books State of the Art – Elements for Critical scales of Anthropocene necropolitics, interlocked with both slow and spectacular Death has been at the centre of both art and philosophy since these fields’ very on More-than-human Humanities’ Thinking and Doing (BAS 2023) and (environmental) violence, and more-than-human poli-crisis, bring ‘proximity to death’ to Routledge Handbook of Queer Death Book a whole different level. Slow death, social death, ecocide, extinction. Of species, and Studies (forthcoming 2025). In years of Abstracts 2017-22 she led two research projects of hope. on ecologies of death, environmental violence and contemporary art (funded This theoretical intervention – mobilised via dialogue with contemporary artworks and by Vetenskapsrådet, FORMAS, and artworks articulate and mould their understanding and relation to more-than-human PI of the research project ‘Ecological Grief, Crisis Imaginaries and Resilience death and extinction. Grounded in queer death studies, the paper traces how the artists – zooms in on the ways in which select contemporary eco-, bio- and new-media MISTRA), and since 2022 has been the in Nordic Lights’ (2022-26), funded discussed artworks – weaving the bios, the soma, the zoe, and the techne – transgress by FORMAS Research Council for approaches to death, dying, and mourning. Visual and material storytelling – fleshed at the intersection of environmental humanities, continental philosophy, out through the works of Terike Haapoja, Polina Choni, Svenja Kratz, and Alexandra the human-exceptionalist conceptualisations, imaginaries, understandings, and Sustainable Development. She works queer death studies, visual culture, Daisy Ginsburg, among others – digs deep into the questions of relating, remembrance, contemporary art, and artistic research; – an assortment of conceptual and affective strategies which simultaneously queer and Studies; Somatechnics; Environment and Planning E, and Artnodes, among expand our own relationship to death, dying, and grief. ethics, and peculiar forms of resistance. Ultimately, they all offer – in very different ways and has published in Australian Feminist others. Web: www.mariettaradomska.com. 39 Session 3B: Troglophobes TABOO ‒ Aestheticized and Necrogamic Themes in Contemporary Art TRANSGRESSION ‒ Maria Athanasekou Hellenic Open University, Frederick University resonates deeply with many artists who visit and present it metaphorically, exploring in art history at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, how the living symbolically “wed” themselves to ideas of memory, grief, and mortality. Necrogamy, or symbolic unions with the dead, is an unusual theme, which, nevertheless, Dr Maria Athanasekou completed a PhD TRANSCENDENCE in on the art of the Pre-Raphaelites, an Contemporary art has increasingly engaged with necrogamic themes that combine MA in Renaissance Studies at the ways that prompt reflection on transience, remembrance, and spiritual transformation. and a BA in Archaeology and History of Art at the National University of Athens. Death aestheticization refers to the practice of presenting death and related themes— elements of ritual, symbolism, and existential exploration, bridging life and death in University of London, Birkbeck College She teaches art history at Frederick Art & Science 2025 such as decay, mortality, and the ephemeral nature of life—in a way that emphasizes University, Cyprus and the Hellenic Open of death into an object of aesthetic focus is often achieved through visual, auditory, and several international conferences which have been published and contributed conceptual techniques that frame passing not as a grim end but as a profound part of beauty, contemplation, or emotional depth rather than horror or fear. The transformation University. She has delivered papers at with chapters to books, as well as having the human experience. published books on art, art as therapy Book Aestheticized and necrogamic themes in contemporary art confront society’s taboos and education. of Abstracts She likes telling art stories, to share and fears around death, aiming to bring beauty, understanding, and introspection to and communicate through images. She impermanence. Among other artists’ work that will be discussed, Abramović’s work believes that art has a lot of stories to is characterized by exploring the thresholds between life and death, often through tell, many of which, if not all, concern us through physical vulnerability. Joel-Peter Witkin’s work frequently merges themes of as long as the field of our existence broadens. the erotic and the macabre, creating a symbolic marriage between the beautiful and endurance pieces that confront mortality, creating an indirect “marriage” with death or will, at some future point in our lives, the decayed. Damien Hirst’s works often explore death as an intrinsic part of life’s beauty, making his pieces feel like tributes or “marriages” with mortality. Anya Gallaccio uses ephemeral materials like flowers and fruits that rot over time, symbolizing the impermanence of life while embracing decay as a transformative process. Artists may create portraits that imply a union with death, romanticizing the notion of life’s end as serene or poetic. Gottfried Helnwein creates haunting, hyper-realistic portraits that suggest both innocence and mortality, blurring the line between life and death. 40 Session 3B: Troglophobes TABOO ‒ From Kusōzu to Microbial Forensics: TRANSGRESSION ‒ Exploring Thanatomorphosis in Art and Science François-Joseph Lapointe Université de Montréal in nine stages, to underscore the impermanence of life, the vulnerability of existence, and bioartist, Full professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at and the fragility of the body. This tradition, blending religion and aesthetics, finds a The kusōzu, a Japanese Buddhist practice, illustrates the decomposition of a corpse François-Joseph Lapointe is a biologist TRANSCENDENCE in the Université de Montréal (Canada). parallel in forensic studies of the thanatobiome, the microbial communities involved He holds a PhD in evolutionary biology converge in their exploration of the body post-mortem, reflecting the cyclical nature and practices of the arts (2012). As part of his research in biology, he is interested of life and death. While the kusōzu visually narrates body decay, the thanatobiome in the five stages of human decomposition. Such artistic and scientific approaches (1992) and another PhD in the studies in phylogenetics, systematics, population Art & Science 2025 unravels the succession of microbial populations driving this process, shedding light on genetics, and the human microbiome. and ultimately dust. Beyond a simple representation of corpses for artistic purposes, practice, he draws inspiration from models of molecular biology and my hybrid approach bridging art and science seeks to propose novel ways of depicting thanatomorphosis—the gradual transition of a human carcass into carrion, skeleton, As part of his interdisciplinary artistic genetics. He is the author of 140 body decomposition, drawing inspiration from both ancient aesthetic traditions and scientific publications and more than 300 Book contemporary microbial forensics. international conferences. His artistic of Abstracts work has notably been presented at the Musée de la civilization (Quebec), Transmediale (Berlin), SciArt Center (New York), Ars Electronica (Linz), Medical Museion (Copenhagen), Science Gallery (London) and the Pompidou Center (Paris). Session 4A: Stramenopiles chair: Jiabao Li, The University of Texas at Austin 15:45 Metaleptic Performativity and Its Aesthetic Properties: Art, Technology, Biomedia, Excretions and Fluids Olga Majcen Linn, Sunčica Ostoić 16:00 Flies, Blood, and Rot: Exploring ‘Improper’ Entanglements in Search of Ecstatic Decay KS Brewer 16:15 Post-Human Molecular Enhancement: Exploring Aesthetics and Biopolitics in Life Engineering Elena Giulia Abbiatici 16:30 The Flow of Blood and Data: Parallels in Vital Systems and Symbolic Narratives Evangelia Diamantopoulou, Penny Papageorgopoulou Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 42 Session 4A: Stramenopiles TABOO ‒ Title Metaleptic Performativity and Its Aesthetic Properties: TRANSGRESSION ‒ Art, Technology, Biomedia, Excretions and Fluids Olga Majcen Linn KONTEJNER bureau of contemporary art practice of metaleptic performativity. Metaleptic objects and performances are interconnected independent curator and researcher, and guest lecturer at the Academy of facets of art at the intersection of science and technology, both serving to challenge The paper builds upon the theory of metaleptic objects by researching the concept Dr Olga Majcen Linn is art-sci-tech TRANSCENDENCE in Fine Arts in Zagreb. She holds a PhD and transcend societal taboos and boundaries. Metaleptic objects, characterized by in arts and media from the Faculty of traditionally excluded from aesthetic considerations—reframing them as resources in the field of transdisciplinary studies of contemporary art and media. She is for artistic energy and ecological recycling. Through their unsettling transformation their static materiality, incorporate human bodily excretions and fluids—taboo elements Media and Communication, Belgrade a co-founder of NGO KONTEJNER / Art & Science 2025 of biological surplus into art, these objects challenge prevailing cultural perceptions, bureau of contemporary art praxis. oscillating between fascination and repulsion. Their permanence invites sustained reflection on the human body’s materiality and its potential for generating alternative Sunčica Ostoić KONTEJNER narratives around waste and value. Metaleptic performativity enacts these transgressive bureau of contemporary art practice principles through live and ephemeral actions. By utilizing the human body or taboo Book materials in performance art, it disrupts conventional narrative structures, creating Sunčica Ostoić (Zagreb, Croatia) is an of Abstracts immersive and participatory experiences. The temporal and interactive dimensions of art historian and theorist of art at the intersection of science, technology, and performance amplify its ethical and emotional resonance, foregrounding the immediacy the body. She holds a PhD in Arts and of norm breach and provoking an intensified engagement with societal boundaries. Media from the Faculty of Media and Both forms underscore the transformative possibilities inherent in taboo materials, Communications in Belgrade. In 2002, recontextualizing them to challenge established norms and explore new ontological she co-founded KONTEJNER / bureau of contemporary art praxis in Zagreb, where frontiers. By examining these modalities, the paper underscores their shared ability to she led the organization for many years, disrupt cultural assumptions and reshape the interplay between art, materiality, and curating and initiating internationally contravention. These modalities are explored through case studies such as Until I acclaimed festivals such as Extravagant Die by ::vtol::, Cloaca by Wim Delvoye, Agalma by Zoran Todorović, and Kissing Data Bodies, Touch Me, and Device_art. Her work includes peer-reviewed Symphony by Karen Lancel and Hermen Maat. and professional articles, numerous exhibition prefaces, and the editing of catalogs for art exhibitions, festivals, and interdisciplinary anthologies. She has lectured at international conferences, as well as at higher education and artistic institutions. She is a guest adjunct assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. 43 Session 4A: Stramenopiles TABOO ‒ Flies, Blood, and Rot: Exploring ‘Improper’ Entanglements in TRANSGRESSION ‒ Search of Ecstatic Decay KS Brewer Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute bullata flesh flies in my apartment, and fed them my blood throughout their lives and researcher and Ph.D. student of Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic those of their progeny. These flies are decomposers - they eat and procreate on rotting For several months this past year, I did my best to care for hundreds of sacrophaga KS Brewer is a transdisciplinary artist- TRANSCENDENCE in Institute, exploring life extension flesh. I brought them into my home out of an interest in exploring the possibility of and preservation in technoscientific that breaks down the perceived divisions between life and death, subject and world. and alternative outlooks made possible from queer and abject standpoints of Setting aside the mind-body dualism of religious ecstasy in favor of a vibrant material ecstatic decay—conceived as the visceral experience of coming undone, post-death, conceptions of present and future life, death and decay. Through experiential Art & Science 2025 entanglement (in the vein of Bennett (2010), Braidotti (2013), and Lykke (2021)), I can art, multiple senses, mediums, and As we lived, died, and decomposed together, I confronted the ways in which the flies in search of affective intra-actions between human and/or inhuman beings. challenged my sense of disgust, my preconceptions of contamination and cleanliness. locate the transcendence of ecstasy in the body, rather than out of it. technologies are incorporated together KS holds a BA in filmmaking from Through my fumbling attempts at care, and the metabolic exchange of my blood, we NYU, and uses their training in time- Book conjured a queer affiliation, what Mel Chen calls an “improper affinity,” between us based technologies and experience as of Abstracts a professional fabricator to inform their (2012). My blood decomposed in them, intimately entangling our bodies, and when practice. Recent shows include Co- I opened the window to let them leave, my DNA got pooped out throughout the Prosperity Gallery of the Public Media environment, decorporealizing me into the world to some extent (Engelhaupt 2016). Institute (Chicago, IL), the IOTA Institute (perhaps even more challengingly) that such self-transcendence is an abjectly gross Canada), the Conference of the Society for Social Studies of Science (Cholula, process - excessive, strange, even repellent. Against our understandings of future This strengthens my sense of decay as a site of radical transformation. It also suggests at the University of Windsor (Windsor, Mexico), and the Amatryx Gaming Lab ecological change as necessitating a return to ‘pristine’ wilderness or ‘clean’ energy, & Studio (Buffalo, NY). Their work has Elaborated through current art-research projects, this artist talk delves further into my and Hyperallergic, and their writing is published in Strange Matters Magazine ongoing kinship with flies, and the ecstatic possibilities of material decay. this work instead suggests leaning into certain forms of kinship with “contamination.” been published in Forbes, Ravelin, and World Futures Review (forthcoming). 44 Session 4A: Stramenopiles TABOO ‒ Post-Human Molecular Enhancement: Exploring Aesthetics TRANSGRESSION ‒ and Biopolitics in Life Engineering Elena Giulia Abbiatici Albertina Academy, Turin. POLI.Design, Milano and inhalable substances to manipulate the perceptions and behaviour of its citizens. researcher, and curator of contemporary art. She is a lecturer at POLI.design These substances allow immediate psychotropic control over the masses, bypassing In Stanislaw Lem’s The Futurological Congress (1981), the government uses ingestible Elena Giulia Abbiatici is an art historian, TRANSCENDENCE in (Milan) and a PhD candidate in New slower and more complex rational and cognitive processes. Media and Critical Curatorial Practices define a chemical and molecular semi-sphere, marking the contemporary techno- in Turin and Université Paris 8. Her research explores the intersection of neural transition towards cognitive bio-hacking aimed at perpetual performativity, under Today, smart drugs, nootropic drugs, hormone therapies and genetic nanotechnology at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts contemporary art, synthetic intelligence, Art & Science 2025 a pharmapornographic dictatorship, as theorised by Preciado (2013). posthuman theory, and decolonial the design of psycho-physical capabilities or even behavioural traits, creating human curating and poetic technologies. Her work often investigates the ethical, beings with enhanced characteristics, potentially within a hybrid framework. The risk is The engineering of life also enables intervention in DNA, the supreme code, allowing thought, with a focus on speculative aesthetic, bio- and psychopolitical that the use of these technologies, fuelled by computational averages, may revive neo- implications of human–machine Book eugenic imperatives, including the reinforcement of gender and racial stereotypes, i.e. relationships through transdisciplinary of Abstracts methodologies and hybrid narratives. molecularly reinscribing race (Duster, 2015). She has exhibited and developed Our intention is to investigate artistic practices that critically engage with the chemical projects at numerous contemporary art and molecular enhancement of our bodies, as latent mechanisms of power and social venues, including the first, second, and leisure, sleep, mental states and gender identity. In this context, we will explore the Biennale Cairo (2015, 2018, 2023), the 56th and 57th Venice Art Biennale (2015, work of artists, including, but not limited to, Anna Dumitriu, Ani Liu, Zach Blas, Memo control exercised over vital aspects of life, such as sex and reproduction, work and third editions of Something Else – Off 2017), the 15th Venice Architecture Akten, Kendric McDowell, M. Pevere, Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Paul Vanouse, Biennale (2016), the 15th Istanbul its resonance with aesthetic categories such as simulation, second creation, and Manifesta 12 Palermo (2018), MACRO Museum, Rome (2012), AW Museum, hallucination. who interrogate the boundaries and implications of this enhancement, exploring Biennale (2017), Berlin Art Week (2017), South Korea (2018), Silent Barn, New By situating these artistic investigations within the larger discourse of techno-scientific York (2014), and BSBG – Italian Capital ramifications of such advancements. Through this lens, we aim to offer a critical Her research projects have been developed and/or presented at perspective on the molecular reshaping of life and its far-reaching socio-political governance, this paper seeks to interrogate the biopolitical and psychopolitical of Culture (2023). institutions including the University consequences. of Naples “L’Orientale”, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Concordia University (Montreal), RWTH Aachen University, MOME – Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (Budapest), Politecnico di Milano, Lusófona University (Lisbon), Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome), and ISEA – International Symposium on Electronic Art. 45 Session 4A: Stramenopiles TABOO ‒ The Flow of Blood and Data: Parallels in Vital Systems and TRANSGRESSION ‒ Symbolic Narratives Evangelia Diamantopoulou National and Kapodistrian University of Athens systems of living organisms, ensuring their survival or signaling their potential associate professor and Director of the Laboratory of Arts and Cultural dysfunction or demise. Historically, blood has transcended its biological role to serve Blood, a complex mixture of cells, plasma, and platelets, courses through the intricate Evangelia Diamantopoulou is an TRANSCENDENCE in Management at the Department of as a potent symbol in religious rituals and artistic expression, embodying themes of Communication and Media Studies of emerged as the lifeblood of digital ecosystems, underpinning the function of social, of Athens. She is a member of the Hellenic Section of the International economic, and technological structures. This paper examines the parallel significance sacrifice, survival, and transcendence. Similarly, in the 21st century, data flows have the National and Kapodistrian University Union Art Critics AICA GREECE and Art & Science 2025 of blood and data as vital flows, exploring how both serve as existential regulators and of the Association of Greek Artist The biological flow of blood, as reflected in contemporary artistic and digital related to issues such as History of Art, Visual Arts and Communication, Image representations, echoes the existential dynamics of survival and transformation. cultural symbols. Historians. Her BA and MA courses are Dialectics, Issues of European Art, Artists in the 20th and 21st century depict or use blood to address issues such as Issues of Modern and Contemporary Book human vulnerability, societal sacrifice, and technological transcendence, mirroring Greek Art, Artistic Portraits, Issues of of Abstracts Artistic Creation. Her academic interests broader themes in digital culture where data flows sustain and reflect collective human focus on Art and Communication, Art activity. Data, like blood, is both a sustainer and a symbol: it fuels the operation of and Society, Issues of Identity in Art, complex systems while simultaneously raising ethical and existential concerns about Symbolic and Experienced Space biological processes and digital networks highlights the interconnectedness of life Historical Memory. Her published academic work includes 5 books, as well systems, with blood and data symbolizing the vitality and fragility of existence in both dependency, control, and the consequences of disruption. The interplay between in Visual Arts, Art and Play, Art and as many research projects in Greek and physical and virtual realms. International interdisciplinary journals modern digital cultures. Just as blood rituals once connected communities to existential https://en.media.uoa.gr/el/staff/ teaching_and_research_staff/ questions of life, death, and the sacred, the flow of data today governs the collective Moreover, blood’s symbolic resonance is paralleled by the conceptual gravity of data in concerning matters of Art and Culture. mind, shaping identities, behaviors, and global economies. The “algorithmic turn” in Penny Papageorgopoulou contemporary societies highlights how data not only sustains but also exerts control, National and Kapodistrian University of raising questions of surveillance, ethical governance, and societal dependence on Athens information parallel to blood’s biological role as both a carrier of life-sustaining nutrients Dr. Penny Papageorgopoulou is a and a harbinger of disease or mortality. Both flows thus embody a paradoxical duality: computer scientist, visual artist and new By juxtaposing these two vital flows, this paper situates the biological essence of blood PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from the National and Kapodistrian University and the digital essence of data within broader artistic, philosophical and anthropological they are essential yet precariously vulnerable to disruption. media scholar. In 2024, she received her frameworks. Through an interdisciplinary lens drawing on digital humanities, and MSc. in Digital Communication Media of Athens. In 2015, she received her and death, both in human bodies and in modern societies. Understanding the cultural National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In 2008, she received her and practical implications of these flows invites deeper reflections on humanity’s contemporary art, it underscores their shared role as indispensable regulators of life and Interactive Environments from the relationship to life-sustaining systems, whether organic or synthetic, and emphasizes and Technology from the University of BSc. in Telecommunications Science the urgent need to address vulnerabilities in both natural and artificial networks that Peloponnese. Her scientific interests threaten their continuity. include embodied computing, the broader field of human-computer interaction, as well as the design, development, and evaluation of immersive systems. Session 4B: Dinoflagellates chair: Mihai Bacaran, Independent 15:45 TITO IS NOT DEAD! (2025) Interactive Video Screening with Q&A Marko Markovic via Paul Sutherland 16:00 The Distributed Narratives of Science: The Expanse of Possible, Historical, and Future Modes of Publication Erik Zepka 16:15 Casting a Spell in Computational Regimes: Arianna Forte 16:30 Cyborg Attunement: (re)Orientation, Ritual, and Embodiment in Long Duration Spaceflight Jordan Kokot, Vivekanand Pandey Vimal Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 47 Session 4B: Dinoflagellates TABOO ‒ TITO IS NOT DEAD! (2025) TRANSGRESSION ‒ Interactive Video Screening with Q&A Marko Markovic TTT / independant Vienna Actionist Museum Tito, whose death in 1980 marked both the end of an era and the slow dissolution focused on collective engagement in self-organized societies that create of Yugoslavia. Through a 9-minute video followed by a live reading and audience Marko Markovic’s TITO IS NOT DEAD! reflects on the symbolic afterlife of Josip Broz Marko Marković is an artistic researcher TRANSCENDENCE in autonomous models of coexistence with engagement, the work invites participants to confront the inevitability of mortality by performative communication strategies. fantasies of disappearance with collective memory, the piece challenges taboos around Arts in Split and the University of Zadar (psychology and pedagogy), and death while foregrounding the tension between private experience and shared history. imagining their own death—whether mundane, tragic, or absurd. By weaving personal He graduated from the Academy of earned a Master’s degree in Arts and Art & Science 2025 The performance concludes with an interactive Q&A, ensuring at least one voice from Sciences at the University of Applied the local audience is included in the dialogue. Arts in Vienna, where he also worked as a program coordinator. From 2008 to 2018, he was the artistic director and curator of the DOPUST / Days of Open Performance festival. In 2011, he won Book the Radoslav Putar Award for young visual artists. Between 2012 and 2014, of Abstracts he worked in the production of Matthew Barney’s studio in New York. His works have been presented at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2016, La Biennale di Venezia – Biennale Sessions Giardini 2019, the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art 2016, and Kunsthalle Wien in 2023. As a project researcher in the scientific team at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, researching human- robot interactions in 2022/2023. He is a zombie member of TTT society. Paul Sutherland Curtin University Paul Sutherland is a PhD researcher and casual academic at the School of Media, Creative Arts, and Social Inquiry at Curtin University. Paul has taught units in photography and media art, emphasising post-photographic, digitally native, and experimental approaches to art practice and visual culture. Additionally, Paul has lectured in extremism studies, specialising in media ecosystems and the aesthetics of extremism. Paul has presented at numerous conferences around Australia, delivered a public lecture titled AI Slop: Post-Truth Digital Subjectivity, published writing in Do Not Research, and will chair a panel at AAANZ 2025 later this year. Paul’s PhD research investigates the aesthetic and ideological vectors of the post-truth era, with specific interests in radical online political spaces and the emergent art movement known as ‘internet cinema.’ His broader theoretical interests include phenomenology, affect theory, and media theory. 48 Session 4B: Dinoflagellates TABOO ‒ The Distributed Narratives of Science: The Expanse of TRANSGRESSION ‒ Possible, Historical, and Future Modes of Publication Erik Zepka Iligan Institute of Technology and shared, and the role of creative and cultural projects in shaping, critiquing, and expertise in biology, computer science, creativity and technological culture. He contextualizing scientific narratives. Drawing on scientific and artistic research, we will This talk will explore two key themes: the plurality of means by which science is published Erik Zepka is a scientist and theorist with TRANSCENDENCE in is currently engaged in Covid research investigate how the processes of disseminating scientific knowledge have expanded at the University of Barcelona. He has conversation. scientist (Tongji University, Engineers. SG, MIT, Curiosity Collider, Innovation Art & Science 2025 beyond traditional publication routes and how artistic and cultural works influence the presented his work globally whether as Part 1: The Plurality of Science Publication Labs @ Microsoft, New York University, DeTao Institute), theorist (Furtherfield, the reductive frameworks that emphasize citation counts and impact factors. Zepka’s Transfer Gallery, Pearl Art Museum, VIVO Press), or interdisciplinary exploration of alternative communication platforms highlights the growing importance The first section will examine the diverse methods of scientific publication, challenging Publication Studio, V&A Museum, researcher (Simon Fraser University, of workshops, community spaces, social platforms and open cultural contexts in Tate Modern, University of Victoria, Book reshaping scientific discourse. These platforms enable more inclusive, interdisciplinary, Shanghaitech, The Whitney Museum, of Abstracts MLA Conference). He is the founding and real-time engagement with research, offering scientists and the public a broader president of the Open Science Network spectrum of dissemination options. and the founder of the international research organization XOX Labs. Part 2: Creative and Cultural Narratives The second part will delve into how creative and cultural projects—such as literature, art, and film—engage with science to communicate, critique, and contextualize it. Zepka’s work underscores the role of speculative fiction, satire and other narrative forms in critiquing scientific progress, envisioning future possibilities, and reflecting on the societal implications of new technologies. In addition they offer science fictional worlds to imagine,transcend or transgress current paradigmatic discourse. These cultural narratives help expand the conversation around science, offering perspectives that pure scientific reporting cannot always capture. By integrating insights from both scientific publication and creative critique, this talk will highlight the evolving, multi-dimensional ways science is communicated today and the importance of inclusive, creative storytelling in shaping future scientific discourses. 49 Session 4B: Dinoflagellates TABOO ‒ Casting a Spell in Computational Regimes: TRANSGRESSION ‒ Arianna Forte Arianna Forte Arianna Forte, conducted as part of a fellowship with the Italian Council in 2024: and researcher based in Rome. Her practice explores how contemporary art Casting a Spell in Computational Regimes: Ritual Practices for a Trans-Feminist The proposal aims to present the results of a one-year research project by curator Arianna Forte is an independent curator TRANSCENDENCE in intersects with science and technology, Counter-Apocalypse. The project critically reflects on the ongoing cultural and generating new spaces for critical inquiry global presence and revealed new forms of domination. Philosopher Franco Berardi an intersectional and transfeminist approach, her work focuses on describes the current state as a “techno-social dimension of the mind,” focusing not on existential transformation, shaped by data and computation, which have redefined our and social imagination. Grounded in collaborative, performative, and site- Art & Science 2025 growth but on extinction, anxiety, and degrowth. specific methodologies that engage resisted, particularly through artistic practices that employ witchcraft and magical communities. In 2021, she founded ERINNI, a thinking to challenge techno-scientific systems. These practices, defined by De Martino The study investigates how these forms of domination are imagined, processed, and non-specialist audiences and diverse curatorial platform dedicated to exploring as contemporary rituals, function as cultural tools for protection or redemption amid a the intersections between science, Book collapsing universe of meanings. They address the entropic crises present at every level technology, and gender politics, through of Abstracts a feminist and experimental lens. of human experience, including the pervasive digital systems, biomedical engineering, Her research investigates the political climate collapse, and surveillance regimes of late capitalism. and poetic dimensions of emerging The research explores artistic practices that create rituals of resistance to computational technologies, with a focus on common theoretical framework called transfeminist counter-apocalypse: an opposition and magical materialism as anti- hegemonic practices of resistance to apocalyptic rhetoric by embracing precariousness and vulnerability, shared by regimes and informational entropy. Some of these practices can be understood within a computational rituals, cyber witchcraft, and care. She was awarded the Italian all living beings, irrespective of gender, race, or intelligence. This concept draws on Council Fellowship (12th edition) crisis from a feminist perspective. The project aligns with the theoretical frameworks computational regimes: ritual practices for a transfeminist counter-apocalypse. of Donna Haraway, Anna L. Tsing, Rosi Braidotti, Karen Barad, and Silvia Federici, Johanna Zylinska’s alternative narrative to the Anthropocene, reshaping extinction and with the project Casting a spell in Since 2016, she has been part of the influential thinkers referenced by many of the artists involved. international collective Witches Are Back, which engages with feminist techno-politics and digital disobedience. Arianna often works through non- institutional, experimental formats— such as workshops, public interventions, and temporary gatherings—to reimagine technological agency from below. She has curated exhibitions and events in Italy and abroad, including SomoS Berlin, la_cápsula (Zurich), Mz Baltazar’s Lab* (Vienna), Romaeuropa Festival, and AlbumArte (Rome). 50 Session 4B: Dinoflagellates TABOO ‒ Cyborg Attunement: (re)Orientation, Ritual, and Embodiment TRANSGRESSION ‒ in Long Duration Spaceflight Jordan Kokot Harvard University are so intimately woven into our lives hat categories like “human” and “machine” are, at of technology, social and political philosophy, the philosophy of art, and best, illusory, and often become tools of social and economic domination. More recently, In 1983, Donna Harraway suggested that we are all already cyborgs. Technologies Jordan Kokot specializes in the ethics TRANSCENDENCE in phenomenology. His current research Marco Donnarumma (2017) and Allison Kaefer (2013) have argued that mainstream is focused on the issues generated by of technological incorporation” and play into ableist and transhumanist motifs that biomedical technologies, specifically the ways that VR and XR technologies encourage conformity to technocratic notions of “progress.” technocratic approaches to body technologies both “elide the pre-conscious aspects the meteoric rise of modern digital and manipulate normative affordance Art & Science 2025 In this project, we intend to build on Donnarumma’s notion of “automaticity,” which he structures and how cyborg technologies defines as the “subjective form of psychic attunement with particular technical instruments” play into pernicious forms of ableist “cure (2017), by exploring how ritual and dance can reconfigure human|technology relations aesthetics.” to allow for a more coherent engagement with each other and our shifting world. We Vivekanand Pandey Vimal performance, where partial and zero-g environments will cause astronauts to have Orientation Lab of Abstracts an erroneous inner sense of their orientation. Our research shows that while sensory are motivated by our research into the effect of long duration spaceflight on human Brandeis University, Aston Graybiel Spatial Book augmentation using technology (vibrotactile feedback) slightly enhances performance, I am a research scientist in the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Lab at participants feel perceptual conflict between their erroneous inner sense of orientation Brandeis University. I study spatial and the correct orientation indicated by the vibrotactile feedback. We propose ritualized disorientation that astronauts and pilots bodily aesthetic practice as a way of bridging this gap. Our goal is to first use ritual and experience. Some countermeasures dance to help people feel a sense of oneness with their cybernetic devices and second that I have explored include artificial intelligence and human augmentation. In determine how to help a group of people feel a similar sense of oneness or community fact, it was my research that motivated through devices and ritual over vast distances. part of this project. In my research I found Building on Sara Ahmed’s discussion of spatial and personal orientation (2006), and that when people are disoriented, they on our previous research into gravitational cues and how sensory stimulation can be lose sense of where they are in space. When I augmented them (essentially used to convey embodiment information (2017), we are currently developing a series of turning them into a cyborg) by attaching cyborg sensory augmentations to translate tilt information through vibration across vast a bunch of little vibrators that indicated distances (see tech details). Placed at key points around the body, these vibrotractors their orientation, the participants are able can send and receive information about bodily orientation among multiple participants. to use it but nevertheless experience a confusion. This is because they no When a lead dancer tilts, that information is felt as vibrations on the bodies of the longer can rely on what is internal (their other dancers. However, current participants struggle with “attunement.” Thus, we are own vestibular sense) and instead have concurrently developing a set of ritualistic practices designed to explore new ways of to rely on something external to them developing hybrid relational corporealities. We are also inspired by Jonathan Sterne’s (the vibrotactors). I wondered, how can we make this external vibrotactor feel work on medically assistive devices (2021) and Aisen Caro Chacin work on sensory more internal? In my personal life, I hold pathways and “assistive device art” presented at previous incarnations of the TTT many ceremonies at my house and so (2023). Our goal for this conference is to present both the theoretical underpinnings I thought that perhaps ritual, narrative of this project and to provide a technological and art demonstration of the vibrotactors and storytelling could make something external feel internal. through ritualistic dance. Research: https://sites.google.com/view/ vivekanandpandeyvimal/research_2/ introduction Ceremonies:https://sites.google.com/ view/vivekanandpandeyvimal/projects/ community Session 5A: Endogeon chair: Marietta Radomska, Linköping University / The Eco- and Bioart Lab (SW) 17:45 Co-Creating with More-Than-Humans Jiabao Li 17:45 Tattoo or Taboo? A Transgressive Tissue Engineering Approach Laura Sordini, Isadora Regis 18:00 A Chat with Hystera Irini Athanassakis 18:15 trans.fail perspectives: community, body, and agency (chapter /combodagen) Luka Prinčič Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 52 Session 5A: Endogeon TABOO ‒ Co-Creating with More-Than-Humans TRANSGRESSION ‒ Jiabao Li The University of Texas at Austin world, often leading to ecological harm. Jiabao asks, what if we broadened our view at The University of Texas at Austin, founding director of Ecocentric Future to recognize the intelligence and agency of other species? This talk presents an eco- Jiabao Li argues that a human-centered perspective limits our understanding of the Jiabao Li is an artist, assistant professor TRANSCENDENCE in Lab, and visiting professor at Stanford. centric design approach that challenges human exceptionalism and reimagines our She creates works addressing climate own, Li calls on us to question our assumptions and hierarchies. technology, and perceptions. Her mediums include wearable, robot, AR/ Art & Science 2025 relationship with the non-human world. By embracing the vast intelligence beyond our change, multispecies futures, humane VR, performance, scientific experiment, installation. In Jiabao’s TED Talk, she uncovered how technology mediates the way we perceive reality. Her recent solo exhibitions include “Chill Out: The Arctic Couldn’t”, “Progenitorial Hysteresis”, “Perception Omnifold”, and “Ecological Book Soup: Interspecies Encounters”. Jiabao is the recipient of numerous of Abstracts awards including Forbes China 30 Under 30, STARTS Prize, Falling Walls, Fast Company, and the Outstanding Instructor Award from Bio Design Challenge. Her work has been exhibited internationally, at MoMA, Venice Architecture Biennale, Ars Electronica, Exploratorium, Today Art Museum Biennial, SIGGRAPH, Milan and Dubai Design Week, ISEA, etc. Her academic papers have been published in top conferences and journals including SIGGRAPH, CHI, IEEE VIS. Her work has been featured on Fast Company, Art Forum, Business Insider, Bloomberg, South China Morning Post, Domus, Yanko Design, Harvard Political Review, Leonardo. She is a member of Onassis Foundation and a Fellow at Ars Electronica Founding lab. She graduated from Harvard GSD with Distinction and thesis award. 53 Session 5A: Endogeon TABOO ‒ Tattoo or Taboo? A Transgressive Tissue Engineering TRANSGRESSION ‒ Approach Laura Sordini iBB/IST In MtF gender reassignment surgeries, a lot of attention is given to the aesthetic Laura Sordini is a fourth-year PhD student TRANSCENDENCE in in Bioengineering – Cell Therapies and appearance of the external genitals (vulva) and vagina. Poor consideration is given to Regenerative Medicine, at Instituto the only organ whose sole function is pleasure: the clitoris. Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal. Her Could this be the result of a cis-hetero-masculine dominant system where non-normative work always focused on the regeneration of the human nervous tissue, through the pleasure is neglected? Where the only possible and useful sex is the penetrative one? use of biomaterials, smart conductive With this work, inspired by the transfeminist theories of Paul B. Preciado, we intend to polymers, 3D-bioprinting technique, and challenge the medical and biotechnology fields to answer these questions and explain electrical stimuli. In particular, her PhD is Art & Science 2025 focused on the delivery of electrical signals why there is still so little research on this topic. In 2000, Preciado first criticized the lack in a wireless mode, without the use of of regenerative medicine research on the clitoris; today, in 2024, the clitoris remains invasive electrodes, for the stimulation and one of the human organs that has never been fully engineered. differentiation of stem cells into neural tissue. Nowadays, her academic research has During my PhD studies in Bioengineering, I have focused on the 3D-bioprinting of been “contaminated” by artistic practices, electrically active tissues and organs, especially the nervous system, and how to evoke biohacking tools, transhackfeminism, and Book tissue response through stimuli-responsive biomaterials. withcraft. After completing a course in Neuroscience and Art, she transitioned of Abstracts In this work, together with the Brazilian tattoo artist Isadora Regis (Kisartemisia), I from regenerative medicine to regenerative have engineered a tattoo bioink with electroconductive polymers and piezoelectric cultures, regenerative design, regenerative nanoparticles: when stimulated by ultrasounds, the nanoparticles respond by thinking. She is currently involved in a transfeminist collective working at the generating electrical signals which propagate through the conductive polymer matrix, intersection between education and artistic thus stimulating and activating the sensory nerve fibers with a wireless and electrode-practice, to challenge the sexist, patriarcal, free approach. colonialist and racist root of gynecology. The collaboration between the tattoo artist In this way, by simply coupling the tattoo with an ultrasound-based vibrator (commercially and friend Isadora Regis resulted in a available), we aim to reproduce the essential function of the clitoris and give everyone fusion of millennia-old body art modification the possibility to feel or enhance the feeling of a clitoral orgasm. practice, tattooing, with cutting-edge technology from the bioengineering field, Our goal is to transcend the conventional boundaries of tissue engineering, breaking aiming to expand the worlwide access to the silence and stigma surrounding the clitoris, advocating for a future where sexual pleasure as a human right. pleasure is recognized and valued as a fundamental human right for all. Isadora Regis Independent Kisa is a multidisciplinary artist from the Brazilian Amazon, currently living and working in Lisbon, Portugal. Her work spans across tattooing, illustration, muralism, and art education. Her signature as an artist, regardless of the method, is the use of a counter-colonial perspective, questioning the power structures that disconnect human beings from their roots, the land, and their bodies. In her artistic interventions, Kisa seeks to reverse the logic of colonization by creating characters that live in symbiosis with the earth, reconnecting with their bodies and reclaiming symbols to strengthen their identities. For Kisa, tattooing is an ancestral cultural manifestation that connects us to our bodies—whether to exalt, affirm identities, or reclaim symbols. For her, it is a transformative process that directly engages with the practices of bioengineering, establishing a convergence between bodies and modifications. It is from this fusion that her collaboration with bioengineer Laura Sordini emerges— an audacious partnership that seeks to unite tattooing and pleasure in an innovative way, exploring new possibilities for body modification and expression. 54 Session 5A: Endogeon TABOO ‒ A Chat with Hystera TRANSGRESSION ‒ Irini Athanassakis University Salzburg | University Mozarteum | IPU Berlin This is a portion of the KORE art-based research project that explores infertility and as an artist and author in the Paris Region (F) and on Kea Island (Greece). A.R.T. (Artifial Reproductive Technologies) at the w&k Art and Science Programme “A Chat with Hystera” is an experimental short film combined with a lecture performance. Irini Athanassakis lives and works TRANSCENDENCE in Trained in Sculpture, Transmedia Arts, of Mozarteum University Salzburg. “A Chat with Hystera” relies on histories, current Art History, and Philosophy (PhD), she used to be considered as the vessel for hosting and growing life. Here, the uterus, Her art works and articles have been shown and published internationally. Hystera, is given a voice. As the day of her transplantation surgery approaches, she practices, and the speculative future of the uterus as the organ that gives birth. Hystera co-operates with artists and scientists. The topic of KORE and infertility is the Art & Science 2025 talks to her psychiatrist. The video will show historical representations of uteri and focus of her current research, and the an experimental composition by Echoraum, Vienna. by Nik Thoenen through VfmK has been released in March 2025 and is to “Hysteria has had a tumultuous and secretive history. She had been considered as a models of artificial uteri, along with the sound of Hystera talking to her psychiatrist and publication named POIESIS designed be followed by a series of exhibitions. vessel, as the seat of hysteria, as a gift, as a secret, and as a problem. There have been In her perspective, milk, hormones, and Book numerous attempts to replace her. She is now confronted with the latest news that she gametes are materials, agents, and of Abstracts systems of meaning and exchange, and will be transplanted into another body. This body belongs to someone she hosted and are also seen as examples of symbiotic nurtured several years ago. She is anxious and is in therapy with her psychiatrists as processes. She is the editor of the the transplantation surgery day approaches. Their conversation revolves around her book ‘MILK.’ Gabe, Lust und Verlust story, history, and uncertain future.” (Design Nik Thoenen, Vienna: Passagen Editors), which won the Austrian Award for the most beautiful art book in 2018. She collaborated with the microbiologist David Berry to publish ‘STILLLEBEN.’ Becoming Symbionts” in Performance Research on Microperformativity, edited by Jens Hauser and Lucie Strecker, in 2021. Objects, images, videos and performances on the milk and the microbiome have been shown in Le Générateur, Paris 2023, AIL Vienna 2022, Magazin 4 Bregenz 2021, Leonardo Lectures 2019 Art&Science Department at the Medical University Vienna and Cairotronica, Cairo 2018. “Almost White. Colors of Milk, a film and book edited by Salon für Kunstbuch in Vienna, have been presented in May 2024 in the Salon für Kunstbuch and at MISS READ in Berlin in September 2024. Her art-based research on KORE infertility has been showcased at TTT2016 on Corfu Island at TTT2020 online version based in Vienna and at TTT2023 on Malta (in collaboration with Dana Papachristou). The latest KORE show took place in June 2024 at Sehsaal in Vienna, and she will participate in Back to Athens in June 2025. She is currently a Fellow at w+k, the Interuniversitary Institution for Science and Art at the University Salzburg and the University Mozarteum working on KORE in/fertility and also a Fellow at IPU International Psychoanalytical University Berlin on MUTTiER. Was nicht gesagt werden kann/ Kinder/Nicht Wunsch in Kunst und Klinik (MUTTiER. What cannot be said/ WISH and NO WISH to have children) in art and in the clinic. 55 Session 5A: Endogeon TABOO ‒ trans.fail perspectives: community, body, and agency TRANSGRESSION ‒ (chapter /combodagen) Luka Prinčič Emanat / Kamizdat / University of Malta performance utilising prerecorded and real-time live audio-visual elements and text, designer, and media artist. They have been writing music, creating sound art, forming often frantic and chaotic mesh of data, images and noise. It is sourcing data and trans.fail is an audio-visual conceptual and artistic framework: a glitchy hybrid Luka Prinčič is a musician, sound TRANSCENDENCE in performing, and manipulating new media transfiguration from number of channels: media-oversaturation, home-made software, in various ways since the mid-’90s. They interests in the background: slavic-romani myth-futurisms, gender fluidity, imperialism, funk beats, immersive soundscapes, incidental music for live arts and video, media theories, praxis and artistic critique of digital capitalism. sonic explorations and visual algorithms, hacks, glitchings, and number of thematic specialize in computer music, elaborated and digital media experiments. Art & Science 2025 It’s a digital artistic research on successes and failures of media/gender. How can a gender be seen, used, and/or realized as a medium for nomadic thought, and how are contemporary digital media gendered in their appearances and/or algorithmic backends? Historically gender has been mostly an embodied experience usually coupled with a physical body. In this framework digital media are used as a challenge Book to that asumption. Fluidity of gender is perceived as a failure, a glitch in the system, of Abstracts while embodied live expression through performance still invites new and undiscovered perspectives. /combodagen is a further complication of the existing conceptual framework with questions of community, body, and agency in a livecoding a/v performance. Perhaps a useful notion in this context is the activation of »a feedback loop between the live performer and the machine, between live and mediatized, establishing the parameters for live modification where both human and computer edit the same script.« to quote from »Livecoding – a user’s manual« where authors are reflecting on Fischer-Lichte’s arguments on »invalidation of the feedback loop in a mediatized performance«. Another influential theoretical inspiration is Donna J. Haraway’s idea of sympoiesis, or »making with« as opposed to autopoiesis, or self-making. In »/combodagen« the role of self-organized community of autonomous agents in a decentralized and federated network is crucial and vital to »liveness« of livecoding as an art form. Session 5B: Hypogeon chair: Clarissa Ribeiro, USP University of Sao Paulo 17:45 Every Shift is a Work of Art: Notes On Audio Transcription for AI Projects Mihai Bacaran 18:00 Performance between Processing and Re-enactment: Human-AI Sense of Agency Barbora Kundracikova 18:15 MOTHER Beverley Hood 18:30 Your content has been removed: Nudity, needles and AI against censorship - Artwork Presentation edna Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 57 Session 5B: Hypogeon TABOO ‒ Every Shift is a Work of Art: Notes On Audio Transcription for TRANSGRESSION ‒ AI Projects Mihai Bacaran Independent basic data entry jobs that ground the current rise of AI) as a performative process focussing on intersections of art and technology. My research proposes of spectatorship. While acknowledging the importance of theoretical discourses that This paper addresses the labour of audio transcription for AI projects (one of the I am an independent researcher TRANSCENDENCE in an embodied, yet not humanistic, unpack the social and political implications of AI data work in terms of exploitation understanding of art spectatorship from experience as a transcriber. reading of the theory of individuation. I am particularly interested in engaging with My main contention is that the labour of audio transcription—with its quantifiable targets of cheap labour, I will give here a situated, playful account based on my personal a perspective grounded in a critical processes of spectatorship that act as Art & Science 2025 and strict rules (algorithms)—is permeated by a background work of imagination which, vectors of (dis)orientation, challenging, useless, surreal, fragmentary landscapes (audio, visual, haptic, affective) that remain embodied experience of living in cultures permeated by digital technologies. My singular, unshareable imaginary experiences. I argue that addressing these imaginary despite one’s best intentions to focus on the productive task at hand, weaves out deconstructing, and remodeling the current research project addresses artworks that emerge in the process of transcription can constitute a (small) impulse the labour of audio transcription for AI Book towards valuing those folds in our environments that escape the possibility of being projects as a performative process of of Abstracts spectatorship. captured in faithful representations and reified as data. In making this argument I take my clue from the ‘imaginary music’ proposed in the 1970s by Romanian avant-garde composer Octavian Nemescu, who experimented with the creation of scores that were not intended to be played by musicians but performed by spectators in their own imagination—a practice that, among other things, was a dissident response to the political control of art/music in Romania in certain periods of the communist dictatorship. Challenging the taboo of speaking about AI data work from within (workers are bound by undisclosure agreements), this paper advocates for valuing the imaginary experiences of transcribers as artworks in their own right, infrathin (dis)orienting glitches in the context of the work-entertainment system that they are inscribed in. 58 Session 5B: Hypogeon TABOO ‒ Performance between Processing and Re-enactment: TRANSGRESSION ‒ Human-AI Sense of Agency Barbora Kundračíková Department of Art History, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic types. Reenactment not only defines a distinct phenomenon (different to re-make professor at the Department of Art History at Palacký University in or re-creation) but also offers a specific concept of time. (Franko 2017) Whereas Visual and performance artists are increasingly engaged in reenactments of different Barbora Kundračíková is an assistant TRANSCENDENCE in Olomouc. She also works as a curator reconstruction always reveals performance as already historical, reenactment treats at the Olomouc Museum of Art – Central The new tools associated with the advent of AI multiplies this potential. How is the with the private platform The House and works as a freelance curator. Her areas concept of reenactment changing? What impact does it have on the very notion of it as something that exist in the present – and thus has an open meaning structure. European Forum (SEFO), collaborates of interest include 20th and 21st century Art & Science 2025 performativity? But most importantly, how the sense of agency (SoA) is modified? European art, technical representations, deliberately engaged AI in the process of reenactment. He has chosen original projects approaches to aesthetics. As a curator, she focuses on projects presenting by Marina Abramović (1946) and Joseph Beyus (1921), emphasized the notion of In the project Monument AI (2024-ongoing) Czech performer Vladimír Havlík (1959) art history methodology and analytical intermedia, postmedia and new media articulation (“Joseph Beuys discusses what contemporary art is with a dead rabbit.” / arts. As an author, she contributed to Book “Marina Abramovic performs The Justice with a Libra, a sword and a black scarf tied over many publications, including the New of Abstracts Realisms: Modern Realist Approaches her eyes.”; Flusser 1984), and awaited the response based on AI own understanding on the Czechoslovak Scene (1918- of the situation, collected data, and culturally determined semantic systems. (Epstein- 1945), László Lakner and CEE painting Hertzmann-Akten-Farid-Fjeld-Frank 2023) in the second half of the 20th century have a subjective recognition of its own agency. Hence, the dilemma of joint human Hubert van den Berg), etc. She is co- editor of the magazine Art 3/2022, and synthetic agency is in the epicentre of the discourse on human–AI interaction. With Humans desire to control the technologies they use. However, SoA in AI permit it to (with Dávid Fehér), New Holland (with focused on the relationship between Havlík’s example, the paper reflects the change of discursive categories. It focuses on photography and science. Due to her the position of the author and the limits of agency, turning the attention to the autonomist work within cultural institutions, she framework of the final artwork. (Geiger-Iaia 2024; Samuelson 2023) is interested in museum education, pedagogy, principles of sustainability, and inclusivity. She is a member of the L’Association internationale des critiques d’art (AICA). 59 Session 5B: Hypogeon TABOO ‒ MOTHER TRANSGRESSION ‒ Edinburgh College of Art, Beverley Hood University of Edinburgh experimental photofilm, MOTHER, which showcases a novel approach to digital based in Edinburgh. Since the mid- 1990s, she has been delving into the storytelling around the subject of motherhood. This work utilises Adobe Firefly AI to For the proposed artist’s talk, Beverley Hood will delve into the creation of her Beverley Hood is an artist and researcher TRANSCENDENCE in impact of technology and science on rethink and challenge conventional portrayals of motherhood within AI platforms. the body, relationships, and human as a mother and carer was transformed into complex AI-generated imagery, pushing media, performance art projects, and writing. Her work is interdisciplinary and beyond the typical sanitized visuals associated with motherhood in digital platforms. The artist talk will illuminate how personal prose crafted from Hood’s own experiences experience, through the creation of digital research-led, undertaken in collaboration Art & Science 2025 Hood’s process involves intricately designed text prompts that navigate and exploit with a range of practitioners, including This strategic manipulation steers the AI to produce imagery that creates a rich and technologists, dancers, actors, and composers. evocative poetic visual narrative of experience, expressing personal challenges and the linguistic limitations of modesty and conventional categorization in AI systems. medical researchers, scientists, writers, visceral realities of motherhood. The talk will explore the technical nuances and Book creative challenges faced in nudging AI from its conventional, generic aesthetics, into of Abstracts richer, more evocative and visceral image-making. The work brings insight into the intersection of advanced technology and personal narrative, examining how generative AI can be directed to express deeper, more nuanced social themes. MOTHER attempts to prompt a broader contemplation on the ethics of AI in art, particularly in how technology impacts representation and identity within digital media. 60 Session 5B: Hypogeon TABOO ‒ Your content has been removed: Nudity, needles and AI TRANSGRESSION ‒ against censorship - Artwork Presentation edna the fluidity of identity and fantasy? As a nonbinary trans woman, DJ, and performer, I blending sound art, experimental music, and digital performance. Her background use AI video generation in real time in front of the audience and integrate BDSM and How can performance art challenge societal taboos and censorship while exploring edna is multidisciplinary artist and scientist, TRANSCENDENCE in in material chemistry and heritage sciences fetish practices into my DJ sets to investigate these questions. Through my work, I want and her work on the origin of colours in the societal fears underlies the policing and exclusion from public visibility of marginalized her PhD graduation from the Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris) in 2018. In the framework bodies, practices and eroticisms. to highlight representation biases in generative AI, and how projection of taboos and first colour photographic process resulted in of the SACRe doctoral program (Science, Art & Science 2025 I practice needle play or domination to foster a sense of presence, both for me and Arts, Création, Recherches) she initiated transform club spaces into sites of introspection and connexion, subverting expectations processes, and image formation. As an artist and trans woman, her work intersects of escapism. A key element of my work involves live AI models transforming and for the audience. These acts evoke a duality: vulnerability and empowerment. I aim to Arts/Sciences collaboration on photographic vulnerability, body politics, and more recently resignifying my body into glitched yet evocative reinterpretations oscillating between AI. She uses DJing and live performances Book abstraction, gender-bending eroticism, and fantasy, while often flirting with algorithmic to challenge normative ideas about identity, of Abstracts technology, and censorship. Her recent content flagging. I also question the audience status by inviting them to be part of a performances in SOMA gallery in Marseille, D/S dynamic with me, creating spaces that are intimate and transgressive. This has Maloka Interactive Museum in Bogotá and included offering toys and sextoys for direct physical interaction with me or symbolically Casa Bagre in Lima explored topics such as want to see. healing through collaborative, immersive sonic and visual experiences. Her scientific My work consistently explores the relationship between the body and its representation, allowing them to use AI prompts to alter representations of my body, shaping what they depersonalization, self-representation, and background uniquely informs her artistic algorithmic biases and power dynamics. How do marginalized bodies navigate systems practices and enables her to approach of censorship and control? What happens when human desires and discomforts are projects with a blend of analytical depth mediated through artificial intelligence and technology in general? By resignifying and creative experimentation. nudity and intimatacy, and creating participatory experiences, my work provokes dialogue about agency, the gaze, and the limits of embodiment in the digital age, and raises critical questions about the limits of representation and agency in both digital and physical realms. Garage GMO Baby Production chair: Adam Zaretsky, BEAK, NADLinc, psyFert and Ionian University How do ferality and rewilding inform reproductive processes—from ovum/sperm collection through germline editing to cryogenic banking and mutant embryo studies? This roundtable gathers participants from the three TTTlabs BioFeral.BeachCamps, a series of ART Camps hands-on IVF approach Roundtable 2: DIY integrating audiovisual art, novel apparatus prototyping, and bio-feral performance experiments. Our “Do it With Others” ART Camps developed in 2023-2024 entitled Repro-Rebirthing Retreat, Repro-Zombie Studies, and Repro-FlaOctomingopus, merged artistic practice with reproductive technologies. Today’s roundtable examines how these experimental approaches challenge conventional bioethics, democratize reproductive technologies, and open new possibilities for creative intervention outside traditional institutional frameworks. Lyndsey Walsh, Dann Disciglio, Clarissa Ribeiro, Praba Pilar, Angelina Almukhametova, WhiteFeather Hunter, Callum Siegmund, Nathalie Dubois Calero, Kristin Lucas, Janet Sarson, Shih Wei Chieh, Kelly Tarenidi, Laura Rodriguez Event Hours: 10/09/2025 (19:00-19:45) Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška Lyndsey Walsh Roundtable 2: DIY Garage GMO Baby Production 62 Humboldt University of Berlin TABOO ‒ Lyndsey Walsh is an artist, writer, and researcher from the United States and based in Berlin, Germany. Lyndsey has a Bachelor’s in Individualized Studies from New York University and a Master’s in Biological Arts with Distinction from the SymbioticA Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts at the University TRANSGRESSION ‒ of Western Australia. Lyndsey’s practice fuses speculative narratives with autoethnographic investigations into the ruptures created by technology in the corporality of culture. Lyndsey sets out to question the cultural binaries of human-non-human, diseased-healthy, and life-machine using Crip, Queer, and intersectional feminist frameworks. Currently, Lyndsey is the first and only residing artist of the Department of Experimental Biophysics at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. They have been awarded the S+T+ARTS Prize 2024 Honorable Mention, and their work has been featured in events and with institutions such as Frieze Art Week New York, the Humboldt Forum, the Ural Biennial, the Berlin Biennale, Athens Digital Arts Festival, Transmediale/ CTM, and more. Dann TRANSCENDENCE in Disciglio Lewis & Clark College Dann Disciglio (b. 1993) is a transdisciplinary artist who explores notions of naturalism, intelligence, & vitality in biological and abiological systems. Disciglio works with technology, broadly, as both a tool and a material, appropriating and amalgamating discrete components to develop unique technological systems that function as interfaces and prostheses which make his audience attentive to perspectives, vital signals, and temporalities which are normally humanly inaccessible. Disciglio is currently a Visiting Professor of Art & Technology at Lewis & Clark College, where he also serves as the co-direct and curator of the Experimental Art Research (EAR) Forest. Art & Science 2025 Clarissa Ribeiro USP University of Sao Paulo Clarissa Ribeiro, Professor of Media Arts at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, is an artist and researcher exploring cross-scale informational dynamics in morphogenetic and behavioral processes through the lens of performative technoetics. She is Chair of the Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks, co-founder, and former Program Director of the Roy Ascott Studio Advanced Program in Technoetic Arts. Book Praba Pilar of Abstracts California College of the Arts Praba Pilar is a queer diasporic Colombian artist creating interdisciplinary projects that disrupt the cult of the techno-logic. She is working internationally on subversive, playful, and simultaneously serious ways with AI systems to nixtamalize the technology sector, creating algorithms, code, images, and songs that challenge data extraction techno-colonialism and offer algorithms of liberation. Her artworks have been presented in museums, galleries, universities, festivals and streets around the world – including the Museum of World Culture in Gothenberg, Sweden; MUAC in Mexico City; La Facultad de Bellas Artes, Altea, Spain; Vancouver’s LIVE BIENNALE; Toronto’s McLuhan Center for Culture & Technology; SIGGRAPH in South Korea; the Zero One Festival at ISEA; OCAD in Toronto; Galeria Studio Cerrillo in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico; MOCA in Los Angeles; San Francisco’s MOMA; BAN 5 at Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena; Grace Performance Space in New York City; the Oakland Museum of California; and many more, with works on exhibit in perpetuity at the Kitchen in NYC and in ACM SIGGRAPH’s Future Past VS. Coloniality: Decolonial Media Art Beyond 530 Year. She is a 2025-27 HUMAN (Humanities Understanding of the Machine Assisted Nexus) Fellow at Lake Forest College/Ragdale, Co-Director of the Bioarts Ethical Advisory Komission, and an Emeritus Board Member of Women Eco Artists Dialogue. Pilar has a PhD in Performance Studies from the University of California, Davis, and you can learn more about her work at prabapilar.com. Angelina Almukhametova Lewis & Clark College Angelina Almukhametova (b. Kazan, Russia) is a US-based transdisciplinary artist whose research engages cybernetics, techno-culture, and the interplay of digital and analog systems. Almukhametova works across performance, installation, and sculpture to create autonomous, indeterminate systems that respond to site and context. Almukhametova’s current research examines neon beyond semiotic and figurative forms, to affirm the medium’s material agency within cultural and aesthetic assemblages and to discover its affective impact on human and non-human sense apparatuses. This research in effect aims to confront conventional modes of artistic engagement with light media. Almukhametova holds a BFA in Art & Technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited and performed work internationally, and has presented her research at SGMK Hackteria (CH), BioFeral.BeachCamp (GR), FEMeeting 2023 (US), Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence 2023 (MT), Experimental Sound Studio, and the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum (US), among others. WhiteFeather Hunter Simon Fraser University, CA Dr. WhiteFeather Hunter is an internationally recognized Canadian artist and researcher, and SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University. She holds a PhD in Biological Art through SymbioticA, The University of Western Australia, and an MFA in Fibres and Material Practices from Concordia University. Her doctoral thesis, “The Witch in the Lab Coat” was a TechnoFeminist negotiation of science biocultures by using ‘taboo’ materials such as menstrual fluid in tissue engineering protocols; this included witchcraft as performed resistance to medicalized control over women’s bodies. Her recent project, Sentient Clit—The Pussification of Biotech explores 3D-bioprinting clitorises with menstrual stem cells differentiated to neuronal types, to produce synthetic clitorises that respond to stimuli. The project was awarded an Ars Electronica 2024 S+T+ARTS Prize jury nomination. WhiteFeather exhibits internationally, recently (solo) at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic (Cornwall, UK), MKII (London, UK), Plexus Projects (NYC, US), Ectopia Lab (Lisbon, PT), SomoS Arts (Berlin, DE), and Duende Art Museum (CH). She is hosted at prestigious international biolabs, such as the Gulbenkian Institute of Molecular Medicine, uLisboa, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, and DZNE German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. She presents at high profile festivals, conferences, and residencies across the globe, recently delivering a keynote address for the Future Humanities Institute, University College Cork (IE). She is published in peer-reviewed journals and books in Australia, UK, Greece, France, Denmark, Canada, and USA, with forthcoming publications in Austria, Australia, and the UK. Callum Siegmund CEO of DNASAND Proud owner of the world’s smallest penis (nanobot), Callum J Siegmund is a bio/nano artist who uses DNA nanotechnology to create DNA Nanosculptures, double helices interwoven into imperceptible 3D objects whose form and sequence are embued with poetics. Having developed this practice during an extended SymbioticA residency (June 2020-Dec 2022), Callum’s highly technical works explore the materiality of the immaterial, the absurdity of biotechnology, bioweapons, and the epistemological struggles of everyday life. 63 Nathalie Dubois Calero Ionian University Roundtable 2: DIY Garage GMO Baby Production TABOO ‒ TRANSGRESSION ‒ Nathalie Dubois Calero is a BacterVirHuman, scientist (Ph.D. in biology, UPMC, France) and bioartist (BA, University Concordia, Montreal, MFA, University of Windsor, Canada, MAres student, Ionian University, Corfu). BacterHuman is a series of feminist/queer works that explore human-microbe relationships inside the human holobiont through workshops, performances, ontological workshop games, and videos/sounds (aka Bacterhuman in Bandcamp) using fabric and tattoos made with pH indicator culture media, where color changes testify conflicts, overlapping multiplication or equilibrium between human skin (and its excretions), and microbiota- creating images and sounds interacting with her performative quest of human identity. She collaborates on MaterVirus, an ontological workshop game about human viral identity with Cecilia Vilca, Waterbodies with Ada Gogova, and Stamping Genes with Kristin Lucas. Her website is at nathalieduboiscalero.com TRANSCENDENCE in Kristin Lucas University of Texas at Austin Kristin Lucas is an artist exploring connectivity as both an interpersonal process and a condition of the digital age, shaped by technological and ecological forces alike. Through speculative, often collaborative works, spanning biohacking, solar-powered web projects, and AR installations, she embraces complexity, challenging dominant narratives that shape how we see ourselves, relate to one another, and the more-than-human agents with whom we co-create realities. Lucas’s work has been featured in Art in America, Engadget, and Hyperallergic, with commissions from institutions including Dia Center Art & Science 2025 for the Arts, FACT Liverpool, Rhizome.org, and the Whitney Museum. She is represented by And/Or Gallery in Pasadena and Electronic Arts Intermix in New York. Lucas studied at The Cooper Union and Stanford University, and currently teaches in the art department at the University of Texas at Austin. Janet Sarson SARLAR & Larval Rock Stars Janet Sarson is a queer writer, researcher, editor and recovering geologist from Winnipeg, Canada. Her recent work with the art collectives SARLAR and Book Larval Rock Stars focuses on technological imaginaries. As a white settler Canadian, Sarson has worked on initiatives defending Indigenous rights in the Prairies of Canada for decades. of Abstracts Shih Wei Chieh Wise Mouse Shih Wei-Chieh is an artist, maker, self-taught materials scientist, and activist who fosters international exchange for independent art events. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in the Interdisciplinary Art Program at the Graduate Institute of Applied Arts, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. Shih initiated the “Tribal Against Machine” project in Taiwan, which bridges traditional textile craftsmanship with the international e-textile community. He is actively involved in and facilitates international collaborations within independent art networks, establishing unconventional interdisciplinary connections. He organized the international online residency “Having Friends in The Future” for the National Taiwan Craftsmenship Research and Development Institute in 2020/2021. Additionally, his research project, Non-Governmental Matters, explores and investigates independent interdisciplinary art camps and gatherings, examining the positive impacts of such international and cross-disciplinary exchanges. His personal project “Laser Dye Project” was awarded the grand prize at Reshape 2019 in Barcelona and featured in deTour 2019 in Hong Kong. His electronic textile piece, “I Am Very Happy I Hope You Are Too,” was exhibited at the Taipei Digital Art Festival and the “Hello World” exhibition at the University of Sydney. In 2023, his work “The Mind of A Greenhouse” was showcased at “The Energy Giveaway at the Humuspunk Library” in Zurich, an exhibition jointly organized by Hackteria and Regenerative Energy Communities. Kelly Tarenidi Athens School of Fine Arts Kelly Tarenidi is an interdisciplinary artist, with a first degree in Philosophy, Education, and Psychology. Currently studying at the Athens School of Fine Arts, her practice spans painting, AI animation, performance, dance, and visual poetry. With a keen interest in AI, she explores its theory and practice. Laura Rodriguez Eathlings Art Guild Laura Elidedt Rodríguez Torres is a Mexican scientist and multidisciplinary artist based in the Netherlands. With a background bridging biotechnology and the arts, Laura holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology Engineering from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico, a Master’s in Molecular Biology from Skoltech Institute in Moscow, and a Master’s in Art & Science from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her work integrates living systems and new media to uncover hidden connections between species, fostering empathy and kinship through posthuman philosophies and speculative design. Drawing inspiration from Mexican folklore and cultural narratives, Laura explores themes such as decolonization, bodily identity, and interspecies connec-tions. Laura’s career spans notable achievements, including winning the Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Prize in Art & Science (2020) and being shortlisted for the Bioart and Design Award (2023). Her artistic journey has led to residencies at esteemed institutions like YEMAA Center in Kazakhstan, Metamedia in Croatia and V2_Lab in Rotterdam. She has exhibited her work internationally, with shows in the Netherlands, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mexico. A ded-icated educator, Laura has mentored artists and developed workshops and universitt courses bridging biology and art for institutions such as ITMO Uni-versity. As a curator, she co-led projects like Staying with the Trouble and Pangardenia at Ars Electronica, focusing on ecological and speculative futures. Currently working independently and as a member of the Earthlings art Community, Laura continues to merge her expertise in science and art to create thought-provoking projects and foster dialogues on environmental agency and bodily autonomy. Session 6A: Ciliophora chair: Zahra Mirza, University of Applied Arts Vienna 09:15 ‘TAMATA / An ode to broken bodies.’ An interactive installation on gender-based violence Caterina Antonopoulou 09:30 Trans:plant (Being Beyond Belonging) Iona Pelovska 09:45 IMARA: DIY Biofabrication and Feminist Worldbuilding WhiteFeather Hunter Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 65 Session 6A: Ciliophora TABOO ‒ ‘TAMATA / An ode to broken bodies.’ An interactive TRANSGRESSION ‒ installation on gender-based violence Caterina Antonopoulou Digital Arts & Cinema Department, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens which addresses the issue of gender-based violence. The installation comprises of a a new media artist and researcher. Her artistic practice combines interactive tangible interface made of metallic plaques used as traditional religious votive offerings. The paper introduces the interactive installation ‘TAMATA / An ode to broken bodies,’ Caterina Antonopoulou is an engineer, TRANSCENDENCE in installations and performances, real- These offerings —known as ‘tamata’ in the Greek Orthodox religious tradition — time audiovisual generation, algorithmic typically feature embossed images of bodily parts that the offerer desires to be cured. video and urban interventions. The installation consists of a composition of such votive offerings that represent bodily parts, giving the impression of a deconstructed and fragmented body. When the visitor Art & Science 2025 touches the installation’s votive offerings, they trigger audio poems related to recent gender-based violent incidents. The poems were created by the author with an AI text-to-text algorithm. More concretely, the AI algorithm is fed with open data from an online observatory of gender violence. The observatory gathers data related to violent incidents, such as Book the geographical coordinates, date, and a short description. The descriptions of some of Abstracts selected incidents are used as input to a large language model (LLM), which generates poems inspired by them, using as reference the work of female poets. The metallic plaques serve as an interactive interface. They are connected to an electronic microcontroller and are used as capacitive electrodes, which detect human touch. Whenever the visitors touch one of the plaques, the microcontroller activates a synthetic AI female voice reciting one of the generated poems. The paper summarizes official reports on gender-based violence, examines related artistic works, and it describes the artwork ‘TAMATA / An ode to broken bodies.’ More concretely, it provides information about the concept of the artwork, its design, and technical implementation, describing the process of generating AI poetry and building the installation’s interactive interface. 66 Session 6A: Ciliophora TABOO ‒ Trans:plant (Being Beyond Belonging) TRANSGRESSION ‒ Iona Pelovska Independent merely a replaceable muscle, as modern medicine suggests? This question is the (colloquially known as artist/filmmaker) interested in the human capacity to anchor of hArt, a short video loop that explores the interplay of myth, science, and Is the heart the seat of thought and emotion, as the Ancient Egyptians believed, or Iona Pelovska is a dream technician TRANSCENDENCE in assemble realities. With roots in visual technology. Grounded in the Ancient Egyptian conception of the heart as the locus art, degrees in Film Production, and a contemporary transgressions wrought by biological transfiguration and technological Communication & Culture), she works across disciplines to trace the outlines innovation. of emotion and intellect, hArt explores the tensions between ancient mysteries and doctorate in thinking too much (formally: of future cinemas, intent to open Art & Science 2025 These inquiries extend into The Sky is a Mirror, a geo-temporal video loop that new portals of perception. Her films, Together, these works juxtapose mythological and modern contexts, connecting the by some, decoded by few - have circled festivals, academic sanctums, and art personal and the trans-personal. The artist talk bridges lived experiences of heart interrogates the boundaries of identity through the lens of the immigrant experience. installations, and paper-trails - funded spaces across continents. When not transplantation and immigration, drawing semantic and philosophical parallels between conjuring light-time apparitions, she asks Book phenomena that thrive at the margins of collective consciousness. unlikely questions about the techno- of Abstracts human condition. She believes language Trans:plant examines the theme of belonging across biological, geographical, and can break things - and that’s precisely semantic boundaries. Merging poetic and philosophical inquiry, the talk interrelates why it matters. the means and meanings of organ transplantation, plant grafting, and immigration, revealing shared themes of (dis)placement and (dis)connection as vehicles of trans-formation. Thus it arrives at its core question – can form be ever truly home or is transgression (of boundaries, indeed of form), and ultimately transcendence, the only way to bona fide belonging? Presented as a hybrid artist talk with integrated artwork excerpts, Trans:plant asks: What does it mean to belong - physically, geographically, and socially? How does transcending boundaries reshape our understanding of life, freedom, and mortality? By intertwining ancient philosophies with contemporary experiences, this presentation repositions embodiment as both locus of identity and existential axis. 67 Session 6A: Ciliophora TABOO ‒ IMARA: DIY Biofabrication and Feminist Worldbuilding TRANSGRESSION ‒ WhiteFeather Hunter Simon Fraser University, School of Interactive Arts and Technology In a speculative future illuminated by feminist technoscience, IMARA—the Interstitial TRANSCENDENCE in Machine for Aggregate Reparative Anatomies—emerges as a radical tool for Dr. WhiteFeather Hunter is an Developed by WhiteFeather Hunter as part of the NEW SUNS project (Artengine, artist and researcher, and SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Ottawa), with support from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (Alarcón Lab), worldbuilding and challenging the boundaries of identity, bioethics, and bodily autonomy. internationally recognized Canadian IMARA represents both a functional hacked bioprinter and an artistic intervention for School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University. She holds a The NEW SUNS project is a collective worldbuilding initiative that transcends the limits The University of Western Australia, and an MFA in Fibres and Material Practices of patriarchal and extractive systems, proposing alternative ecologies of care and crafting futures where biotechnology is democratized, accessible, and transformative. PhD in Biological Art through SymbioticA, Art & Science 2025 collaboration. Installed within the NEW SUNS exhibition (Ottawa Art Gallery), IMARA is from Concordia University. Her doctoral thesis, “The Witch in the Lab Coat” was explore the boundaries of biotechnology. It engages with themes of fertility, regenerative biocultures by using ‘taboo’ materials Book such as menstrual fluid in tissue technologies, and embodied materiality, using bioinks and stem cells derived from contextualized as a practical tool and a critical object, designed to provoke dialogue and a TechnoFeminist negotiation of science easily accessible sources. Drawing inspiration from Octavia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood and engineering protocols; this included of Abstracts witchcraft as performed resistance hybridity, and transformative resilience are central to survival. In the world that IMARA bodies. Her recent project, Sentient Clit—The Pussification of Biotech inhabits, some humans have been in a cryogenic sleep (“cry-bernation”) as the world her unpublished Parable of the Trickster, IMARA envisions futures where adaptability, to medicalized control over women’s collapsed around them. Upon revival, they discover that cytotoxic cryopreservation explores 3D-bioprinting clitorises with menstrual stem cells differentiated to led to the development of IMARA, which provides custom 3D bioprinted anatomical clitorises that respond to stimuli. The project was awarded an Ars Electronica tissues and organs to replace those that have atrophied. These choices are multi- chemicals have caused certain organs or body parts to atrophy. These cryodamages neuronal types, to produce synthetic speciated, allowing humans to hybridize with other organisms, such as amphibians, 2024 S+T+ARTS Prize jury nomination. WhiteFeather exhibits internationally, and renewal. This presentation will highlight IMARA through documentation images, Witchcraft and Magic (Cornwall, UK), MKII (London, UK), Plexus Projects didactic videos, and discussion, examining its design, role in speculative worldbuilding, tweaking the boundaries between self and other and fostering new modes of coexistence recently (solo) at the Museum of and implications for creating accessible, inclusive biotechnologies. (NYC, US), Ectopia Lab (Lisbon, PT), SomoS Arts (Berlin, DE), and Duende Art Museum (CH). She is hosted at prestigious international biolabs, such as the Gulbenkian Institute of Molecular Medicine, uLisboa, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, and DZNE German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. She presents at high profile festivals, conferences, and residencies across the globe, recently delivering a keynote address for the Future Humanities Institute, University College Cork (IE). She is published in peer-reviewed journals and books in Australia, UK, Greece, France, Denmark, Canada, and USA, with forthcoming publications in Austria, Australia, and the UK. 6B: Apicomplexa Session chair: Dauren Kaliaskar, Earthlings Art Guild 09:15 Ready-wild, How and why make the wild a work of art, From Alan Tod forest artist to Julien Isoré Julien Isoré 09:30 Kanal Opal: Aerial Botany and Graffitopian Assemblage in the Donaukanal’s Urban Ecology Martina R. Fröschl 09:30 ALMA de Bruixes - Exploring Biotechnologies as Erotic and Liberating Practices Cristina Dezi, Giulia Tomasello, Isabel Farina 09:45 Between Flesh and Code: Free Translations from Biology to Computer Algorithms Wun Ting Chan Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 69 Session 6B: Apicomplexa TABOO ‒ Ready-wild, How and why make the wild a work of art, From TRANSGRESSION ‒ Alan Tod forest artist to Julien Isoré Julien Isoré Master in Art, Panthéon-Sorbonne University a wild space, constituting a monumental sculpture related to land art. This work aspires visual artist, born in 1977. He has been living and working in Vincennes since to become a monument and a cultural heritage, borrowing certain constitutive elements Ready-wild, translated as ‘already-wild,’ is presented as a sculptural work composed of Julien Isoré is a French painter and TRANSCENDENCE in 2023. After training in law, specializing from sculpture and asserting its rights. The ready-Wild is the result of extensive artistic in sculpture at the Fine Arts School in artistic innovation residency in Portugal, led by Marta de Menezes, and the Grace sociology of the imaginary, he embarked on an international career that blends Exhibition Space gallery in New York. This journey has led to the creation of the first research, developed over seven years with the support of the Cultivamos Cultura Lisbon, and gaining experience in the art, law, biology, and sociology. As a Art & Science 2025 prototype of a work that integrates a wild forest of nearly 3 hectares, located along the painter, Julien develops a “painting of the to the famous ready-made titled “Fountain” by Marcel Duchamp. Currently, this artistic seeking to represent a figurative image of a landscape becoming invisible through research is being deepened as part of a Master’s program in Art at La Sorbonne. In Hudson River in the United States. This first work is named “New-Fountain” in homage invisible” inspired by Pierre Soulages, contrasts of shadow and light. Beyond this dynamic, a second prototype will be created in 2025 in Mexico in collaboration with our relationship to reality, he questions Book local associations and universities. This time, this ready-wild will consist of an entire our capitalist value scales and creates of Abstracts total works that combine concepts and valley containing rocks, forest, and a river. The valley is located on the property of performances, exploring themes of the Rancho Tehuan, near the village of Palpan de Baranda in the southwest of Mexico City. immaterial and the non-human. This project will be done from February to May 2025 and a ‘mémoire’ of Master will be With his advertising campaign project written and presented at La Sorbonne in June 2025. for love (artforlove.fr) and his research project on forest art, “Alan Tod, the The presentation will focus on these two achievements by examining the historical, Forest Artist” (alantod.com), Julien Isoré has exhibited his works in Europe, the artistic, and legal contexts, and explaining the stakes regarding the protection of wild United States, Mexico, China, and India. spaces and those of art. Today, as the inventor of the “Ready- wild” concept, which transforms wild spaces into works of art to protect them, Julien did a Master’s degree in art at Panthéon-Sorbonne to refine this activist and innovative artistic technique. He has chosen Mexico to carry out his Master’s project, focusing on the Tehuan Ranch Valley where he did an ready-wild made of 12 hectares of wild forest called “Gracias”. 70 Session 6B: Apicomplexa TABOO ‒ Kanal Opal: Aerial Botany and Graffitopian Assemblage TRANSGRESSION ‒ in the Donaukanal’s Urban Ecology Martina R. Fröschl and an urban jungle. We trace the emergence of a collective coalition of artists, plant and digital artist at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where she leads the whisperers, and drone pilots who engage in a long established space for international Donaukanal is a concrete serpent that doubles as the city’s largest graffiti gallery Martina R. Fröschl is a senior scientist TRANSCENDENCE in interdisciplinary Science Visualization grafitti art. The activist planting of flora into interstitial spaces of concrete decay. Kanal Lab. With a background in media \The interventions at the confluence of urban art, rogue botany, and the techno-poetics her doctorate with the thesis Computer- Animated Scientific Visualizations of of drone-enabled activism are part of an externalization process that puts the works of Opal is the gemstone to be harvested out of aerosol ephemerality. technology and media design, she earned Tomographically Scanned Microscopic Art & Science 2025 the one decade old Science Visualization Lab of the University of Applied Arts into new Organic Entities. Her work focuses on Through autoethnographic drift and digital cartography, we document how these actors phenomena using advanced imaging techniques such as μCT, MRI, SEM, CT, repurpose drones—originally designed for surveillance and warfare—as tools for perspectives – the anarchy of public spaces. visualizing biological and ecological MRI, SEM, and light microscopy. lobbing seedbombs, Sedum and Sempervivum into inaccessible crevices of tagged A core element of her research is the Book retaining walls. The graffiti becomes a nutrient-rich substrate for vertical micro-gardens, creation of immersive installations that of Abstracts engage audiences emotionally and which, in turn, destabilize the distinction between vandalism, gardening, and ecological intellectually with urgent scientific topics— protest. from biodiversity and systems ecology We interrogate planting as a starting point for roots cracking concrete ideologies and to human impact on the environment. drones buzzing like awkward pollinators over Vienna’s most chromatic corridor. Her animations and installations have been shown internationally, including at Ars Electronica Center (AT), Barbican Center (UK), SIGGRAPH Art Gallery (US), EPICenter (AU), NTU Gallery (SG) and ECC Venice (IT). Since 2020, she has also served as chairwoman of the PIXELvienna Society, supporting the digital art and animation community through curation and knowledge exchange. www.scivizlab.com 71 Session 6B: Apicomplexa TABOO ‒ ALMA de Bruixes - Exploring Biotechnologies as Erotic and TRANSGRESSION ‒ Cristina Dezi Liberating Practices ALMA de Bruixes Alma de Bruixes is a nomadic collective of biohackers witches who see little ALMA de Bruixes is a nomadic collective of biohackers witches who see little difference difference between a speculum and a TRANSCENDENCE in sex toy. They weave together like a spell, between a speculum and a sex toys. The collective is investigating the rebellious act biomaterials, DIY biology, gynaecology of re-imagining science, biomaterials and gynecology as alternative forms of care, and lubricants for the pleasure of self- knowledge and pleasure. How can we re-frame pleasure through spells and rituals and exploration. Born from the union of ALMA free our eroticism from the violence of racist and misogynist medical claim? Futura, which studies and develops tools for radical change in vaginal and gender scenity made of participatory practices, workshops, radical education and performances. laboratory of biohacking, sextech and Art & Science 2025 witchcraft rituals. Founded by Cristina Sx-Pleasuration is an interdisciplinary and participatory workshop aimed to explore a The collective will present its work based on Sx-Pleasuration, Santa Sangre and On/ health, and Bruixes-Lab, a nomadic Dezi, Isabel Farina and Giulia Tomasello. familiar but unpleasant object of our intimacy: the speculum. We explore gynecological The collective is investigating the scenarios on exploring our body. alchemy and gynecology as alternative forms of care, knowledge and pleasure. Santa Sangre is an esoteric journey in which participants will unlearn the taboos visit experiences, pleasure and health, feminist self-exploration to re-imagine future rebellious act of re-imagining science, transform and enjoy the most controversial fluid of the human body. from the violence of racist and misogynist medical claims? The starting point is On/scenity is a celebration of synthetic desires, a provocative ceremony that interweaves the violence from which gynaecology sex, technology, magic and biology to explore the depths of occult pleasures. was born but the ending one is pleasure ALMA de Bruixes born from the union of ALMA Futura, which studies and develops and myths around menstrual blood and through alchemical activities they will hack, spells and rituals and free our eroticism of Abstracts How can we re-frame pleasure through Book as anti-colonial, anti-patriarchal and tools for radical change in vaginal and gender health, and Bruixes-Lab, a nomadic anti-capitalist. The collective has been collaborating so far with Arse Elektronika, laboratory of biohacking, sextech and witchcraft rituals. Mu Hybrid Art House, Witches are Back, Bellakeo and Abbramà Festival. Giulia Tomasello ALMA de Bruixes Giulia Tomasello is an interaction designer committed to female’s intimate care and its innovation, combining biohacking and interactive wearables. Founder of ALMA [al-ma.org] where design, science and anthropology are combined to co-create tools for a radical cultural change in female’s bodies.With Future Flora in 2018 she wins the STARTS Prize, assigned to projects representing “innovative alliances between technology and artistic practices”. Her multidisciplinary work has also received other awards at european and international level such as the World Omosiroi Japanese Award in 2020. Giulia offers new deeper knowledge of female’s wellbeing, developing innovative tools in the intersection between medical and social sciences. Coded Bodies is her teaching platform designed to learn the basics of soft wearables and the exploration of biological textiles. Isabel Farina ALMA de Bruixes With an academic profile between anthropology, service design and management engineering focusing on young people wellbeing and models of participation, Isabel Farina has an interdisciplinary background focused on healthcare, body and participation. 72 Session 6B: Apicomplexa TABOO ‒ Between Flesh and Code: Free Translations from Biology to TRANSGRESSION ‒ Computer Algorithms Wun Ting Chan Affiliation of modern neural networks, noting that real neurons are vastly more complex than computer scientist, translator, and artist from Hong Kong. Chan has a Bachelor of artificial nodes, and that brains do not learn via backpropagation the way our algorithms Biologists have long criticized the oversimplification in the analogies. In the development Wun Ting Chan is a NYC-based TRANSCENDENCE in Fine Arts in Visual Communications from do. Instead of seeing this disparity as a failure, I argue it is the point: like a translator Northwest College of Art, a Bachelor original meaning across when they embrace interpretation over imitation. Evergreen State College, and she is currently pursuing a Master of Science This talk emerges from my experience in translator and from my occasional encounters capturing a poem’s essence over exact wording, bio-inspired algorithms carries the of Science in Computer Science from in Computer Science at the Courant Art & Science 2025 with biologically inspired algorithms during my study in computer science. Repurposing Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New mechanism and computer algorithm are dissected in dialogue. In particular, five central to disrupt the status quo by injecting neologisms as texts and as art objects ideas, supermemes, from translation theory, is utilized to examine how knowledge parameters in translation theory as the meta-framework, the mapping between biological York University. Chan’s practice aims into the cultural corpus. In her most moves and transforms between biology and computing: source-target, equivalence, recent work, she was commissioned by Book untranslatability, free versus literal, and the notion that all writing is translation. By the Bioarts Ethical Advisory Komission of Abstracts (BEAK) for the English to Simplified representing the exchange between organism and machine as a translation, a new Chinese translation of Human germline vision may be conjured, one that understand bio-inspired algorithms as free translations gene editing is bioart: an open letter to across epistemic boundaries. Lulu and Nana by Dr. Adam Zaresky, a bioart-centric, cross-disciplinary critique of human germline editing. Session 7A: Metamorphic chair: Polona Tratnik, Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia 10:45 Bodyscapes: Uterine Polyps, Cysts, and the Aesthetics of Self-Surveillance Laura Rodriguez, Amos Peled 11:00 Signs of the Times: The Sisyphean Performance of Commemorating Karolina Żyniewicz 11:15 Viral Load: on post-truth, ontological security and anti-vaxxers Callum Siegmund, Paul Sutherland 11:30 Enema / Evo-Devo: The Sociobiology of Klismaphilia Adam Zaretsky Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 74 Session 7A: Metamorphic TABOO ‒ Bodyscapes: Uterine Polyps, Cysts, and the Aesthetics of TRANSGRESSION ‒ Self-Surveillance Laura Rodriguez Eathlings Art Guild in touch with them but only feel them when there is pain? How can we empathise Mexican scientist and multidisciplinary artist based in the Netherlands. With with parts of ourselves often considered dysfunctional, unworthy, or silent? And how What does it mean to know our internal organs truly? How does it come I am always Laura Elidedt Rodríguez Torres is a TRANSCENDENCE in a background bridging biotechnology might medical technologies become tools for storytelling and care rather than mere and the arts, Laura holds a Bachelor’s of body, biology, and technology through my intimate experiences with uterine polyps, from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico, a Master’s in Molecular Biology cysts, and endometriosis. Diagnosed with polycystic ovaries at fourteen and later diagnostics? These questions guide Bodyscapes, a project that explores the intersection degree in Biotechnology Engineering from Skoltech Institute in Moscow, and Art & Science 2025 with uterine polyps by age 25, my journey of chronic symptoms has transformed into a Master’s in Art & Science from ITMO technology and computers for artistic explorations of self-surveillance. These scans Her work integrates living systems and new media to uncover hidden and data paired with reflections and digital interpretations, document the sensations a daily practice of self-discovery, now mediated through portable ultrasound scans, University in Saint Petersburg, Russia. connections between species, fostering and emotions that emerge alongside my hormones. empathy and kinship through posthuman Book Inspired by Niall Richardson’s Transgressive Bodies and Susan Sontag’s Illness as philosophies and speculative design. of Abstracts Drawing inspiration from Mexican folklore Metaphor, this project reimagines my body as a transgressive queer force— active and cultural narratives, Laura explores participant in its narrative rather than a passive subject of medical readings. Considering themes such as decolonization, bodily also the concept of “becoming with” I investigate how becoming with the medical tools identity, and interspecies connections. The organs that were once thought to be sterile and dysfunctional now embody growth achievements, including winning the Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Prize in Art and liveliness, giving birth to a multitude of cysts and polyps. as artistic devices can reframe the story of these organs, turning pathology into ritual. Laura’s career spans notable & Science (2020) and being shortlisted The paper brings together medical imaging, rituals of care, and digital technologies, for the Bioart and Design Award (2023). blobyness, and complexity of body textures of unwell bodies, offering a safe space at esteemed institutions like YEMAA Center in Kazakhstan, Metamedia in for self-surveillance and reclamation of bodily warmth and agency. This is not about challenging normative views of illness. It celebrates the messiness, hairiness, Her artistic journey has led to residencies Croatia and V2_Lab in Rotterdam. She diagnosing sickness but about finding meaning, empathy, and aesthetics within the has exhibited her work internationally, complexities of what it means to be unwell. with shows in the Netherlands, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mexico. A dedicated educator, Laura has mentored artists and developed workshops and universitt courses bridging biology and art for institutions such as ITMO University. As a curator, she co-led projects like Staying with the Trouble and Pangardenia at Ars Electronica, focusing on ecological and speculative futures. Currently working independently and as a member of the Earthlings art Community, Laura continues to merge her expertise in science and art to create thought-provoking projects and foster dialogues on environmental agency and bodily autonomy. Amos Peled Independent Amos Peled is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on experimental music, audio- visual installations, and performance art. 75 Session 7A: Metamorphic TABOO ‒ Signs of the Times: The Sisyphean Performance of TRANSGRESSION ‒ Commemorating Karolina Żyniewicz Independent Covid 19. It started in 2021 when I got interested in seeing masks as aide mémoire – a based artist&researcher&educator, a liminal being, existing and performing thing helping to remember. I was collecting masks trashed (intentionally or not) in the Signs of the Times is my long-term project dedicated to commemorating the pandemic Karolina Żyniewicz (PL/DE) is a Berlin- TRANSCENDENCE in between various contexts and streets of Berlin. It was like performing without an audience and giving value to abjects. disciplines. She is a graduate of the kind of matter plots a story by its existence. I was also inspired by what Karen Barad Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź and holds PhD in cultural sciences (obtained in the suggested, that Matter is always already an ongoing historicity (2003:206). The masks I follow the theory of storied matter offered by Oppermann and Iovino, saying that every Faculty of Visual Arts of the Strzemiński transdisciplinary program Nature-Culture Art & Science 2025 contain pandemic stories to decipher. at Artes Liberales Faculty, University of stories plotted by the matter of their bodies. 11 gatherings took place to perform the projects based mainly on biotechnology and medicine, she also conducts ritual of commemoration. Every participant was asked to share the most vivid pandemic In the project’s second stage, I involved the mask carriers and their pandemic memories, Warsaw). While executing art&research ethnographic and autoethnographic memory while wearing a fresh medical mask and spoiling it with the storied matter of observations. In her work, she underlines Book their bodies. the epistemic and didactic dimensions of Abstracts of art. In 2016–2018, she cooperated All the collected memories and masks were used in the third stage of the project with the education departments of the trajectory. The audio recordings of the pandemic stories have been transcribed, and Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and the the masks were investigated by microbiology and genetic sequencing to discover the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, running language and the discovered genomes have been used in a performative installation regular audiences and with accessibility for visually impaired and deaf visitors. where I work as a contemporary scribe, writing the memories/stories repeatedly and non-human agents of the storied matter of the masks. The stories written in human workshops and museum lessons for She uses these educational experiences fighting the process of their disappearance. in her own liminal practice. The topics installation performance created during my EMAP residency at Kontejner in Zagreb. I understood life and death and their social and biological dimensions. That also aim to show how the project interacts with memory studies and other theories from In my conference talk, I want to present the project trajectory, particularly the Sisyphean of her work are often related to broadly is why she is a member of the Institute the so-called turn toward Matter. of the Good Death in Warsaw. Her work is strongly process-oriented, so she often participates in residencies, like the European Media Art Platform (EMAP) at Kontejner Zagreb or Coalesce in Buffalo, NY, and group projects, like Stretching Senses School by Humboldt Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity. She exhibited internationally, for instance, at Kunstquartier Bethanien in Berlin, Kontejner Zagreb, or The Center of Contemporary Art Łaźnia in Gdańsk, Poland. Additionally, she is an associate reviewer of the Technoetic Arts journal. 76 Session 7A: Metamorphic TABOO ‒ Viral Load: on post-truth, ontological security and anti- TRANSGRESSION ‒ vaxxers Callum Siegmund CEO of DNASAND through unregulated communication apps. Communities were fractured into those penis (nanobot), Callum J Siegmund is a bio/nano artist who uses DNA who “trusted the science” and those who believed the vaccine itself was a bioweapon In the wake of COVID-19, a larger pandemic of viral misinformation was spreading Proud owner of the world’s smallest TRANSCENDENCE in nanotechnology to create DNA created to cripple the public. The fact that multiple divergent ideas about both virus Nanosculptures, double helices and wider belief structures is indicative of the broader ‘post-truth’ condition it exists whose form and sequence are embued with poetics. Having developed this within. Post-truth describes the situation where distinctions between ‘truth’ and ‘lies’ and vaccine could spread rapidly and become stubbornly attached to self-identity interwoven into imperceptible 3D objects practice during an extended SymbioticA Art & Science 2025 have become impotent, and that which has emerged in its place is “online huddling” residency (June 2020-Dec 2022), 2019, 5). Treatment-resistant misinformation particularly thrives in these ecosystems; the materiality of the immaterial, the absurdity of biotechnology, bioweapons, the truth of a statement is less important to individuals than how the statement coheres around polarising and affectively resonant content regardless of its veracity (Kalpokas Callum’s highly technical works explore and the epistemological struggles of with and stabilises the rest of their worldview. This sense of needing a stable and everyday life. Book consistent sense of self-identity and worldview can be conceptualised as ‘ontological of Abstracts security’, a theory originating in the work by existentialist psychiatrist R.D Laing (Laing Paul Sutherland 1965). The core tenet for Laing’s theory is that for people to communicate with each Curtin University other, an implicit assumption must exist that they share the same experience of reality. In this paper, two main points are achieved. Firstly, Sutherland revises Laing’s theory Paul Sutherland is a PhD researcher their tolerance for plurality and dissensus. Siegmund explores the relationship between of Media, Creative Arts, and Social Inquiry at Curtin University. Paul has ontological security and post-truth through socially engaged vio-art comprising for the post-truth era, suggesting that a subject’s ontological security instead describes and casual academic at the School taught units in photography and media molecular-level sculpture. Siegmund attributes to ontological insecurity the conflicting art, emphasising post-photographic, a performative DNA nanosculpture emanating from the artist’s breath whose form approaches to art practice and visual culture. Additionally, Paul has lectured changes depending on the audience’s beliefs. beliefs surrounding ‘vaccine shedding’ and uses this plurality to create “Viral Load”, digitally native, and experimental in extremism studies, specialising in media ecosystems and the aesthetics of extremism. Paul has presented at numerous conferences around Australia, delivered a public lecture titled AI Slop: Post-Truth Digital Subjectivity, published writing in Do Not Research, and will chair a panel at AAANZ 2025 later this year. Paul’s PhD research investigates the aesthetic and ideological vectors of the post-truth era, with specific interests in radical online political spaces and the emergent art movement known as ‘internet cinema.’ His broader theoretical interests include phenomenology, affect theory, and media theory. 77 Session 7A: Metamorphic TABOO ‒ Enema / Evo-Devo : The Sociobiology of Klismaphilia TRANSGRESSION ‒ Adam Zaretsky BEAK, NADLinc, psyFert and Ionian University taboo mania and sometimes fatal attraction to colonic irrigation is not just a perverted researcher at MIT’s Department of Biology and an experimental bioartist asthetic sometimes designated a mental disease or behavioral deviance. Instead, all Klismaphilia is a paraphilia involving complex sexual arousal from enemas but the Adam Zaretsky, Ph.D., is a former TRANSCENDENCE in with over a decade of teaching fetishes when seen through the lens of biosociology are non-reproductive, devotional experience. His art practice critically Become Needed for Sex to Be Gratifying may present as Nonreproductive Obssessions libidinal implications of biotechnological materials and methods, with a particular focused as they are on NonGenital Centric, non-human or Inanimate Magical Lust sexualities that promote neo-eugenic evolutionary adaptation. Devotional Rites that explores the legal, ethical, social, and focus on transgenic humans. Known Art & Science 2025 Objects but that does not preclude the maxim that transgressive kinks are forms of for his engaging, hands-on bioart labs, needed for deep time human survival. bioart production. He has led the VivoArts experimental The Institute for Sociobiology of Netporn (ISN) reports here with another chapter on Social Darwinism exemplifying species fitness. These are the kinds of monomanias Zaretsky creates dynamic spaces for bioart class at institutions including readings of anthropogenic fitness regimes through analysis of pornographic genres as San Francisco State University Book survival mechanisms. Enema/Evo-Devo is a report on enema fetish as seen through (SFSU), SymbioticA at the University of of Abstracts Western Australia (UWA), Rensselaer Extremes: A General Theory and LoveSex/LoveDeath NoNophilia analytical lenses. Polytechnic Institute (RPI), The Arts The Sociobiology of Klismaphilia explores enema culture, scatology in general and the and Genomic Centre (TAGC) at Leiden global field of fetish obsessions as genetic predispositions, linking paraphilic aberration University, and the Waag Society. He is “Get Your Genepool Freak-on!” ISN herald. ISN advocates engineering enhanced 2016) and a Research Consultant at Bioart Ethical Advisory Kommission mutagenic sex-zealot natures towards H+ reproductive success while promoting more to the major drivers of living biodiversity. Celebrating polymorphous perversity as a the Head of Research at Nadlinc (since (BEAK) and the BEAK thinktank Institute resilient health consilience between Sexology and the Human Genomic Commons. for Sociobiology of Netporn (ISN) in pressure that is based on genomically predetermined behavior. All successful love/ he has been a Visiting Professor at the Department of Audio & Visual Arts at the lust object relations lead to more than germinal choice fetish tribal clade based in- ISN hypothesises that perversity is positive transgression and provides a selection New York (since 2022). Since 2024, Ionian University, where he also serves groups or ornate aesthetic tests for sexual selection based on endurance based as the Creative Director of TTTlabs and IVF economies, all aberrations are part and parcel of deviant sexualites as a part of project (2022-2026), part of the Feral Lab Network, co-funded by the Creative nature’s shotgun approach to inoculating the cosmos. Radical Heterosis, or paraphilic mate choice. Beyond male and female breeder natalisms, or economies of non-trad TTTfellows in the “Rewilding Cultures” Europe Programme of the European hybrid vigor, second guesses the future of reproductive method. Repro styles, fetish Union. technologies and irresistable biophilias lead to reproductive avenues as wide and long as the full range of human behavioral potential. Enema or Clyster Culture is just one of many advantageous genetic heterogeneities that reveal intense sexual arousal antinormophiliac exogamic propensities towards atypical objects, places, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals (or partial individuals, i.e. armpits, feet, excrements, nostrils or hair) as important deviations potentially shielding human existence from extinction through protiomic flexibility, erotismic neuro-plasticity and supernatural selection. Session 7B: Magmatic chair: WhiteFeather Hunter, Simon Fraser University, CA 10:45 Transcendental Elizabeth Littlejohn, Daniela Brill Estrada, Monica C. LoCascio 11:00 Embracing the Monster. Queer Mermaids in Contemporary Art Jessica Ullrich 11:15 Of Peas and People Verena Friedrich 11:30 Queer Evolutions: Decolonising the Gaze and Reimagining Extinct Species (Working Title) Tane_Tanya Laketić Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 79 Session 7B: Magmatic TABOO ‒ Transcendental TRANSGRESSION ‒ Elizabeth Littlejohn Independent Elizabeth Littlejohn is a communications professor, human rights activist, photojournalist, and documentary heavens to immortalize queer and trans icons through the creation of a new exoplanet years on social movements, sustainable urban planning, and climate change. for present and future queer and trans existence. By the end of 2024, scientists have Transcendental is an interactive sculpture enabling the re-visioning of the celestial filmmaker. She has written for seventeen TRANSCENDENCE in discovered 5811 exoplanets in 4340 planetary systems. Through the interactive As a running gun social movement videographer, she has filmed Occupy, safe place for queer and trans communities. movements internationally. In 2018 she directed, filmed, and produced ‘Leelah’s Upon entering a dark circular curtain, a spotlight shines upon an interactive sculpture involvement of visitors, Transcendental ensures one of these exoplanets includes a Idle No More, and climate change Highway’, a broadcast half hour Art & Science 2025 of a copper volcano, surrounded by an etched disk showing a celestial map of queer documentary focusing on the suicide of within the volcano, which, as it moves, lights up the LEDs of one of the constellations Haunt’, a nine-minute documentary about a queer, accessible haunted woven into the copper mesh sculpture of the five celestial bodies suspended in the and trans constellations, placed on a podium. The visitor touches the knob embedded trans youth, Leelah Alcorn, and ‘Frolic’s room. On its ceiling is a projection of the Northern Hemisphere’s galaxy system. house, with its own unique scare system. By launching a particular hexadecimal code of the rainbow spectrum on the podium international film festivals. of Abstracts Both documentaries were shown in Book by stars embedded in the copper mesh, and hears quotations of queer activists. Each disk’s colour wheel, the visitor activates these celestial bodies’ constellations, visualized Daniela Brill Estrada of the five sculptures is formed in the image of the body of each activist. The human Johannes Kepler University (Linz), University rights quotations are chosen from transnational activists, immortalizing their thoughts daniela brill estrada is an artist and of Applied Arts, Vienna in this astronomical universe as constellations and heavenly bodies. researcher from Bogotá, living and Upon the fifth interaction, the volcano launches a final constellation by emitting ash into working in Vienna. in her artistic work, the heavens, and a quote describing the visitor´s contribution of this new exoplanet in currently focused on origin of life research this re-imagined astronomical universe. By engaging with Transcendental, the visitor and astrobiology, daniela shows matter that mutates, changes and interacts, tenderly generates a place for queer and trans history in our expanding cosmos for all to question and challenge western genders and forms of life, where life is free, complex, queer, weird, and curious, with hierarchical taxonomies, disciplines, no judgement or danger. and categories. in her installations and research daniela questions the apparent static, binary, linear and mechanical existence of bodies, humans, societies, and systems, and looks for the complex, chaotic elements that guide them. daniela is currently an artist in residence at the SETI institute, and a PhD candidate at the art x science school for transformation. Monica C. LoCascio Independent Monica C. LoCascio is a transdisciplinary artist focusing on the materiality of invisible phenomena. Her works arrive as artifacts of her material and theoretical research on memory, microbiology, theoretical physics, and hierarchies of knowledge and power. She pairs fermented bio-materials, salvaged fiber, and heritage craft techniques with industrial and salvaged materials to examine the tension between the fluidity and vulnerability of the lived human experience and the systems and institutions that contrast it. Her art has been featured at significant venues such as the Museum of Natural History in Vienna, the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, the AIL (Angewandte Innovation Lab) in Vienna, and the ERES Stiftung in Munich. She currently resides and creates in Vienna, Austria. 80 Session 7B: Magmatic TABOO ‒ Embracing the Monster. TRANSGRESSION ‒ Queer Mermaids in Contemporary Art Jessica Ullrich University of Fine Art Münster cultural phenomenon, merpeople existed in Black and indigenous cosmologies. and aesthetics at the University of Fine Arts Muenster. She studied art history, Today’s Western capitalized stereotypes of mermaids are rooted in racialized concepts Long before Hans Christian Andersen and Disney made the mermaid a global pop Jessica Ullrich is professor for art history TRANSCENDENCE in fine arts and German literature in of beauty and femininity that have their origins in the context of colonization. But the Frankfurt as well as Arts Administration potential. As a hybrid between woman and fish and between culture and nature, she is and has been assistant professor at the University of Arts in Berlin and at the a ‘monster’ (Braidotti 2000) and that challenges binary thinking. I want to discuss artists figure of the mermaid as a ‘boundary object’ (Helmreich 2016) certainly has critical in Berlin. She holds a PhD in art history University Nuremberg-Erlangen as well Art & Science 2025 who imagine mermaids in relation to Queer Ecology and hydrofeminism (Neimanis as visiting professor at the University sexism, racism, ablism, and human supremacy. Old, black, disabled mermaids, the University Frankfurt and Europa University Flensburg. She has been mermen and transgender merpeople queer traditional ideas and help to break down the 2017) in order to subvert the image of the mermaid to question heteronormativity, of Fine Arts Muenster and lecturer at head of the education department at boundary that stands at the beginning of all hierarchically conceived dualisms, namely Kunstpalais in Erlangen. She curated Book the boundary between humans and other animals. As Donna Haraway (2016) states, art exhibitions and video screenings of Abstracts in Berlin, Utrecht, and Sao Paulo. “queering has the job of undoing ‘normal’ categories, and none is more critical than Jessica published exhibition catalogues, the human/nonhuman sorting operation”. As configurations of animal drag (McCartney collections of essays, and articles mainly 2024) queer mermaids illustrate the interconnectedness of all life forms. While myths on modern and contemporary art and across species, artistic storytelling conveys ideas of radical tolerance for alterity and editor of Tierstudien, the German journal on animal studies. cross-species forms of kinship through the embrace of the monstrous. While becoming and fairy tales about mermaids teach that it rarely goes well when you fall in love on human-animal relations in art. She is mermaid mirrors the human longing to come into contact with the more-than-human and to escape from a disenchanted terrestrial life, becoming a queer mermaid is highly political and criticizes modes of thinking based on division, extractivism, and anthropocentrism. It exposes the links between colonial dispossession, the disregard of sexualized or racialized others, the devastation of the environment, and the reification of other animals. 81 Session 7B: Magmatic TABOO ‒ Of Peas and People TRANSGRESSION ‒ Verena Friedrich University of Arts Linz being—transitioning between semi-living seed and plant, object of investigation installations in which organic, electronic, and sculptural media come into play. and living entity—within a techno-industrial system. The project consists of a series The long-term project ERBSENZÄHLER (Pea Counter) positions the pea as a liminal Verena Friedrich creates time-based TRANSCENDENCE in Her projects have been presented of sorting machines, with peas serving as model organisms to reflect on biopolitical internationally in the context of The installation EZ Quality Sorter exemplifies this by inviting visitors to visually inspect and conferences. She received the International Media Award for Science and pre-sort peas, with their decisions later guiding the machine’s automated process. mechanisms of classification and discrimination. exhibitions, media art festivals, and Art from ZKM Karlsruhe 2005; a Art & Science 2025 Over time, the machine transitions to fully automated sorting based on user input. special mention in the VIDA 13.2 Art broader questions about the delegation of life-and-death decisions to machines. It mentions in the Prix Ars Electronica 2015 and 2023; a jury mention in the challenges the perceived neutrality of automated systems, revealing their dependence By merging human judgment and algorithmic automation, the installation raises and Artificial Life Awards; two honorary Japan Media Arts Festival 2015 and the on subjective human biases, and critiques the reduction of complex living systems to Transitio_MX award in 2017. She has Book rigid binaries. been teaching at the University of Art of Abstracts and Design Offenbach, the Bauhaus University Weimar, and the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. http://heavythinking.org/ 82 Session 7B: Magmatic TABOO ‒ Queer Evolutions: Decolonising the Gaze and Reimagining TRANSGRESSION ‒ Extinct Species (Working Title) Tane_Tanya Laketić Independent queer whose aim is to explore connections between queer and extinct animals, most of worker and researcher with completed Interdisciplinary Master’s studies at the which perished during the colonial expeditions of white men. The idea I wish to articulate in the coming period, primarily concerns the expansion of Tane_Tanya Laketić is a cultural TRANSCENDENCE in UNESCO Chair of Cultural Policy and What led me to frame the idea in this way are: the aesthetic-visual appearance of Management of the University of Arts in extraordinary appearance compared to species familiar to us, whose presence signaled As an artist, she primarily works with textiles, but is also interested in drawing, the development of organisms, confirming links to dinosaurs. These transformations these animals and the fact that they are no longer among us. The first refers to their Belgrade. text, sound and performance. In addition, Art & Science 2025 validate evolution as a process of (re)adaptation, which was violently taken from many Tane aspires to contribute to the wider transformations might have occurred in the meantime. disciplines such as management, curating, art history, cultural heritage, The second speaks to the unforgivable desire for dominance over space and the species, preventing us from observing and understanding what kinds of (un)expected field of culture, including various politics, human rights with an emphasis elimination of life forms considered less valuable, drawing parallels between human, in on LGBTQ+ rights. So far, she has Book this case, queer identities, and non-human, extinct animal species. This opens a space participated in two international of Abstracts conferences in 2023 (Presented for the decolonisation of adopted binary norms, a critique of imposed anthropocentrism, research: Perreo Periferia: Feminist and oppressive heteronormativity. Exploration of Reggeaton) and 2024 The proposed topic seeks to resist the Western perception of the world. Through (Presented research: The Architecture of so, foster the acceptance and recognition of one’s own gender identity and sexual Fatale Stereotype Portrayal). Since 2022, Tanya is part of the orientation, which must not be subjected to the fetishisation of the white male gaze - a this resistance, I aim to uncover queer pleasures, the joy of existence, and, in doing Female Gaze: The Influence of Femme Organisational Team of the Youth gaze that served as a motive for the killing of animals for collectors to marvel at. Biennial (Serbia) in the Financial and creating distinctions, by exploring insufficiently studied domains, I aim to generate key is currently curating its third edition with the concept Oases regarding ‘new insights that weave ecological, aesthetic, and socio-political threads together to expand Through new imaginaries and attempt to equalise the lives of living beings without External Communications Teams. She imaginings of future and better worlds’, the concept of queer in its perpetual unfinishedness. contextualising this natural phenomenon as ‘active, transient spaces, a sort of micro-reconfigurations that have no intention of ever becoming part of the dominant discourse (desert)’. Besides, she is a member of indisciplinary international collective PhD in One Night focused on aesthetic education for all, collective intelligence, and an amateur approach to knowledge; Les Orangeries de Bierbais as well as its Laboratory for Radical Peace (Belgium) initiated by the former and the latter where aesthetics, arts, ecology, solidarity and experimentations are joined in the practice of permaculture. arget: Context, Consent, and Control chair: Dalila Honorato, Ionian University Art as T Across Europe and beyond, artists face growing threats as their works are stripped of context and weaponized for ideological purposes. This roundtable addresses the political misuse of artistic expression, the risks of decontextualization, and the urgency of defending narrative agency and artistic freedom in increasingly hostile environments. Maja Smrekar’s internationally exhibited K-9 Topology project—praised in artistic and scientific circles alike—was recently misused in a far-right campaign in Slovenia, escalating into an unprecedented assault on her personhood and professional integrity. Together, the speakers will explore the complex entanglements between contemporary art, media ecologies, and propaganda, asking: How can artists reclaim control of their narratives? What forms of collective infrastructure and solidarity are needed? And what does it mean to protect artistic freedom in the age of weaponized aesthetics? Maja Smrekar, Jens Hauser, Mojca Kumerdej, Ewen Chardronnet Roundtable 3: Event Hours: 11/09/2025 (12:00-12:45) Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 84 Roundtable 3: Art as Target: Context, Consent, and Control TABOO ‒ TRANSGRESSION ‒ Maja Smrekar Maja Smrekar’s work explores themes of belonging, becoming, family and home, challenging socially and politically fixed identities and notions of order. She engages with ecofeminism, interspecies relationships, and the impact of technology-driven ideologies. Her interdisciplinary practice spans performances, installations, site-specific art, videos, workshops, lectures, and texts. Her work has been presented at various institutions, including MAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome (Italy), Kunsthalle Vienna (Austria), ZKM Karlsruhe (Germany), Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), BOZAR - Centre for Fine Arts Brussels (Belgium), the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Riga (Latvia), Museum of Contemporary Art Ljubljana TRANSCENDENCE in (MG+MSUM, Slovenia), Museum of Contemporary Art Montenegro, Museum Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain), National Museum for Contemporary Art Zagreb (Croatia), Center for Contemporary Art Laznia (Gdansk, Poland), Färgfabriken Stockholm (Sweden) among others. Smrekar has been an artistic associate of the following art production platforms: A/POLITICAL (UK), Kapelica Gallery (Slovenia), Quo Artis Foundation (Spain/Italy), The Culture Yard (Denmark). She is an Associate Professor of Sculpture and Contemporary Artistic Practices at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. https://www.majasmrekar.org/ Jens Hauser Art & Science 2025 Independent Jens Hauser is a Paris and Copenhagen based art curator and writer. As a media studies scholar he is focusing on the interactions between art and technology. His curated exhibitions include L’Art Biotech (Nantes, 2003), Still, Living (Perth, 2007), sk-interfaces (Liverpool, 2008/Luxembourg, 2009), the Article Biennale (Stavanger, 2008), Transbiotics (Riga 2010), Fingerprints… (Berlin, 2011/Munich/2012), synth-ethic (Vienna, 2011), and assemble | standard | minimal (Berlin, 2015). Hauser is also a founding collaborator of the European culture channel ARTE and has produced numerous reportages Book and radio features. of Abstracts Mojca Kumerdej Independent Mojca Kumerdej is a Slovenian fiction writer who has been translated into several languages and included in numerous Slovenian and foreign anthologies. In addition to literary writing, she has worked as a journalist, dramaturge and art critic in the fields of contemporary dance, theatre, performance and intermedia art. As a freelance contributor to the Saturday supplement of Delo newspaper, she writes about art, science and culture and occasionally collaborates with the Slovenian intermedia institutions Kersnikova 4 and Aksioma Project Space. Ewen Chardronnet Roscosmoe Lab\ Ewen Chardronnet is an artist, author, journalist and curator based in Paris. He is currently editor-in-chief of the bilingual web magazine Makery.info and coordinator of the Creative Europe cooperation programs “More-Than-Planet” (2022-2025) and “Rewilding Cultures” (2022-2026). In his work, he is interested in practices, tactics and speculations that connect artistic research and scientific knowledge to the creation of social situations that intertwine discourses and shifts of perspectives in the very fabric of society. https://www.makery.info/en https://laboratoryplanet.org/ https://roscosmoe.org Session 8A: Mitosis chair: Karolina Żyniewicz, independent 14:15 Human and Nonhuman Ethology in Analogue/Experimental Filmmaking: Inter-Species Collaboration and Ecological Narratives Müge Yildiz 14:30 On interspecies communication; the connections between human and bird languages Leena Saarinen 14:45 Towards radical complexity of becoming others Fara Peluso 15:00 Empirical Monsters. Rethinking Boundaries Between Ecology and Media Morten Søndergaard, Anna Nacher Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 86 Session 8A: Mitosis TABOO ‒ Human and Nonhuman Ethology in Analogue/Experimental TRANSGRESSION ‒ Filmmaking: Inter-Species Collaboration and Ecological Müge Yildiz Narratives Aalto University analogue filmmaking, framing it as an emergent site for inter-species communication researcher at Aalto University. She has a BA in Cinema from Galatasaray and ecological restoration. Drawing on concepts of ethology and symbiosis, it examines This paper explores the dynamic interplay between human and nonhuman agents in Müge Yıldız is an artist-filmmaker and TRANSCENDENCE in University, further expanded her cinema the experimental borders where living organisms and human creativity intersect, education as an Erasmus exchange collaborations. and completed her MA in Visual Cultures, Curating, and Contemporary Art at Aalto Through an ecological turn in analogue filmmaking, the paper investigates how nonhuman highlighting the delicate balance between control and liberation that defines these student at Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, University on a Finland Scholarship. Her Art & Science 2025 entities such as microorganisms actively contribute to the filmmaking process. These work blends experimental filmmaking understandings of authorship and storytelling. By embracing nonhuman vitality and sustainable practices. Her work has been showcased at major international film unpredictability, the practice challenges anthropocentric narratives, fostering new agents leave physical and conceptual traces on film materials, reshaping traditional with hybrid techniques while emphasizing festivals, including the BFI London Film modes of interaction and shared agency. Festival and Images Festival in Toronto. Book The research situates these processes within broader discourses of ecological restoration She also participated in the Oberhausen of Abstracts Film Seminar and Istanbul Biennial and material interdependence, where the traces left by nonhuman collaborators offer Production and Research Program. profound insights into our own ecological and existential entanglements. This approach not only expands the artistic possibilities of filmmaking but also underscores the potential for cinema to mediate relationships between human and nonhuman worlds, creating a dialogue that is both reflective and transformative. 87 Session 8A: Mitosis TABOO ‒ On interspecies communication; the connections between TRANSGRESSION ‒ human and bird languages Leena Saarinen Independent Transcendence in Art & Science” about my ongoing artistic research on language, artist based in Helsinki, Finland. Her practice is multidisciplinary and research translations, sound, mimicry, empathy and interspecies communication. I’ve studied I’m proposing an artist talk for the 2025 conference “Taboo - Transgression - Leena Saarinen (b. 1988) is a visual TRANSCENDENCE in based. She works with questions of particularly bird languages and spectrograms as visualizations of bird sounds, aiming posthumanism in the age of climate The works I present during the talk are Birdsong, Etudes for birds and Decoy. In the work she studies culture, language and the relationship between human and piece Birdsong (2019) my aim is to bring the languages of people and birds closer to to show the connections between the human and bird languages. change and mass extinctions. In her non-human species. Her works have Art & Science 2025 each other by creating an alphabet for birdsong, by translating bird sounds to images been exhibited in galleries, museums (2020) I’ve imitated the bird vocalizations by drawing, then translated the drawings internationally. She is currently doing her master’s degree in the Academy of Fine into sounds as spectrograms and finally collected the drawn sounds into a constructed and human alphabets into sounds as spectrograms. For the piece Etudes for birds and public spaces in Finland and Arts in University of the Arts Helsinki in soundscape. the sculpture department. Book For the piece Decoy (2022) I’ve studied decoy whistles used for hunting. I’ve built of Abstracts leenasaarinen.com whistles that mimic the vocalizations of other animals, especially birds, from different mostly recycled materials. Learning to build and play the instruments helps me to better understand sound as phenomenon. I also explore the connection between mimicry and empathy, as well as the dark side of empathy; reading someone’s mind with the objective to harm them. Through my research, I’ve developed a speculative theory on how the auditory bird vocalizations could have synesthetically effected the development of the visual forms of the human alphabets. I’m working on a zine to show how google translate image recognition can recognize human texts in images of birdsong spectrograms. I’ve also studied the idea of mimicry as an interspecies pidgin language. Mimicry can work as a communicative bridge between species, but it can also work as an exercise in empathy. Through mimicry and empathy, I explore the potential connections between species. 88 Session 8A: Mitosis TABOO ‒ Towards radical complexity of becoming others TRANSGRESSION ‒ Fara Peluso Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe must recognise the value of complexity and the power of vulnerability, especially if their designer. She graduated in industrial design at University Architecture ‘La goal is to act towards a planetary justice. Sustainability and innovation are not a simple and straightforward path; rather, they Fara Peluso is a Berlin based artist- TRANSCENDENCE in Sapienza’ in Rome and studied as The term planetary justice (Lobo, Mayes, Bedford 2024) represents radical perspectives graphic designer. Through a speculative solidarity. In the face of the right to biodiversity, a right to justice that listens to the diverse the human beings with nature, living organisms and biological processes voices that speak with the planet. Planetary justice supports politics and methodologies and practices of ecofeminism and ecosocialism. It interweaves ideas of justice and research she plays how to connect in a deeper relationship. Constantly Art & Science 2025 that work towards a future in which the planet also thrives from a more-than-human researching and taking inspiration from innovation should take into account today and put into action in order to advance the that it’s a great Strategy for Art and Design. The relationship between the interactions between man, society and perspective. Therefore what are the models and the lessons that sustainability and elements present in Nature, she believes human beings and their environment is nature and the systemic human constructions (Margulis 1998)? What-if non-human observed and the concept that we are Book entities and more-than-human encounters are to be called upon to support these the most important living organisms on of Abstracts earth is cancelled. As an artist-designer explorations? with a strong interest on Biology, Fara Towards radical complexity on becoming others takes up these matters and suggests Peluso pursues her deep research on possible pathways that interdisciplinary fields and technological developments should algae taking constantly inspiration from the symbiotic, the alien, the caring, the embodied, the vulnerable (Pevere 2023), the agency through a transdisciplinary and speculative methodology. Her work intelligent (Bridle 2022), the ‘troubled’ and the ‘sympoietic’ (Haraway 2016), it questions consider in order to achieve truly human progress. By studying the diverse, the complex, them, enquiring into their poetry and is focused on both the material and how humans approach complexity through the neurotypical systemic lens (Manning the procedural aspects, investigating 2016), with the aim of supporting unlearning practices aimed at learning how to truly possible closer relationships between planetary coexist (Lykke, Aglert, Henriksen 2024). human beings and algae organisms. http://www.farapeluso.com/site/ 89 Session 8A: Mitosis TABOO ‒ Empirical Monsters. Rethinking Boundaries Between TRANSGRESSION ‒ Morten Søndergaard Ecology and Media Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark I am a researcher and internationally acclaimed Media Art Curator at Aalborg The dynamic interplay of taboo, transgression, and transcendence offers a critical lens University, Denmark. On top of my own sound/ design practice, I am presently engaged with TRANSCENDENCE in through which to explore the convergence of art and science within a perspective of sound curation at the Momentum Festival in ecology and media. We will look at ‘Ecomedia’ (Peters 2015, Jue 2020, Iheka 2021, Jue Norway. I am Co-founder of conference series, and Ruiz 2021), which engages with a deep reconfiguration of media as environments including POM – Politics of the Machines conference series (with Laura Beloff) (since generative of the processes, in which ecological, cultural, and epistemological 2017) and RE:SOUND MAH2019 in Aalborg boundaries are renegotiated. Further, by drawing on Bateson’s Steps of an ecological 19-23 August 2019. I have published and curated several mind (1972) and Michel Serres’ concept of the parasite (Serres 1982), we will show Art & Science 2025 international exhibitions since 1994, including that the notion of interference between ecology and media becomes a productive Kiasma, ZKM, Rupertinum, Ars Electronica, Eyebeam NY, Utzon Center Aalborg, Kunsthal framework for examining how art and science disrupt and reconfigure dominant Aarhus, and Museum of Contemporary art in systems, particularly in the context of environmental entanglements. Roskilde. In Pia Arke’s *Tupilakusaurus* project, the parasitic figure of the Tupilak emerges as I generally work with media and sound in transdisciplinary, constructive, critical and both an environmental and media construct. Drawing from Greenlandic mythology, the creative maker settings and developing Book Tupilak is not only an artifact of cultural memory but also a critique of systemic exclusions theory and ideas from those settings. I have a background as a professional curator at of Abstracts within European art history. The methodological combination of art and science in Arke’s the Museum of Contemporary Art (Roskilde) work mirrors an ecological media system, where cultural narratives, material histories, with a focus on sound art (via the legacy from Fluxus mostly). And more currently (last “elemental politics”, and technological practices intersect. Serres’ three parasitic 15 years or so), I teach Music, Sound and systems—biological, social, and informational—are here reconceptualized through Media Art and Curating in theory and practice. ecomedia theory, where interference serves as a means of reimagining relationships Recently, my focus seems to have shifted a bit towards two trajectories: 1. sound curation in between human and nonhuman agents, media technologies, and planetary systems. a new context, post-curating or uncurating of Theories of ecology and media situate the Tupilak as an ecological agent, amplifying sorts. Bigger venues and festivals. 2. towards a sound practice drawing it seems on my its critique of colonialism through the materiality of media itself. The parasite becomes early background as a sound practitioner a medium of transgression, destabilizing Eurocentric frameworks by foregrounding (and singer) in the 80s and early 90s in transinternational exchange with other sound the interconnectedness of cultural and ecological systems. Arke’s work resonates with artists, cross-boundary, with a certain focus on Gregory Bateson’s principle that the unit of survival is organism plus environment, words and sound as social agencies. while also invoking Guattari’s ecosophy, where rooted parasitism critiques the “ecology Anna Nacher of bad ideas” sustaining systems of exclusion (Guattari 2000). Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland By addressing taboos surrounding the limits of human and nonhuman agency, the transgressive potential of art-science collaboration invites a rethinking of identity, Anna Nacher works as Associate Professor at boundaries, and resilience. The parasitic interference into the convergence of ecology Jagiellonian University. Her research centers and media challenges dominant epistemologies, fostering an inclusive, multispecies around digital aesthetics and media, with a critique of modern culture. Arke’s *Tupilakusaurus* thus exemplifies (as the title focus on new media art, electronic literature, and sound art. She also ventures into *Empirical Monsters* reflects) the monstrous as a method of interference and critique environmental humanities and postcolonial of the ways that art and theories of ecology and media may engage in a generative theory. She has published in European dialogue, reshaping the epistemological and cultural landscapes which we inhabit. and Communications +1 (among others) and contributed chapters to edited volumes Journal of Women’s Studies, Hyperrhiz, published with Routledge, Intellect and Brill. In Gregory Bateson. 1972. Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, 2021, together with Scott Rettberg (University Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. of Bergen) and Soren Brø Pold (Aarhus Felix Guattari, 2000. The Three Ecologies. London and New Brunswick: The Athlone University) she co-curated an online exhibition of electronic literature and digital art produced Press. during the COVID19 pandemic: https:// Cajetan Iheka. 2021. African Ecomedia. Network Forms, Planetary Politics. Durham eliterature.org/elo2021/covid / and London: Duke University Press. 2024 she served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Electronic Literature She is a 2020 Fulbright alumna, in 2019- Melody Jue. 2020. Wild Blue Media. Thinking Through Seawater. Durham: Duke Organization. In addition to her academic University Press. endeavors, Anna Nacher pursues a creative Saturation. An Elemental Politics. 2021. Melody Jue and Rafico Ruiz (eds.), Durham practice in sound and digital media. She is an and London: Duke Unniversity Press. active member of permaculture community, Biotope Lechnica, which she has been John Durham Peters. 2015. The Marvelous Clouds. Toward a Philosophy of Elemental building in the Carpathian mountainssince Media. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. 2014. She currently is working on the Michel Serres. The Parasite. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press academic endeavors on postdigital aesthetics, media materialities and mediation as well project on ecomedia, bridging her theoretical as her creative and permacultural pursuits, under umbrella name of Breath Library. More information and a full list of academic publications: http://breathlibrary.org 8B: Apoptosis Session chair: Ιοannis Melanitis, Athens School of Fine Arts, GR 14:15 Roscoffensis I/O - did the sea worm want to go to space? Ewen Chardronnet, Miha Godec 14:30 Living Hybrids: Biohybrid Artifacts as Agents of Ecological Restoration and Mutation Vivien Roussel 14:45 “Incub.IA.tor”: Bio-engineering and healthcare challenges about plants based organs and I.A prediction Alizee Armet 15:00 Art, AI, strategies of biomimicry: mimiphenia, the ambivalent mimicry Ioannis Melanitis Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 91 Session 8B: Apoptosis TABOO ‒ Roscoffensis I/O - did the sea worm want to go to space? TRANSGRESSION ‒ Ewen Chardronnet Roscosmoe Lab support of the Roscosmoe Lab, takes an in-depth look at the complex relationship and journalist and curator based in Paris. He is currently editor-in-chief of the symbiosis between plants and animals, focusing in particular on the marine flatworm The installation Roscoffensis I/O, developed by Miha Godec since 2023 with the Ewen Chardronnet is an artist, author, TRANSCENDENCE in bilingual web magazine Makery.info Symsagittifera roscoffensis; an animal-algae symbiosis that enables the worm to live and coordinator of the Creative Europe does not digest and keeps in its epidermis. Inspiration of the prospective scenario of a Planet” (2022-2025) and “Rewilding Cultures” (2022-2026). In his work, future “Homo Photosyntheticus” developed by evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, the fully off the photosynthetic activity of its microalgae symbionts, which it ingests but cooperation programs “More-Than- he is interested in practices, tactics Art & Science 2025 Symsagittifera roscoffensis has become a model organism for research into the design and speculations that connect artistic As an interactive installation Roscoffensis I/O explores the intricate symbiosis the creation of social situations that intertwine discourses and shifts of established between a Roscoffensis colony and an anthropomorphized artificial of bioregenerative life support systems for space exploration. research and scientific knowledge to perspectives in the very fabric of society. intelligence system. It underscores the complexity of natural interdependencies and https://www.makery.info/en Book invites viewers to reconsider their relationship with the environment, questioning it as a https://laboratoryplanet.org/ of Abstracts https://roscosmoe.org dynamic and living system where technology and biology coalesce. The Roscosmoe Lab is an art & science platform launched by Ewen Chardronnet in Miha Godec 2015 in partnership with Dr. Xavier Bailly from the Roscoff Marine Station (France). Roscosmoe hosts or supports artists conducting researches in the field of marine Roscosmoe Lab biology, photosymbiosis, developmental biology, algal ecology, design, anthropology Miha Godec (1988) is an artist, musician, of science and intermedia art. A major thread of the initiative is the design of research videographer, photographer and lecturer. protocols involving the photosymbiotic worm Symsagittifera roscoffensis as a potential With a formal background in natural habitat for its long-term research objectives the Roscosmoe Lab (Dr. Xavier Bailly, the Academy of Arts of the University of Nova Gorica. During his studies, he Ewen Chardronnet, Miha Godec, Maya Minder, Olivier Morvan, Špela Petrič and Miha biological model to apply in space research. With Roscoffensis I/O as an observation sciences, Godec graduated in 2014 from studied at the Portuguese school ESAD Turšič) invite to examine animal-plant-machine interrelationships in anthropotechnical (College of Art and Design). In addition constructs, and to reflect on the future of terrestrial life forms here and in outer space. to his photographic and artistic practices, he is also a lecturer for photography and virtual reality, while he independently conducts regular educational, scientific, and artistic workshops. In his artistic practice Godec, who works at the intersection of art, science, and new technologies, focuses on the development of new media projects, in which he researches the consequences of anthropogenic impact on aquatic ecosystems, experimenting with water as an artistic medium and researching the sonification properties of water and living organisms. Godec with a diverse skill set from new media, sound, video, and photography is exploring the juxtaposition of technology as a beacon of hope in addressing environmental crises and the contrasting realities of mindless capitalist consumption, analyzing how both forces are steering our contemporary actions. https://godec.art/ 92 Session 8B: Apoptosis TABOO ‒ Living Hybrids: Biohybrid Artifacts as Agents of Ecological TRANSGRESSION ‒ Restoration and Mutation Vivien Roussel IFT, Paris / CHROME & Projekt, University of Nîmes, France. organisms and machines. By cultivating bacterial cellulose - a biodegradable, at the Institut for Future Technology (ESILV, Paris), in partnership with Nîmes accessible, and self-regenerating biomaterial into symbolic and functional forms, it This project explores biohybrid artifacts as liminal entities at the threshold of living Vivien Roussel is a PhD student in design TRANSCENDENCE in University, where her research bridges critiques extractive modes of fabrication and imagines artifacts grown in symbiosis with the fields of biology (CHROME lab) and In dialogue with biopunk aesthetics, speculative material ecologies, and posthuman Her work explores new paradigms of fabrication through living materials, feminist perspectives, the work examines hybridization as a politics of mutation rather their environments. design (Projekt lab). combining bioengineering, human– Art & Science 2025 than as technical experimentation alone. Artifacts such as the Biohybrid Device machine interfaces, and speculative processes: grown, not manufactured. Their instability foregrounds fragility, decay, and the maker movement and fablabs, he investigates how collective and care, embodying the negotiations that living systems demand. Game Controller and the Grew Shoe are presented not as finished products, but as design. With a background rooted in individual practices of making can Drawing inspiration from fermenting feminisms and the relational dynamics of digital respond to ecological limitations and Book pets like Tamagotchi, the project reflects on how hybrid systems require attention, open up alternative modes of co-creating of Abstracts with the living. maintenance, and ethical engagement. These living artifacts act as relational technologies, mediating between human and more-than-human agencies, and inviting audiences to inhabit fragile yet regenerative futures. 93 Session 8B: Apoptosis TABOO ‒ “Incub.IA.tor”: Bio-engineering and healthcare challenges TRANSGRESSION ‒ about plants based organs and I.A prediction Alizee Armet Independent installation art based research prompts a machine-incubator enable the breeding demystifying the myth of singularity. Her works raise awareness of a philosophical, of organic tissue that could be grafted onto human bodies, with sanitary control by This paper deals about a recent research creation based named Incub.IA.tor. This As a research artist Ph.D , she tries to TRANSCENDENCE in aesthetic, biological and anthropological machine-learning. Hosted by “Hibridalab” in Spain and “Antre-Peaux” in France and a vision. She wants to question our frame of human body inside health department and others disciplines. The subject of projecting possible scenarios; she criticizes the Cartesian separation organs donation is now a complexity ethically than economically. The impact of the French laboratory “Bioconnect”, this project addresses the current issues around the attachment to the ecosystem, while between nature and culture. Her practice Art & Science 2025 xenotransplation — animals donor organs— questions a lot about the benefice of attempts to “disentangle” the codes and our knowledge of the body but also about data production and in a way private data. Drawing on scientific methods and artistic inspiration, she regularly collaborates Our first challenge is to raise questions about the commodification and hybridization plants based donor organs. Furthermore, the impact of A.I in health questions about implications of computational society. with scientists and engineers to create of living organisms. This recent technique can continue this hybridization between the and design her installations. Book natural living and the human living. We hope to open up this reflection with Michel Her artistic works are presented in of Abstracts Europe (Tabakalera, Frac NoA, Kapelica Foucault’s ideas about “biopolitics” and Critical Art Ensemble’s concept of the “Flesh gallery, Ars Electronica, Wrofest, Basis Machine”. Our aim is to raise awareness of a new phase in which plant nature becomes e.V, Foundation Hippocrene, Galerie an exploitable resource for human survival, transformed into an organic structure. Vivoequidem, Centro Huarte ..). In 2024 as a tool of power. By creating human organs from plants, technological management for the price Art Eco Conception. In 2018, she founded a bio-art and technological of health and “body repair” becomes a tool for transforming and extending human Another focus is on the question of body management in biopolitics and bioengineering she received a price from Artofchange21 research group called NeuroBioticArt. biological capacities. Another form of power over human life is taking shape. The human body becomes a testing ground for sophisticated technologies. This same transformation requires us to redefine what a human body is. The decellularization of plants and AI control is an example of how technology is blurring the boundaries between the biological and the mechanical, the human and the non-human. Finally, we’d like to highlight the need to make visible the hidden mechanisms behind biotechnology and economic systems. Who decides on the criteria that define the “norm”? Who benefits from these technological advances? Incub.IA.tor reveals a potential disparity when it comes to the challenges of biomedical technologies. Patients and doctors alike may not understand the vital decisions defined by algorithms. 94 Session 8B: Apoptosis TABOO ‒ Art, AI, strategies of biomimicry: mimiphenia, the ambivalent TRANSGRESSION ‒ mimicry Ioannis Melanitis Athens School of Fine Arts to state that ‘all art is biomimicry’ on the basis of information exchanges. Similarities conceptualization on the strategies of contemporary art. Recent research between biomimicry, Art, and AI are methodologically apparent; advances in AI This paper examines interactions between animal and human patterns of biomimetics Y. Melanitis’s work initiates from a TRANSCENDENCE in focuses on the role of information on self-coding computation might be reconsidered alongside artistic interpretations of the arts considering “INFORMATION accurate or comprehensible ones, intertwine the web of mimetics. In these treacherous (Latest example is his gene micro- injected into the butterfly named Leda artistic, adaptive, or coding processes, conjecture states emerge, questioning the evolutionary patterns in animals. Purposefully misleading signals, blended with more AS THE NEW CONCEPTUALIZATION. Melanitis for the creation of a transgenic, Art & Science 2025 precision of signal conception. ‘Apophenia’ is defined as the tendency to perceive a adult butterfly breed). Yiannis Melanitis or ideas), while ‘pareidolia’ as the “tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful digital arts from the Athens School of Fine Arts and is presently a PhD candidate at image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/). connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects holds degrees in painting, sculpture and the School of Architecture, (NTUA) with ‘Mimiphenia’ is a neologism we propose as a paraphrase of apophenia and pareidolia, a thesis entitled: Biological Dynamics in Book terms related to perception. This ‘apparent-ambiguous’ mimicry imposes on viewers Art. Exhibited in Austria, Mexico, Brasil, of Abstracts Belgium, UK, Portugal, Switzerland, and predators a half-aware state, an artistic dilemma. By observing this phenomenon US, Scotland, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, in Ophrys orchids, we propose new hypothetical bee-resembling patterns by applying Germany, Greece. Latest work Turing’s morphogenetic formula to a parent orchid using AI. The resulting patterns presentations include Ars Electronica closely resemble those evolutionarily occurring in nature. 2020, MACRO Museum (Rome); at the National Museum of Brasil; Biblioteque of Brasil; Museu D. Diogo de Sousa, Braga, Portugal; the Tongeren Museum and Praetorium, Belgium. As a subject of criticism, his work is included in international editions as “Art Tomorrow” (Ed.L.Smith), Leonardo MIT, Lomonosov Moscow University, by Seung-Chol Shin, Assimi Kaniari, Mario Savini among others. ephra Session 9A: T chair: Stephanie Rothenberg, University at Buffalo 15:45 Karst to Cosmos: Reimagining Ecosystems and Ecological Fragility in Space Narratives with Astrotop_X pETER Purg 16:00 Consume Our Consumption Anya Koehne, Annan Zuo, Jiabao Li 16:15 Studies in Colour & Flora Jude Abu Zaineh 16:30 Fluid Boundaries of the Adriatic Avant-Garde: Transgression, Ecology, and Decolonized Narratives Kristina Pranjić Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 96 Session 9A: Tephra TABOO ‒ Karst to Cosmos: Reimagining Ecosystems and Ecological TRANSGRESSION ‒ Fragility in Space Narratives with Astrotop_X pETER Purg University of Nova Gorica scientific inquiry to challenge prevailing narratives of space colonization. Situated Professor at both Arts and Humanities, University of Nova Gorica, whose within a traveling laboratory xMobil, this work explores the interconnectedness of Astrotop_X is a speculative new-media artwork that blends artistic imagination with pETER Purg, PhD is Associate TRANSCENDENCE in new-media art (thinking) practice ecosystems through the lens of posthumanist thought, critiquing anthropocentric ranges from performance to education plants—envisioning them as potential autonomous agents in cosmic exploration. This Dean of the School of Humanities and New Media module lead as unconventional proposal transforms our perspective on identity, participation, and the paradigms. The project foregrounds the agency of non-human entities—particularly and interdisciplinary research. He is well as coordinator or team lead in Art & Science 2025 aesthetics of interstellar futures. several projects crossing disciplines, Braidotti’s posthumanism, Astrotop_X interrogates entrenched ideas of human the Go!Borderless European Capital of Culture 2025 programme pETER Purg supremacy and reimagines the interface between artistic creativity and scientific Drawing on theoretical frameworks from Donna Haraway’s “Chthulucene” and Rosi sectors, theories and practices. For currently leads the xMobil art+science practice. By incorporating a carefully selected ecosystem into a speculative space- mobile lab, curates the PostMobility Book travel capsule, the project reframes notions of power and adaptation, presenting artistic programme of exhibitions and of Abstracts performances as well as co-curates alternatives to hierarchical relationships between humans and nature. It critiques the the 26th international festival of Nietzschean techno-escapism that underpins dystopian visions of space colonization, contemporary art practice Pixxelpoint instead championing coexistence and ecological entanglement as the foundation for 2025. With a PhD in media art, The capsule’s algorithmic analysis of exoplanet data underscores humanity’s aspirations from the University of Erfurt in Germany, he often combines scientific inquiries alongside its inherent vulnerabilities, raising essential questions about our evolving sustainable futures. communication science and literature that include media arts pedagogy, avant- identity and collective belonging. The work challenges established conventions by garde studies, post-growth and media might one day transcend human limitations. Ethical dilemmas surrounding ecological performance and media art. www.pleter. net disruption and invasive species are also confronted, emphasizing the moral complexities suggesting that plants—adapted to extreme conditions such as the Karst ecosystem— ecology with artistic experiments in of such a scenario. In presenting this speculative trajectory, Astrotop_X illuminates ecological fragilities and pushes conceptual boundaries, inviting reflection on space exploration’s broader moral and ecological implications. Through its innovative synthesis of perspectives, the project gestures toward radical new possibilities for identity, agency, and the role of nature in shaping futures beyond Earth. 97 Session 9A: Tephra TABOO ‒ Consume Our Consumption TRANSGRESSION ‒ Anya Koehne The University of Texas at Austin Anya Koehne is a junior at The University of Texas at Austin, known for her work in The gut microbiome of Zophobas morio (superworm) hosts bacteria capable of biochemistry and her innovative project that involves creating a probiotic pill designed to TRANSCENDENCE in degrading plastics. Inspired by the plastic-degrading capabilities of superworm, we help digest plastic waste. She recently won a grand prize award for her project, which developed “Plascetamol,” a probiotic pill that transfers these microbes into new gut promotes sustainability and creativity. systems. This probiotic contains microbes capable of depolymerizing plastics, enabling both animals and humans to consume plastic, reframing pollution as a potential food Annan Zuo source and thereby reducing plastic pollution. By linking eating (consuming) with University of Oxford plastic (consumption), this project envisions a dystopian future where plastic waste Art & Science 2025 is perpetually recycled through ingestion, creating an endless loop of consumption, Annan Zuo is a more-than-human researcher recycling, and production. and architectural designer. He holds an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design from the Through a fine dining experience featuring food made of edible bioplastic, we University of Cambridge and currently works invite participants to reflect on the consumerist loop, flawed food systems, and the at Foster + Partners in London. In October 2025, he will begin a PhD in Geography greenwashing embedded in current recycling narratives. Recycling, often championed and the Environment at the University of as a solution, may instead perpetuate overproduction and consumption. Aligned with phenomenology, intersubjectivity, more-than- human architecture, landscape recovery, Oxford. His research focuses on post- Book radical ecology arguments, this project challenges the notion that there is no alternative of Abstracts to the growth-driven capitalism fueling plastic-related greenhouse gas emissions, featured at international platforms including the Venice Biennale, Edinburgh Fringe, the empathy, and care. Annan’s work has been habitat destruction, and species extinction. By critiquing the systems underpinning Media Architecture Biennale, and exhibited the plastic production industry, it seeks to inspire actionable pathways toward truly in institutions such as the Shanghai Ming Contemporary Art Museum and Austin ecologically responsible futures. Unchained Gallery. He is the recipient of the 2024 BioDesign Challenge Grand Prize and has published with Springer Nature and Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. He has presented at conferences across cybernetics, systems design, bio art, and architecture, including RSD12, ASC60, and ISEA 2025. He was nominated for both the RIBA Bronze and Silver Medals and is an active member of the American Society for Cybernetics and the Eco- centric Future Lab. The University of Texas at Austin Jiabao Li Jiabao Li is an artist, assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin, founding director of Ecocentric Future Lab, and visiting professor at Stanford. She creates works addressing climate change, multispecies futures, humane technology, and perceptions. Her mediums include wearable, robot, AR/VR, performance, scientific experiment, installation. In Jiabao’s TED Talk, she uncovered how technology mediates the way we perceive reality. Her recent solo exhibitions include “Chill Out: The Arctic Couldn’t”, “Progenitorial Hysteresis”, “Perception Omnifold”, and “Ecological Soup: Interspecies Encounters”. Jiabao is the recipient of numerous awards including Forbes China 30 Under 30, STARTS Prize, Falling Walls, Fast Company, and the Outstanding Instructor Award from Bio Design Challenge. Her work has been exhibited internationally, at MoMA, Venice Architecture Biennale, Ars Electronica, Exploratorium, Today Art Museum Biennial, SIGGRAPH, Milan and Dubai Design Week, ISEA, etc. Her academic papers have been published in top conferences and journals including SIGGRAPH, CHI, IEEE VIS. Her work has been featured on Fast Company, Art Forum, Business Insider, Bloomberg, South China Morning Post, Domus, Yanko Design, Harvard Political Review, Leonardo. She is a member of Onassis Foundation and a Fellow at Ars Electronica Founding lab. She graduated from Harvard GSD with Distinction and thesis award. 98 Session 9A: Tephra TABOO ‒ Studies in Colour & Flora TRANSGRESSION ‒ Jude Abu Zaineh Independent developed into an experimental film and installation, “FORMations”. This process- Canadian interdisciplinary artist-curator working across art, food, science, based work reflects the natural ecology of food and flora in the settler-regions between Studies in Colour & Flora is an ongoing series of works that began in 2022 and Jude Abu Zaineh is a Palestinian- TRANSCENDENCE in and technology studies. Her work the south west Ontario and Upstate New York corridor–two areas the artist often develops counter-archive practices foods, FORMations examines the constant evolution within an ever-shifting cultural displacement, storytelling, diaspora, and belonging, through de-colonial and and geographical landscape; the petri-dish environment makes visible the invisible frequents. Sampling the earth, indigenous and collected plant species, and leftover and investigates themes of culture, feminist perspectives. She examines Art & Science 2025 by providing a medium of growth for the microbial and bacterial communities that ideals of home and community influenced gives metaphorical and visual connections to the often ignored or erased narratives Southwest Asia. https://www.judeaz.com/ and the layered complexities of hybrid existences that many newcomer (human and naturally exist within food and our overall surroundings. This enclosed environment by her childhood and upbringing in nonhuman species) experience in their respective, evolving habitats. The work gives a Book visual nod to the artist’s cultural heritage in referencing geometric forms found in South of Abstracts West Asia and North African architecture and Islamic art, while acknowledging the larger landscapes, foods, resources, and diverse ecosystems that make-up Southwest Ontario & region. 99 Session 9A: Tephra TABOO ‒ Fluid Boundaries of the Adriatic Avant-Garde: Transgression, TRANSGRESSION ‒ Ecology, and Decolonized Narratives Kristina Pranjić University of Nova Gorica Adriatic region through an ecocritical and ecofeminist lens, by exploring the intersections the University of Nova Gorica’s School of Humanities and Research Centre for of art, science, and ecology. Historically marginalized as peripheral or fragmentary, This paper proposes a reexamination of avant-garde artistic practices in the Northern Kristina Pranjić is Associate Professor at TRANSCENDENCE in Humanities. Her work focuses on avant- avant-garde movements in East-Central Europe, including Slovenia and the broader garde and intermedia art, ecocriticism, narratives. By shifting the focus to the Adriatic Sea – a space of cultural, ecological, of art and science. She has published widely, co-edited several volumes on and geopolitical interconnectedness – this contribution aims to construct an alternative, Adriatic region, have been overlooked within dominant Western art historical cultural criticism, and the intersections the avant-garde, and is the principal Art & Science 2025 eco-centric narrative of the region’s avant-garde. The waterscapes of the Adriatic offer investigator of the upcoming project avant-garde in relation to contemporary ecological crises. Drawing on ecofeminist and Remapping of Northern Adriatic Avant- Gardes at the Research Centre of the posthumanist theories, the paper interrogates the role of water as both subject and a fertile metaphor and material reality for rethinking the transgressive potential of the Adriatic Avant-Garde: Eco-Transversal Slovenian Academy of Sciences and medium in avant-garde art, emphasizing its relational and transformative properties. By Arts (ZRC SAZU), in collaboration with Book engaging with the artistic strategies of fluidity, hybridity, and interconnectedness, the the University of Graz. of Abstracts She has organised three international contribution proposes an alternative art history framework that integrates spatial and conferences with artistic programmes material turns in humanities scholarship. and co-edited the proceedings: The Focusing on three key periods – the intermedial works of interwar historical avant-garde, World as Objectlessness, Cosmic ecological art and science projects from the Northern Adriatic region – the study End of the World. She is the author of a monograph on the Yugoslav avant- clusters works into three thematic areas: (1) mythological and poetic engagements with the performance art of the neo-avant-garde of the post-WWII era, and contemporary Anarchism, and Avant-garde and the garde (Jugoslovanska avantgarda in the Adriatic; (2) new relationalities with nonhuman entities; and (3) critical responses metropolitanska dada, Sophia, 2024), clusters highlight how avant-garde practices transcend traditional boundaries, forging Gruyter Brill in 2027. She studied Comparative Literature and connections between art, ecology, and society. Ultimately, this paper contributes to to urgent environmental issues such as pollution and biodiversity loss. These which will also appear in English with De Russian Language and Literature at the the decolonization of art historical methodologies by adopting a transdisciplinary, University of Ljubljana, where she also Adriatic region offers a relevant context for reimagining cultural narratives, ecological has conducted research at the University of Konstanz, the University of Belgrade, resilience, and our place within a more-than-human world. transnational, and eco-critical perspective, demonstrating how avant-garde art in the earned her PhD in Slavic Studies. She and Paris 8 University, and has taught at the University of Klagenfurt. Session 9B: Pumice chair: Marta de Menezes, Cultivamos Cultura 15:45 Thinking in, about and through atmospheres: the animated atmosphere of the Camino Primitivo Emma Hallemans 16:00 Mouth as Provocation: Hacking Interfaces and Transgressing Ableism in XR Puneet Jain 16:15 Desludging the Artifecal in AI Praba Pilar 16:30 Extreme AI bodies Ian Haig Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 101 Session 9B: Pumice TABOO ‒ Thinking in, about and through atmospheres: the animated TRANSGRESSION ‒ atmosphere of the Camino Primitivo Emma Hallemans Scientist and cultural mediator, Cultivamos Cultura between. We are affected by their configurations as they unfold through time. They are and cultural mediator at Cultivamos Cultura. Her interest in putting both ambiguous, forming a connective element between multiple dualities. This makes them Atmospheres give our surroundings a certain tone and situate themselves in the in Emma Hallemans is a Belgian scientist TRANSCENDENCE in natural science and human science in a flexible concept to think through as they take on both the role of research object and conversation with each other led her Northern Spain. There is something about this pilgrimage that is not entirely graspable, of the Arts and Culture (UCP) after her MA (2022) in Biochemistry and but which make thousands of pilgrims move through pain, discomfort, and solitude. The research medium. I use this concept to analyse the Camino Primitivo, a pilgrimage in to finish an MA (2024) in Management Biotechnology (KUL). As a cultural Art & Science 2025 Camino embodies tacitly a cultural context and this is exactly why I use atmospheres mediator she searches for a nexus I apply Sumartojo and Pink’s (2019) research methodology of researching in, about In an attempt at identifying with these three groups, she also explores multiple and through the atmosphere of the Camino. Researching in reflects an embodied to understand my case study. between artists, scientist and audiences. fields of arts. As a photographer she perspective, researching about transforms this knowledge into a representation and contributed to a project about mental Book researching through uses the concept of atmospheres as a route to arrive at new health for the Belgian governmental of Abstracts youth department “MIJNLeuven”. knowledge. More specifically, I tackle the following main question: “How can we think Besides, she has photographed multiple in, about and through the atmosphere of the Camino?” and sub-questions: “How can exhibitions, interviews and concerts in I, applying this methodology, uncover new knowledge about the atmosphere of the both Belgium, Sweden and Lisbon. In I established an ethnographic-theoretical dialogue using fieldnotes and photographs musical project “Cloudgazers” (2022) and created a micro-exhibition at Galaxy that I took of the atmosphere of the Camino. In the end, I arrived at the idea that Camino?” and “What is this new knowledge about the atmosphere of the Camino?” Sweden, she also contributed to the Protonen (2022). Furthermore, in Lisbon the atmosphere of the Camino is animated. On the Camino pilgrims surrender to its she co-created an installation (2023) atmosphere in the form of mystical participation which translate into affect, serendipities, at Bairro em Festa and curated micro- and movement. exhibitions (2024) at both Católica and Rizoma. Her research interests lie in Cultural Theory, Music Studies, Visual Culture, Science Philosophy and Social Anthropology. Her creative practices mostly explore visual arts, installations and sound. 102 Session 9B: Pumice TABOO ‒ Mouth as Provocation: Hacking Interfaces and Transgressing TRANSGRESSION ‒ Ableism in XR Puneet Jain Zurich university of the Arts and Concordia University many able-bodied individuals experience when encountering a disabled body. Does the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), eXtended Reality this render disability a near-taboo identity? These tensions were confronted in Crip Disability often elicits visceral emotions—disgust, fear, irritation—reactions that Puneet is an artist/engineer working at TRANSCENDENCE in (XR), Critical Design, and Disability Sensorama, an XR artwork exhibited at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. Studies. He is currently pursuing his artist Christian Bayerlein, who lives with spinal muscular atrophy, through playful and Canada under the supervision of Artist/ Researcher Chris Salter. Puneet’s unconventional gestures. Audiences opened their mouths wide, puffed their cheeks, This immersive experience invited visitors to navigate the everyday life of disabled PhD at Concordia University, Montreal, artistic-research practice investigates Art & Science 2025 and extended their tongues to move and interact within the virtual environment— how technologies of XR (umbrella term Current XR technologies predominantly rely on hand and head movements to explore worn interfaces) can be made accessible for the disabled communities (particularly virtual worlds, reinforcing an able-bodied design paradigm that HCI researchers Gerling transgressing what disability scholar Alison Kafer terms “compulsory able-bodiedness.” for Virtual/Augmented Reality and body- people with quadriplegia/paraplegia). and Spiel describe as a “corporeal standard”. This ableist framework excludes individuals Concretely, opening the platform of XR Book with limited sensorimotor abilities from full access to these devices. Addressing this for (and with) the disabled communities, of Abstracts developing artistic XR interventions that exclusion, Crip Sensorama hacked camera-based technology, enabling Christian to re-shapes, re-imagines, and provokes interact in XR using chin, jaw, and tongue movements—redefining the interface to the common misconceptions around center the mouth as an accessible and inclusive modality. sensorimotor disabilities.Puneet’s Sensorama, demonstrating how the mouth—a visceral organ often tied to intimacy and India (from where his roots emerge) and internationally at venues such taboo—was transformed into both a practical interface and an artistic provocation. By This presentation will delve into the artistic and technical processes behind Crip work has been showcased both in Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), ISEA reimagining the bucca (mouth) as a tool for interaction, the work not only subverted (Barcelona, Spain), xCoAx (Treviso, disability culture. (Florida, USA), KunstFest (Weimar, Germany) etc. Ultimately, this talk will argue for the mouth as a “trouble-maker” in XR art, capable of technological ableism in XR but also brought audiences into intimate proximity with Italy), Electronic Literature Organization unsettling entrenched misconceptions about disability, revealing the biases embedded in technology, and fostering a deeper understanding of disability as a site of creativity, desire, and embodied agency. 103 Session 9B: Pumice TABOO ‒ Desludging the Artifecal in AI TRANSGRESSION ‒ Praba Pilar California College of the Arts residencies, and creative collaborations with AI systems, bioartists, and scientists. I first Colombian artist creating interdisciplinary projects that disrupt the learned this term from a ChatGPT/SunoAI glitch that occurred while we were analyzing For the last two years I have explored Artifecal Intelligence through research, art Praba Pilar is a queer diasporic TRANSCENDENCE in cult of the techno-logic. She is working the nature/culture divide, and since then I have come to view Artificial Intelligence (AI) internationally on subversive, playful, Indiscriminate releases of AI systems have generated enormous quantities of excreta, systems to nixtamalize the technology sector, creating algorithms, code, alongside a very tense duality about the nature of AI itself. Expectations are growing as Artifecal. and simultaneously serious ways with AI images, and songs that challenge data Art & Science 2025 that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) or Transformative AI (TAI) will take over 25% extraction techno-colonialism and offer scaled at a factor of 4-5 per year over the last 10 years, while multiplying energy use Her artworks have been presented in museums, galleries, universities, by orders of magnitude. For example, Microsoft has signed deals for 5GW/10GW data of human jobs within this decade. Compute power dedicated to training AI models has algorithms of liberation. festivals and streets around the world – centers for Open AI, with projected energy requirements equal to the annual output of including the Museum of World Culture Book Portugal (43.8 TWh). Parts of the AI community tremble in the face of AI’s imagined in Gothenberg, Sweden; MUAC in of Abstracts Mexico City; La Facultad de Bellas demonic power of destruction, rendering it taboo, while others blithely transgress into Artes, Altea, Spain; Vancouver’s LIVE a wildly erotic AI death drive. BIENNALE; Toronto’s McLuhan Center This avalanche of for-profit enshittified slop introduces global challenges for humanity for Culture & Technology; SIGGRAPH intelligence systems to human safety, they are overlooking these artifecal processes. at ISEA; OCAD in Toronto; Galeria Studio Cerrillo in San Cristobal de las Artifecal excreta mimics impaired fecal metabolisms that can lead to dementia, and and our biosphere. While ethicists are focused on the ‘alignment’ of superhuman in South Korea; the Zero One Festival Casas, Chiapas, Mexico; MOCA in Los further threatens social and mental health worldwide. I will share the transcendent Angeles; San Francisco’s MOMA; BAN possibilities of Desludging the Artifecal in AI that transforms artifecal excess into artifical 5 at Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena; dreams. Grace Performance Space in New York City; the Oakland Museum of California; and many more, with works on exhibit in perpetuity at the Kitchen in NYC and in ACM SIGGRAPH’s Future Past VS. Coloniality: Decolonial Media Art Beyond 530 Year. She is a 2025-27 HUMAN (Humanities Understanding of the Machine Assisted Nexus) Fellow at Lake Forest College/ Ragdale, Co-Director of the Bioarts Ethical Advisory Komission, and an Emeritus Board Member of Women Eco Artists Dialogue. Pilar has a PhD in Performance Studies from the University of California, Davis, and you can learn more about her work at prabapilar.com. 104 Session 9B: Pumice TABOO ‒ Extreme AI bodies TRANSGRESSION ‒ Ian Haig RMIT University, Melbourne human body emerges not as a pristine social media ideal of photographic perfection video, sculpture, drawing, technology based media, mutant AI and installation. but as a site of glitches, extreme errors, and unruly mutations. Platforms like Stable This talk will delve into my ongoing instagram project of exterme AI bodies; here the Ian Haig works across media, from TRANSCENDENCE in Haig’s practice refuses to accept that Diffusion begin with noise—a chaotic swirl of pixels that algorithms wrestle into the low and the base level are devoid diffusion: a messy, biological tangle of fluids, tissues, and imperfections, smoothed body obsessed themes can be seen throughout a large body of work over by culture into an illusion of “normalcy.” AI slop after all refences the human body, the coherence. Yet, this process mirrors the human body itself, the body is a kind of stable of value and cultural meaning. His the last thirty years. Previous works Art & Science 2025 leaking, messy, visceral slime of what it means to be human. have looked to the contemporary media Elon Musk neuralink brain implant disasters, AI bodily hallucinations, GMO humans, body, the degenerative aspects of pervasive new technologies, to cultural algorithmIc flesh accidents and AI as a contagion and online parasite. My AI mutations explore transhumanism gone wrong, AI malfunctions, biological errors, sphere and its relationship to the visceral forms of fanaticism and cults, to ideas of attraction and repulsion, body horror, Book transhumanism gone bad, and the defamiliarisation and confrontation of of Abstracts the human body. His work has been exhibited in galleries and video/media festivals around the world. Including exhibitions at: The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne; The Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide; The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne; Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Artec Biennale – Nagoya, Japan; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; China Millennium Monument Art Museum, Beijing; Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot, Germany; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; The Museum of the Moving Image, New York; The Havana Biennial, Cuba. In addition his video work has screened in over 200 festivals internationally including The Ann Arbor film festival, US; VideoBrasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Melbourne International film festival and Rencontres Internationales, Paris/ Berlin. In 2003 he received a fellowship from the New Media Arts Board of the Australia Council and in 2013 and 2017 he curated the video art shows Unco and Very Unco at The Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles. Session 10A: Diatoms chair: Kristina Pranjić, University of Nova Gorica 17:45 Perpetual Laughter in the Sight of the Ridiculous. Defining a meta-Agelast Ioannis Melanitis 18:00 Tears for Lost Frequencies Monica Duncan, Senem Pirler 18:15 Comic and absurd aspects of destruction in robotic art (Jean Tinguely and Survival Research Labs) Natalia Fedorova Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 106 Session 10A: Diatoms TABOO ‒ Perpetual Laughter in the Sight of the Ridiculous. Defining a TRANSGRESSION ‒ meta-Agelast Ioannis Melanitis Athens School of Fine Arts Keywords: art, conscience, Democritus laughter, agelast, biomimetics, biomimicry, AI Y. Melanitis’s work initiates from a TRANSCENDENCE in conceptualization on the strategies of The undersigned has previously discussed the Agelast, a non-smiling archetype, contemporary art. Recent research focuses on the role of information on demarcated as a character to be re-evaluated through AI-generated humour. In artistic the arts considering “INFORMATION where portraiture reached the point of being transformed into buffoonery. (Latest example is his gene micro- injected into the butterfly named Leda The smile of the Agelast is not comical; rather epitomizes a smile of the unsmiling, terms, there was an attempt to depict this newly generated humour in oil paintings, AS THE NEW CONCEPTUALIZATION. Melanitis for the creation of a transgenic, Art & Science 2025 formed as the Uncomical Humorous. Defining a meta-agelast is an investigation on adult butterfly breed). Yiannis Melanitis Democritus, a counterpart who is famously referred to as the “constantly laughing” digital arts from the Athens School of Fine Arts and is presently a PhD candidate at or the “laughing philosopher.” Art, in this context, expands into the subterritories of this problematic. In direct contrast to the “Agelastos” stands the natural philosopher holds degrees in painting, sculpture and the School of Architecture, (NTUA) with philosophy, from the sublime, extended towards a laughingstock; it may produce a thesis entitled: Biological Dynamics in Book an “eternal laughter,” a seriously problematic, petrified projection of the ideal. This Art. Exhibited in Austria, Mexico, Brasil, of Abstracts Belgium, UK, Portugal, Switzerland, juxtaposition delineates a profound philosophical antinomy, wherein the Agelast, an US, Scotland, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, archetype of feigned solemnity and the renunciation of laughter, rather stands in a Germany, Greece. Latest work distinctly dialectical opposition to Democritus, the archetypal “laughing philosopher,” presentations include Ars Electronica a crucial dichotomy, it encapsulates conflicting existential approaches, reflecting the National Museum of Brasil; Biblioteque of Brasil; Museu D. Diogo de Sousa, epistemic and aesthetic tensions between gravitas and levity, problematising the whose ceaseless laughter signifies an ontological engagement with the absurd. As 2020, MACRO Museum (Rome); at the Braga, Portugal; the Tongeren Museum boundaries of philosophical and artistic discourse. and Praetorium, Belgium. As a subject Devolved into absurdity, perpetual laughter, as denoted through art, is a profound of criticism, his work is included in philosophical stance on the incoherence of the human predicament. international editions as “Art Tomorrow” (Ed.L.Smith), Leonardo MIT, Lomonosov Moscow University, by Seung-Chol Shin, Assimi Kaniari, Mario Savini among others. 107 Session 10A: Diatoms TABOO ‒ Tears for Lost Frequencies TRANSGRESSION ‒ Monica Duncan Lehman College - CUNY making of “Tears for Lost Frequencies.” performance artist. Her time-based work investigates sensory perceptions, queer “Tears for Lost Frequencies” explores our complex relationship with plastic through For our artist talk, we are proposing to present our research and creative process in the Monica Duncan (she/her) is a video and TRANSCENDENCE in potentiality, and interconnectedness with the act of improvisation. Our intention is to highlight plastic as a matter that cannot our more-than human world.. Duncan’s and our “uninvited” collaborator. In “Tears for Lost Frequencies,” microplastics found in been exhibited Hebbel am Ufer HAU1, Frankfurt Lab, zeitraumexit, Komuna// tears become material witnesses to the experience of one’s grieving moment, such as be separated from the “natural”: a material everywhere and becoming our “nature” video and performance work has Warszawa, The Kitchen, Roulette, Art & Science 2025 hearing loss, and a speculative space for plastic healing. Atlanta Contemporary, Hallwalls, La microplastics from the surrounding waters using ethical and open-source tools Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, amongst others. She has been a provided by CLEAR Lab for plastic pollution research. Through the process of getting During Fall 2023, while artists-in-residence at LMCC at Governors Island, we collected Casa Encendida, ZKM, LACMA, Los visiting artist at the Atlanta College of closer to these samples through microscopes, close-up cameras, and large-scale Art, Georgia State University, Hunter Book video projection, we began to look deeper into our own connection, to see if we carry College, New School, Pratt Institute, of Abstracts Signal Culture, Experimental Television microplastics in our most intimate moments of relating to the world. In Oct. 2023 at Center, Scena Robocza, Institute for Nature Lab in Troy, we began to look for microplastics in our tears and sweat. From our Electronic Arts, PACT Zollverein, LMCC microplastic findings, we created an audiovisual performance and video titled “Tears Governors Island and Stoveworks. “Tears for Lost Frequencies” is based on queer ecologies which question the sterilized NYSCC School of Art and Design at Alfred University, MFA in Visual Arts from narratives that are built around understandings of “nature” and reveal the entangled for Lost Frequencies”. Duncan received her BFA from the the University of California, San Diego, relations between humans and more-than-human entities through eroticism, kinship, and while on a D.A.A.D fellowship her and care. MA in Choreography and Performance at the Institute for Applied Theater Studies, Justus Liebig University Gießen, Germany. Duncan joined the faculty of the Department of Music, Multimedia, Theatre & Dance at Lehman College- CUNY in Fall 2019. For more information visit: www.monicaduncan.net Senem Pirler University of Chicago Senem Pirler (she/her) is an artist, sonic improviser, and educator. Pirler’s interdisciplinary work crosses over into sound engineering, sound art, composition, performance, video art, movement, and installation. https://www.senempirler.com/ 108 Session 10A: Diatoms TABOO ‒ Comic and absurd aspects of destruction in robotic art (Jean TRANSGRESSION ‒ Tinguely and Survival Research Labs) Natalia Fedorova Independent environment an aesthetically charged one is to include a conflict or a tension between researcher and educator in the field of contemporary art and literature. Her work the actors. Normally, robotic art would be a process or an environment. One of the ways to make an Natalia Fedorova is a an artist, curator, TRANSCENDENCE in is centred around mediation between the In the case of robotic art, such tension would be an explosion, a literal one. Once the languages of humans, technology and destruction is implied, seemingly unlikely for robotic art, the theme of transience is ecosystems. evoked. Indeed, a robot may hypothetically go on forever or as long as the source https://nataliafedorova.com/ of energy is provided. Yet such artists as Jean Tinguely and Survival Research Labs Art & Science 2025 demonstrate dysfunctional, destroying one another, or autodestructive machines. Failure is as magnetic as success, yet failure (of a human, animal, or machine alike) causes sympathy and evokes cathartic projection; the viewer projects their vulnerable self on the vulnerable machine (or human, or animal). The other theme that goes with the destructive machines is the reverse of overproduction. Destructive machine is anti- Book clock and thus anti-perpetual mobile. Being drawn towards its own end, this machine of Abstracts neglects countable time and rejects production in order and order as such. Witnessing the destruction is a reminder of endings of various sorts, including the one of the life of the observer. A broader vision of the end of technocratic civilisation or Western civilisation is equally possible The spectacle of destruction of Survival Research Labs is a familiar one: it is spread by the news. Yet literal destruction is rarely made the material of an artwork; rather, the artwork points at it. Destruction and failure is oftentimes used for the comic effect. In Tinguely and SRL works, destruction is both apocalyptic and comic in its pointlessness. It is a critique of war as an economy of destruction. The spectacle is aimed to show the consequences of violence and imbue horror, yet it also excites, the way pyrotechnic special effects excite in films. The excitement grinds into memory. It is hard to imagine the exact properties of noise, the smell, and this comic pointlessness of destruction when watching the video footage from the news. The spectacle is the chance to experience a glimpse of destruction without a trauma. Session 10B: Homologs chair: Alizée Armet, independent 17:45 Symbiony: The definitive exploration of the symbiotic harmony of the vaginal microbiome, based on its environment. Mehrta Shirzadian 18:00 How to talk with scientists as an artist Marta de Menezes, Efrat Gold, Cosima Herter, Kathy High 18:15 Confessions of a body in configuration Marco Donnarumma 18:30 Eco-Semiotics as Method: Exploring More-than-Human Knowledge Gathering Daria Testo, Dauren Kaliaskar, Laura Rodriguez Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 110 Session 10B: Homologs TABOO ‒ Symbiony: The definitive exploration of the symbiotic TRANSGRESSION ‒ harmony of the vaginal microbiome, based on its Mehrta Shirzadian environment. die Angewandte plays a vital role in maintaining health and balance.This presentation will delve into the multimedia artist, and artistic researcher. She conducted doctoral-level research symbiotic relationships among bacteria within the vaginal microbiome, focusing on how The human body, with its vagina, harbours a diverse and dynamic microbiome that Mehrta Shirzadian is a performer, TRANSCENDENCE in in molecular biology and holds degrees these interactions evolve in response to environmental factors throughout the menstrual in computer science and mathematical different days of the menstrual cycle, I will visually demonstrate the nuanced changes Science at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, she works with time-based media in this microbial community. These samples, cultivated using biohacking techniques cycle.By presenting bacterial growth samples cultivated from my own body during modeling. Currently studying Art & such as video installation, animation, and Art & Science 2025 within a domestic setting, will be presented through an artistic representation of petri performance. Drawing on her scientific Despite its significance, research on vaginal microbiomes and bodies with vaginas explores personal, interpersonal, and non-human relationships, as well as the remains critically underexplored in medical science. Historically, these bodies have dishes, accompanied by a video installation. background, her artistic practice visibility of the invisible. Engaging with been underrepresented in studies, perpetuating misconceptions such as the vaginal themes of bodily autonomy, microbial Book microbiome being inherently “sensitive” or prone to imbalance. Misguided medical life, and trans-corporeal perception, her of Abstracts work often investigates the boundaries prescriptions have been shown to disrupt this ecosystem, leading to persistent infections of knowledge, identity, and materiality in and long-term health challenges. These gaps in research highlight the urgent need for intimate and speculative ways. more inclusive and informed medical practices. This presentation also explores the biohacking process used to cultivate these samples at home, detailing the challenges and creative methods employed to document the microbiome’s cyclical changes. The presentation seeks to advocate for greater understanding of the dynamic, symbiotic nature of this ecosystem, and to promote more inclusive research and greater appreciation for the microbiome. 111 Session 10B: Homologs TABOO ‒ How to talk with scientists as an artist TRANSGRESSION ‒ Marta de Menezes Cultivamos Cultura Marta de Menezes is a Portuguese artist with a degree in Fine Arts by Establishing a meaningful conversation between artists and scientists is not merely a the University in Lisbon, a MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture TRANSCENDENCE in matter of translation—it is an act of co-creation, and the most productive collaborations by the University of Oxford, and a do not rely on adopting the language of science. This presentation explores strategies PhD candidate at the University of artists can use to initiate and sustain dialogues with scientists without compromising Leiden. She has been exploring the intersection between Art and Biology, their artistic identity. Through case studies drawn from laboratory residencies and working in research laboratories long-term projects in bioart, I share tactics for artists to engage scientists as equals— demonstrating that new biological foregrounding curiosity, mutual vulnerability, and epistemic friction. Furthermore, this is technologies can be used as new art medium. In 1999 de Menezes created Art & Science 2025 not a lesson in diplomacy—it is a call for radical co-presence. her first biological artwork (Nature?) by modifying the wing patterns of live butterflies. Since then, she has used diverse biological techniques. Her work has been presented internationally in exhibitions, articles and lectures. She is currently Book the artistic director of Ectopia, an experimental art laboratory in Lisbon, of Abstracts and Director of Cultivamos Cultura in the South of Portugal. Efrat Gold SUNY Buffalo Efrat Gold is a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow and visiting assistant professor at SUNY Buffalo’s Center for Disability Studies, engaging in mad and disability studies.https:// efratgold.academia.edu/ Cosima Herter Independent Cosima Herter is a historian of biology and a writer who served as a science consultant for the Emmy Award-winning series “Orphan Black.” She collaborates with artists to explore the intersection of biology and storytelling through various projects. Kathy High Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Kathy High is an interdisciplinary artist / educator who collaborates with scientists and activists, and considers living systems, animal sentience, and ethical dilemmas of biotechnology and medical industries. She is Professor of Video and New Media in the Arts department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, and is director of BioArt and Technology Laboratory, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. She is a supporter of community DIY science and ecological art practices and Project Coordinator for the NATURE Lab Urban Environmental Education Center with The Sanctuary for Independent Media where she is a board member and co-founder. www.kathyhigh.com 112 Session 10B: Homologs TABOO ‒ Confessions of a body in configuration TRANSGRESSION ‒ Marco Donnarumma Independent artist, theorist and inventor skeletal chest shifting shape with each heartbeat. Years later it occurred to me that technological bodies to navigate the boundaries of experience. Born hearing all muscles must make a sound, just like my heart. This was the beginning of my About thirty years ago I first observed my heart beating through the skin, my tiny Marco Donnarumma creates TRANSCENDENCE in and then become late-deafened, he research into muscle sounds, that led me to combine performance art and sound makes work that, through resonating curiosity expanded into an interest for the bodies of others and eventually became powers of society regulate the human body. Owing to a hybrid identity as a a decades-long inquiry into body politics. Integral to this was the practice of making art with biomechanics, wearable robotics and physiological computing. A juvenile aesthetic encounters, challenges how performer, sound artist, stage director, Art & Science 2025 transgressive machines to perform the body’s limits: I conceived, designed, engineered inventor, and theorist, he blends music from a performer’s body, a robotic limb jutting out of one’s face, a self-cutting AI- art, and interactive computer music into performances, installations, and films driven robot arm and prosthetic spines without a body. Only recently though I noticed and handcrafted numerous prosthetics, including a biophysical instrument creating contemporary performance, new media that “defy categorization” (Jury Prix Ars a flaw in my practice. Despite my own disability and scholarly engagement with the Electronica). Rooted in performance Book relevant theory - I’m late-deafened - the machines I had created were detached from art, he takes the discipline into strange of Abstracts encounters with sound, machines, light the experience of others living with prostheses. This made my practice prone to be and movement to create a sensual, associated with discourses of augmentation, and sometimes, to my despair, with a uncompromising aesthetic. The transhumanist desire to transcend the body’s vulnerability. To address this I began inventions he designs and handcrafts, knowledge enshrined in our bodies. In this talk I’ll share my journey. I’ll discuss how biophysical musical instruments, explore visceral forms of interaction on stage this work enabled me to redefine the very idea of prosthesis, creating machines that doing artistic research together with fellow d/Deaf people, exploring the multiplicity of such as AI-driven robotic prosthesis and and create music from the sounds of a by celebrating d/Deafness invite those taking their bodies for granted into unfamiliar performer’s body. He is considered a taboo in the discourse on body technologies in the arts, and how that knowledge can and performing arts (Der Standard), and his repertoire, often created in dialogue nurture radical approaches to art, science and technology. perceptual territories. I hope this will highlight how disabled knowledge is too often a pioneer in the field of emerging technology with science and technology labs, toured 36 countries across theater and dance, media art, contemporary music, and contemporary art. Donnarumma received numerous awards and was named Artist of the Science Year 2018 by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education. He holds a Ph.D. in performing arts, computing, and body theory from Goldsmiths, University of London. His writings integrate aesthetics, feminist studies, and critical theory with scientific research. 113 Session 10B: Homologs TABOO ‒ Eco-Semiotics as Method: Exploring More-than-Human TRANSGRESSION ‒ Knowledge Gathering Daria Testo Eathlings Art Guild In the shadow of an environmental tipping point, the need for intellectual kincentric Daria Testo is a Buryad-Mongolian TRANSCENDENCE in (Khori Buryad) Indigenous curator pluralism is undeniable. As David Abram, creator of the ‘more-than-human’ concept, and storyteller, deeply engaged in suggests in The Spell of the Sensuous (1996), “it is not a matter of ‘going back,’ but rather amplifying marginalized and more- than-human perspectives through coming full circle, uniting our capacity for cool reason [science] with more sensorial her decolonial lens. Her practice is and mimetic ways of knowing.” This full-circle journey challenges the Enlightenment’s anchored in the preservation of both ego-centric rationalism, which severed humanity from eco-social narratives that unite tangible and intangible heritage, where humans with nature. Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Art & Science 2025 and Indigenous Knowledge serve as Knowledge systems across cultures offer distinct ways of comprehending reality. guidance. For the past centuries, scientific reason has been dominating the global discourse. Meanwhile, artistic research, Indigenous practices, and alchemical creativity have Dauren Kaliaskar gained attention as methodologies to rewild our understanding of nature and connect us Earthlings Art Guild to the more-than-human world. Among these, eco-semiotics stands out as a framework Book for exploring the interconnected signs and meaning-making shared between humans, Dauren is a multidisciplinary artist of Abstracts ecosystems, and non-human entities. It invites a reconsideration of how culture and and scientist from the Argyn tribe of the Kazakh ethnicity. Originally from nature co-create meaning. Kazakhstan, he is currently pursuing a This talk explores the intersections of rational science, artistic research, and Indigenous PhD at the University of Alberta, Canada, traditions, guided by a soil scientist, a bio-artist, and a researcher of Indigenous focusing on the preservation, restoration, and feeling—they investigate the parallels and intersections in their practices. scientific research, Dauren emphasizes minimizing the use of chemicals and practices. With sensory-driven methodologies—observation, tasting, hearing, intuition, and sustainable use of grasslands. In his Accompanied by Indigenous knowledge three researchers aim to foster biodiversity waste, striving to develop sustainable conservation and enable interspecies communication. practices that maximize resource Through eco-semiotic practices, the presenters ask: how can hybrid methodologies efficiency. ways of knowing? How might these approaches reveal ethical frameworks for living between art and science transgress disciplinary boundaries and transcend ego-centric Laura Rodriguez within, not above, the natural world? Rewilding sensorial comprehension becomes not Earthlings Art Guild only an ecological act but also an imaginative, cultural transformation. Laura Elidedt Rodríguez Torres is a Mexican scientist and multidisciplinary artist based in the Netherlands. With a background bridging biotechnology and the arts, Laura holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology Engineering from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico, a Master’s in Molecular Biology from Skoltech Institute in Moscow, and a Master’s in Art & Science from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her work integrates living systems and new media to uncover hidden connections between species, fostering empathy and kinship through posthuman philosophies and speculative design. - Laab Lu Lao CoLaboratory เหลู้าบ แลบ chair: Marc Dusseiller, International Hackteria Society & Center for Alternative Coconut Research This panel broadens Art & Science concepts through global, cross-cultural perspectives within the hackteria network’s Asian activities across Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Following the January 2024 “do-it-with-others” open laboratory in Chiang Mai, the core team discusses how diverse cultures, religions, and artistic disciplines contribute to transcendent art/science practices. Projects ranged from alternative genetic engineering and traditional fermentation to collaborative graffiti and urban interventions. LLL refers to Laab (Thai spiced minced meat), Lu (meat with raw blood), and Lao (alcohol), representing cultural fusion in scientific exploration. Panelists from Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Indonesia examine Roundtable 4: how differing worldviews and historic traditions can create truly global approaches to interdisciplinary practice, fostering dialogue between local audiences and international art-science communities. Jirapat “Bos” Thaweechuen, Bora Hong, Helmi Hardian, Weeratouch “Wave” Pongruengkiat, Wei Chieh Shih, Fransisca Tan, Anne Vlaanderen Event Hours: 11/09/2025 (19:00-19:45) Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 115 Jirapat “Bos” Thaweechuen Tomorrow Lab Roundtable 4: TABOO ‒ เหลู้าบ แลบ - Laab Lu Lao CoLaboratory TRANSGRESSION ‒ Bora Hong Pa rang cafe & Art stay Helmi Hardian TRANSCENDENCE in Waaft-Lab Helmi Hardian is a grassroots artist and ghetto scientist, with a specific interest in cooking and smoking at the same time. He lives in Surabaya, the city that is well known for its industry and technology, as well as being the center of electronic component trading (chiefly, Pasar Genteng). Hence, almost all of his works are closely related to science and technology as the medium of creativity. He is the co-founder of Waft Lab, a creative-based initiative that works at interdisciplinary practices. Currently, he focuses on tech development through DIY/DIWO culture and playing his role in researching, hacking, or deconstructing daily materials to provide some devices with new functional aspects, as well as developing workshop kits, lecturing contents, and presentation materials, which aim to learn, share, and exchange knowledge. Art & Science 2025 Weeratouch “Wave” Pongruengkiat Tomorrow Lab Thai artist and engineer Wave Pongruengkiat merges technical prowess with artistic expression, collaborating with local talents to explore the juncture of art and tech. Passionate about posthumanism and animism, he advocates for a deeper connection with nature and AI, bridging tradition with innovation Book for a sustainable future. of Abstracts Wei Chieh Shih Wise Mouse Shih Wei-Chieh is an artist, maker, self-taught materials scientist, and activist who fosters international exchange for independent art events. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in the Interdisciplinary Art Program at the Graduate Institute of Applied Arts, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. Shih initiated the “Tribal Against Machine” project in Taiwan, which bridges traditional textile craftsmanship with the international e-textile community. He is actively involved in and facilitates international collaborations within independent art networks, establishing unconventional interdisciplinary connections. He organized the international online residency “Having Friends in The Future” for the National Taiwan Craftsmenship Research and Development Institute in 2020/2021. Additionally, his research project, Non-Governmental Matters, explores and investigates independent interdisciplinary art camps and gatherings, examining the positive impacts of such international and cross-disciplinary exchanges. His personal project “Laser Dye Project” was awarded the grand prize at Reshape 2019 in Barcelona and featured in deTour 2019 in Hong Kong. His electronic textile piece, “I Am Very Happy I Hope You Are Too,” was exhibited at the Taipei Digital Art Festival and the “Hello World” exhibition at the University of Sydney. In 2023, his work “The Mind of A Greenhouse” was showcased at “The Energy Giveaway at the Humuspunk Library” in Zurich, an exhibition jointly organized by Hackteria and Regenerative Energy Communities. Fransisca Tan Independent Fransisca Tan is an Austrian food experience designer, blending her expertise in cognitive sciences, communication, gastronomy, and IT. With a deep-rooted passion for exploring and creating transformative human experiences, Fransisca uses the multisensory power of food as her canvas. As an artist, creative producer, and international project manager, she aspires to bring together people from all walks of life and to highlight the value of community, collaboration, and compassion. She creates somatic experiences such as ice cream interventions, sensory grounding, and food meditations. Her second nature as a facilitator is reflected in her strong belief in a community arts approach and in creating opportunities to find inspiration through engaging with art using all our senses. Anne Vlaanderen Ionian University Anne Vlaanderen is an interdisciplinary designer, specializing in digital fabrication and mycology. Her expertise in fungal systems extends beyond material applications to a deep engagement with diverse fungal species’ care, culture, and creative potential. As an instructor at the Willem de Kooning Academy (WDKA) in Rotterdam, she teaches digital fabrication and bio-integrated design courses. She has also lectured at the Biohack Academy at Waag. Her work has been exhibited at Teylers Museum at their first Art-Science event, demonstrating her commitment to bridging historical scientific inquiry with contemporary bioart. Building on her research, she explores collaborative pedagogies, AI-enhanced fungal interfaces, and post-anthropocentric design methodologies, ostering innovative approaches to learning and co-creating with living systems inspired by the adaptive and decentralized nature of mycelial networks. 1A: Moffetes Session 1 chair: Laura Rodriguez, Eathlings Art Guild 09:15 The Futurity of Transglothing Tatjana Petzer 09:30 SHIOPI Melisa Cano 09:30 The Inconsumable Power of Showing Hole Max Lester 09:30 Cultural Intoxication: Microdosing AI Dann Disciglio Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 117 Session 11A: Moffetes TABOO ‒ The Futurity of Transglothing TRANSGRESSION ‒ Tatjana Petzer University of Graz boundaries between material and visual cultures, between clothing and data modelling. cultures and times, working as a full professor at the university of graz. she From a cultural studies perspective I will analyse this transgression as disruptive shift Digital and AI transformation in fashion design is currently leading to a dissolution of Tatjana Petzer is a nomad between TRANSCENDENCE in is writing in the field of humanities, in in textile thinking, clothing crafts and body practices. especially about slavistic topics and the for the human being who is distinguished by dress and its intrinsic symbolic sound, image and dress – across media and undisciplined. her most recent communication? How to redefine dress(ing), which turned the body into a writing and What do data sewing, generative cloth or immersive skins mean, anthropologically, history of knowledge, about text and publications include the monograph Art & Science 2025 reading surface of material culture, in its digital environment? Starting from the first knowledge and faith. figurations of the of sight in different pictorial complexities (simulation, animation, transformation). They annotated anthology immortality. slavic variations. can be transferred by print or other production means into wearables of real materiality purely visual experience as digital information, cloth/ing data challenges the sense synergos in slavic modernism and the or continue to exist as “visibles,” “virtualisibles,” and “visionables.” Book The new quality of operational iconicity of clothing will enhance human cognition of Abstracts and bodily functions as anticipated in transhumanist technologies and posthumanist thought. The far-reaching implications of digital and AI generated fashion will be discussed at the example of the transcendence taboo which finds an expression in a phenomenon which I want to call “transglothing” – a transgressive force of energetic/ glowing cloth(es) in the digital and immersive realm of futurity. 118 Session 11A: Moffetes TABOO ‒ SHIOPI TRANSGRESSION ‒ Melisa Cano Independent In a context where people move around the space, Shiopi tries to highlight the TRANSCENDENCE in Melisa Cano (Spain, 1990) is a pianist and sound listening process. Shiopi presents itself as a Sound_Installation/Sound_Object artist focused on contemporary music, free impro and Sonification of the Invisible. The name Shiopi comes from the Greek word she is an artist with classical music academic background, her artistic work aims to explore and that explores three main concepts through a listening exercise: Silence, Nature and new ways of sound expressions. Although Siopí, which means silence, and the onomatopoeia sh, used to ask for silence. experiment with sound using it as a bruit material: electronic sounds created with supercollider/ PureData, soundscape recordings, extended Art & Science 2025 techniques in different instruments...etc; combining these materials with improvisation, intuition and our natural environment. As a performer, she likes to explore different sound effects produced inside the piano sound box and the strings such harmonics, scraping or muting strings. She is co- Book lead of n0n0is, a free-impro group where she plays the piano, oramics_live, programmed sensors, lyre of Abstracts and tambourine. This year, n0n0is has realeased their first album: https://nonois.bandcamp.com. ONICяA is her artistic name for sound art works: Onirical-Nuances + Irreverent-Creations + Realistic Attitude https://onicramelisacano. bandcamp.com Currently, her main projects are Oramics_back_ to_life (ORAMICS_live) and SHIOPI. Oramics_live is a live version of Oramics, the graphic sound synthesizer by Daphne Oram, for iPad/tabled that she has programmed with PureData and Mobmuplat (https://youtu.be/j6EJRS2f97U). It was a final project for her studies in electroacoustic composition, and she uses as an instrument for free improvisation. SHIOPI is a sound installation/ sound object that explores three main concepts: silence-nature-listening. It was programmed with supercollider and puredata, using different sensors for temperature, humidity and uv. She is also currently working in soundscape works processed in supercollider, for her first solo album, using field recordings of different places in Europe (Spain, Bosnia Herzagovina, Croatia, Greece, etc). Oramics_Live was presented in the last edition of Piksel Festival (Norway). The free impro group n0n0is has given different concerts and participated in a variety of projects with other artists (visual artists and dance), improvising the music for silent movie “Der müde Tod”, or designing the sound for a theatre play. As a contemporary pianist, she has participated in several festivals, like Festival Expresiones Contemporáneas (Mexico, 2022, 2019), Fluxes (Madrid, 2022) or SIM (2022, 2019). In addition, she has also played as a classical accompanying pianist in Palacio de Festivales (Santander, 2025) or Ateneo (Santander, 2025). Melisa Cano holds a BA in Piano Performance (Consmupa, Spain), a BA in Piano Pedagogy (Metropolia-University, Helsinki, Finland), a MA in Contemporary Music (Royal Conservatory, Madrid, Spain) and a MA in Electroacoustic Composition (Katarina Gurska Music Institute, Madrid, Spain). She works as a piano teacher and piano accompaning pianist at the Professional Conservatory of Music Jesús de Monasterio and Torrelavega (Cantabria, Spain). 119 Session 11A: Moffetes TABOO ‒ The Inconsumable Power of Showing Hole TRANSGRESSION ‒ Max Lester Independent circulate around a nebulous hole. Struck by the urgency of a moment where language scholar, retired punk, and actor-for-hire. Max was born in Tkaronto and currently and meaning is disintegrating under the threat of fascism, I have been exploring Written in the format of an experimental essay, this project is a constellation of ideas that Max Lester is an artist, writer, rogue TRANSCENDENCE in lives in Rotterdam. He spends much of the potential of fluidity, hereticism, and the embrace of nothingness as strategies his time walking, often in circles, through histories of Dutch water maintenance infrastructure and the shift from feudalism to conducts his observational and very subjective research and collects material capitalism and catholicism to calvinism. In looking at this age-old war against the sea, I for defiance. This project finds its footholes in the throughlines between the parallel the cities he dwells in. This is where he for sculptures and images. Max is curious Art & Science 2025 speculate that this struggle against unpredictable and unknowable waters has shaped about the mysteries of power and the the social fabric through which bureaucratized conformity is deployed. I explore the looks closely at the surfaces of things and tends to the waste and commodities process of commodification as a form of mystified hardening, wherein anything from an not just the land and infrastructure of the Netherlands and its colonial exports, but also power of mystery. He believes that if he of the world, he might come to object to an idea is hermetically sealed by the solidification of its living meaning. Finally, understand how ideologies of this racist- Book I look to the hidden traditions of negative theology, as it has been written and unwritten colonial-capitalist system we live in, are of Abstracts encoded, sublimated, and maintained. about by thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, Georges Bataille, Clarice Lispector, Jiddu Max received an MFA at the Piet Zwart Krishnamurti, and Pseudo Dyonesis, to explore how heretical experiments in thinking, institute and a BFA in Integrated Media writing, and art can profanate and liquidate that which has been hardened. at OCAD University He has held solo exhibitions at InterAccess and Bunker 2 and has also exhibited at TENT, A Tale of Tub, United Contemporary, and Eastern Bloc. 120 Session 11A: Moffetes TABOO ‒ Cultural Intoxication: Microdosing AI TRANSGRESSION ‒ Dann Disciglio Lewis & Clark College scale. Even if we abstain from using the technology directly, we are nonetheless transdisciplinary artist who explores notions of naturalism, intelligence, & immersed in its outputs, conditioned by realtime feedback loops and algorithmic flows. AI saturates the world around us at an unprecedented and intoxicating speed and Dann Disciglio (b. 1993) is a TRANSCENDENCE in vitality in biological and abiological This talk frames AI as a hyper-pharmakon, at once medicine and poison, and asks how systems. Disciglio works with technology, succumbing to an overdose. appropriating and amalgamating discrete components to develop unique Art & Science 2025 artists might find the right dose: using it critically, selectively, even adversarially, without broadly, as both a tool and a material, technological systems that function as interfaces and prostheses which make his audience attentive to perspectives, vital signals, and temporalities which are normally humanly inaccessible. Disciglio is currently a Visiting Professor of Art & Technology at Lewis & Clark College, Book where he also serves as the co-direct and curator of the Experimental Art of Abstracts Research (EAR) Forest. https://danndisciglio.com/ 1B: Fumaroles Session 1 chair: Tuçe Erel, Independent Curator 09:15 Blurring Boundaries Between Human and Machine Creativity: Can AI-generated images achieve emotional resonance comparable to human-created works? Laida Limniati, Minas Pergantis, Aristeidis Lamprogeorgos, Andreas Giannakoulopoulos 09:30 Computational Transcendence: Semiotic Pathways and an Emerging Quantum-Digital Art Silvia Laurentiz, Clarissa Ribeiro 09:45 ReVerie Pinyao Liu Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 122 Session 11B: Fumaroles TABOO ‒ Blurring Boundaries Between Human and Machine Creativity: TRANSGRESSION ‒ Can AI-generated images achieve emotional resonance Laida Limniati comparable to human-created works? BrilliantPR Digital Agency During the latest years, Artificial Intelligence has evaded many aspects of our everyday TRANSCENDENCE in creative industries are choosing to use AI generated content has raised a pivotal Account Executive in BrilliantPR Digital Agency. She is currently developing her question: “Can AI-generated imagery elicit the same sentiment as human-created life, including the audiovisual and creativity fields as well as advertisement. The way Laida Limniati is working as a Digital works?”. This is the topic that this study will attempt to answer by comparing the Arts of the Ionian University. PhD at the Department of Audio / Visual sentiment of AI-generated advertising to their traditional equivalents using a qualitative analysis of audience perceptions and experiences through their online comments. Minas Pergantis Art & Science 2025 By choosing specific advertisements that have created with the use of AI and similar Ionian University ads that have made through traditional means, we will seek to uncover how viewers perceive the emotional depth and cultural relevance of AI-generated versus human-created visuals. Towards this, we will use their comments and analyze themes such as Minas Pergantis is curently an active nostalgia, warmth, and authenticity along with positive or negative sentiment. postdoctoral researcher and a research While AI-generated text is promised to be able to attain technical brilliance and Visual Arts. His post doctoral research of Abstracts fellow of the Department of Audio & Book conceptual originality, it may lack subtleties and intuitive cultural touchpoints that are revolves around the Evaluation and common in human-crafted works and in this way it can appear as cold or imposing the Optimization of User Experience in uncanny valley effect. Furthermore, users might be more biased when they know that Online Digital Art Repositories. the final results was AI generated. Aristeidis This study contributes to the ongoing and continuing regarding the confluence Lamprogeorgos of technology and art by investigating whether AI has the ability to transcend its technological foundation and form true emotional relationships with viewers. It also Ionian University analyzes the broader impact of using AI to re-imagine cultural practices in advertising Aristeidis (Aris) Lamprogeorgos a PhD and other creative industries. candidate at the Department of Audio and Visual Arts of the Ionian University. Andreas Giannakoulopoulos Ionian University Andreas Giannakoulopoulos is Professor at the department of Audio and Visual Arts of the Ionian University, where he teaches courses related to Internet Communication, New Media and the Web Technologies. 123 Session 11B: Fumaroles TABOO ‒ Computational Transcendence: Semiotic Pathways and an TRANSGRESSION ‒ Emerging Quantum-Digital Art Silvia Laurentiz USP University of Sao Paulo focusing on the emerging potential of quantum computing and its influence in shaping, Arts and the Graduate Program in Visual Arts at ECA-USP. Coordinator beyond AI-based technology, an emerging quantum-digital art. Moving away from This proposal explores the concept of transcendence within computational processes, Professor at the Department of Fine TRANSCENDENCE in of the Research Group “Realities – metaphors like “machine hallucination,” we investigate how quantum computational from tangible realities to ontological and projects from an increasing number of companies, including NVIDIA, open new Multimedia artist with works in virtual reality, augmented reality, interactive avenues for understanding the generative nature of quantum algorithmic systems. This frameworks, exemplified by Google’s quantum chip Willow and other developments realities” (www.eca.usp.br/realidades). environments, multimedia and web art. Art & Science 2025 study critically examines the ways in which computational transcendence redefines Coordinator of the Visual Arts Course at the boundaries of meaning-making, art, and technological agency. Using Charles the Department of Fine Arts, ECA-USP. which quantum processes produce generative outcomes that exceed deterministic Sanders Peirce’s theory of semiotics, we analyze the semiotic pathways through Clarissa Ribeiro algorithms. Although Peirce admits that we only have access to the semiotically real USP University of Sao Paulo Book (we emphasize that Peirce was not a transcendental philosopher), we must consider of Abstracts Clarissa Ribeiro, Professor of Media the affection of things as things, or at least the first impressions of the senses of things, Arts at the University of São Paulo, which would lead us to the domain of the transcendental. Quantum computing, with its Brazil, is an artist and researcher principles of superposition and entanglement, challenges conventional binary logic and exploring cross-scale informational introduces an inherent openness to multiplicity and unpredictability. Peirce’s conception dynamics in morphogenetic and of Fallibilism could offer us a compass to discuss these processes, providing a unique behavioral processes through the lens of opportunity to rethink the creation of meaning and enabling a deeper understanding performative technoetics. She is Chair of the Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks, co- of computational art and algorithmic aesthetics. Peirce wrote the final version of his founder, and former Program Director semiotics at the time quantum mechanics was emerging, and we consider updating, of the Roy Ascott Studio Advanced transplanting, and adapting his perspective to a context in which quantum computing Program in Technoetic Arts. has become mainstream. This proposal positions quantum generativity as a paradigm-shifting approach to computation, art, and philosophy. By focusing on transcendence as a key attribute of quantum processes, we aim to illuminate their potential to challenge existing epistemologies, contributing to amplifying technoetic aesthetic explorations and offering profound implications for contemporary art, technology, and human creativity. By contextualizing these creations within the framework of Peircean semiotics, we investigate how quantum generativity transforms not only the production but also the perception and valuation of an emerging quantum-digital art. 124 Session 11B: Fumaroles TABOO ‒ ReVerie TRANSGRESSION ‒ Pinyao Liu Independent translates whispered dream recollections into real-time visualizations of dream objects and researcher based in Vancouver, Canada and Linz, Austria. His practice using a 3D generative diffusion model, allowing participants to explore a shared The ReVerie AI Performance explores the scientific concept of dream reliving, and Pinyao Liu is an interdisciplinary artist TRANSCENDENCE in explores 3D generative AI and “dreamscape”. immersive technology for altered states Each dream transcription and corresponding visualization are temporarily collected in experiences. His interactive AI artwork has been exhibited at Ars Electronica the memory of the AI system. ReVerie then retrieves from this memory to generate During the performance, visitors engage in a ritualistic act of whispering their dreams. of consciousness and transformative Festival (AT), the 13th Shanghai Art & Science 2025 a collective, dynamic visual journey where participants navigate through interlinked Biennale (CN), Vancouver International At its core, ReVerie challenges the capacity of technology to authentically represent the VR Art Gallery (FR), MUTEK (CA), SIGGRAPH Immersive Pavilion (US) intangible and private terrain of dreams. By inviting participants to contribute whispered dream objects within a virtual space. Film Festival VR Gallery (CA), IEEE and CVPR AI Art Gallery. His research dreams that are algorithmically transformed into 3D visuals, ReVerie turns dreams has been published and presented in the Book into a public, collective experience, pushing viewers to confront whether such digitally Leonardo Journal by MIT Press, ACM of Abstracts CHI and NeurIPS. synthesized representations can capture the true essence of our subconscious—or craft new forms of detachment or control over personal narratives. Historically, dream interpretation has been wielded as a tool of power, such as in imperial China, where dreams were used to legitimize political ideologies, or in Mesopotamia and Egypt, where they were seen as messages from divine realms, shaping collective beliefs and societal behavior. This parallels our time, where state actors deploy mass social engineering to shape the collective subconscious, with synthesized content and targeted misinformation through generative AI and social media. This modern approach continues the age-old use of subconscious influence, now heightened by digital means that penetrate individual and societal realities. Through this juxtaposition, ReVerie underscores how modern AI, with its generative and interpretive capacities, can either challenge or perpetuate subconscious control. By allowing participants to co-create in an open dreamscape, ReVerie offers an alternate route—a reclaiming of agency, where individuals contribute to a living, evolving collective dream that resists singular interpretations. 12A: Activin Session chair: Lyndsey Walsh, Humboldt University of Berlin 10:45 Green Open Food Evolution - Or how to become Homo Photosyntheticus Maya Minder 11:00 METABOLOME Hege Tapio 11:14 Tackling harsh environmental challenges through applied Pantropy and bioengineering (BioArt perspectives) Gjino Šutić Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 126 Session 12A: Activin TABOO ‒ Green Open Food Evolution - Or how to become Homo TRANSGRESSION ‒ Photosyntheticus Maya Minder Independent artist project Homo Photosyntheticus, which examines the role of algae and phytoplankton and Paris, working in the medium of installation, video and performance. She in the balance of the Earth system, as well as their potential role in medicine, energy, Since 2020, Ewen Chardronnet and Maya Minder have been developing the art research Maya Minder is an artist based in Zurich TRANSCENDENCE in studied Art History at the University of carbon sequestration, space research, food and ecological transitions. The two artists Zurich and earned an MA in Fine Arts unique characteristic of the symbiotic marine flatworm Symsagittifera roscoffensis She is also the co-founder of the Open Science Lab at ZW Zurich. Her recent could be applied to the human species in future space explorations, in a “becoming and authors draw on speculations by evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis on how the from Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). exhibitions include the Kanazawa 21st Art & Science 2025 Homo Photosyntheticus” scenario. An animal-plant, the worm ingests but does not Century Museum, Kunsthaus Zurich, most of the worm’s nutrients through its photosynthetic activity. This inquiry into our Osaka. Recent grants and nominations include Fungi Cosmology (2022-24) Art evolutionary future takes the form of installations, artworks, performances, workshops, digest its partner micro-algae, sheltering it beneath its epidermis, which in turn supplies ISEA, Seoul Arts Center and Swissnex Explora Fellow (2021), Pro Helvetia’s texts, video interviews and documentary essays. Werkbeitrag (2020 & 2023). Book https://mayaminder.ch/ of Abstracts 127 Session 12A: Activin TABOO ‒ METABOLOME TRANSGRESSION ‒ Hege Tapio OsloMet METABOLOME, developed within the Futures of Living Technologies (FeLT ) - project operating at the intersection of art, technology, and biological speculation. and the Innovation for Sustainability (PINS) program at OsloMet, Norway. The research This talk presents experiences and insights from my PhD research project Norwegian artist, curator and researcher TRANSCENDENCE in Her practice explores how humans, investigates how artistic and curatorial practices can critically engage with the growing machines, and metabolic systems are and rooted in transdisciplinary artistic practice, anticipating an unfolding through commodification and care. For over two decades, her provocative, research- interdisciplinary engagements and research environments - a practice still emerging tendency to quantify and systematize life, care, and emotion. The research was initiated entangled in processes of control and driven works have been exhibited Art & Science 2025 in the Norwegian context. This presentation reflects on the challenges and potentials internationally, from Ars Electronica ethical concerns intersects. Sharing experiences from the research process, the talk Technology. Tapio is the founder and director of i/o/ addresses how artistic practice can contest instrumental framings of the biological and of navigating this terrain - where disciplinary boundaries, institutional structures, and to PST ART at Beall Center for Art & lab – Center for Future Art, where she open space for alternative imaginaries and critical thinking of care and affect. curated the Article Biennale (2006–2016), Book a platform for unstable art and critical, speculative engagements with emerging of Abstracts technologies. Recent curatorial work includes the exhibition Caring Futures, an inquiry to technology-mediated care and its societal implications. She has played a pivotal role in shaping the bioart discourse in Norway, cultivating a critical and process-oriented perspective. She spearheaded Norway’s first Bioart Masterclass in collaboration with SymbioticA in 2008, and contributed to the early development of the Norwegian Bioart Arena (NOBA). Tapio is currently an associate artist for the Metabolic Art Gathering Program at Medical Museion in Copenhagen, and a contributing researcher with the Futures of Living Technologies (FeLT) project, including PhD research in Innovation for Sustainability (PINS) program at Oslo Metropolitan University. From making her own biofuel to speculative emotion prosthetics – Tapio advocates for artistic practice and research to challenge dominant paradigms and to push the boundaries of art and science. 128 Session 12A: Activin TABOO ‒ Tackling harsh environmental challenges through applied TRANSGRESSION ‒ Pantropy and bioengineering (BioArt perspectives) Gjino Šutić Independent sustainability in the face of escalating environmental, social, and economic challenges. chemist, postmodern new media artist, biohacker, innovator, and educator. He is Specifically, it examines the concept of Pantropy—the hypothetical use of bioengineering This research paper explores alternative approaches to ensuring human offspring Gjino Šutić is a biotechnologist, medicinal TRANSCENDENCE in the founder and director of the Universal to adapt humans to harsh environments - proposing it as a viable strategy for personal Research Institute (UR Institute, HR) Traditionally, efforts to address environmental challenges have focused on terraforming of the company Gen0 Industries d.o.o. – for the development and production of or altering the environment itself to sustain life on Earth. Even though harsh environmental survival. since 2013, and the founder and director innovative technologies since 2014. He Art & Science 2025 conditions on Earth that threaten life sustainability are escalating due to human impact is also the president of the Association of violence etc.), the focus of intervention is still on changing the environment instead County, Croatia since 2020. Šutić works as a multidisciplinary researcher and of considering changing us. However, recent advances in bioengineering now make (e.g. global climate change, pandemics, global economic instability, global increase of Innovators of Dubrovnik-Neretva producer of projects in the fields of it feasible to consider reshaping ourselves to better withstand hostile environmental experimental biotechnology, hybrid and Book conditions. This paper argues that applied Pantropy, through bioengineering, could biological art, electronics, biological and of Abstracts chemical engineering, often promoting present an innovative alternative to environmental manipulation, which is sustainable, DIY innovative practices. Recent noninvasive and the most respectful to the other. achievements include the production of By examining state of the art case studies examples of social use of related the EU projects Dubrovnik Postmodern cells, species hybridization, in vitro organs to somatic gene therapies - the paper (art and new technologies in water conservation), and a gold medal at highlights both the potential and limitations of Pantropy today. Through these examples, bioengineering technologies as found in art and applied science; from hybrid stem (VR culture and art), STARTS4Water the ARCA 2022 innovation fair for the research considers how bioengineering technologies might offer new pathways to a synthetic molecule with potential human adaptation and survival in an increasingly hostile world, while also reflecting pharmaceutical use developed in silico on the ethical, social, political and technological challenges that come with such using chemoinformatic and VR tools. interventions. Session 12B: Inhibin chair: Laida Limniati, BrilliantPR Digital Agency 10:45 “Reflections on the Mirror”: Investigating Spatial Anxiety in Installation Art Through Body-related and Environ-ment-related Perceptual Modalities. Ioustini Antigoni Eloul, Marianne Strapatsakis 11:00 [ir]reverent: Blood Libel Adam Brown 11:00 On Artists and Inventors: Understanding the politics of invention through art and technology Rodrigo Guzman-Serrano 11:15 Variable Screen Project: Decomposable and Edible Screen Yosaku Matsutani, Yuki Hayashi, Hana Sawada Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 130 Session 12B: Inhibin TABOO ‒ “Reflections on the Mirror”: Investigating Spatial Anxiety TRANSGRESSION ‒ in Installation Art Through Body-related and Environment- Ioustini Antigoni Eloul related Perceptual Modalities. Ionian University navigating environments, have a negative impact on art appreciation, especially in and Visual Arts at Ionian University and a member of the Node for Hybrid Arts installation art, where feelings of uncertainty and discomfort often arise when visitors How can spatial anxiety, which manifests as feelings of uncertainty and fear when Eloul Ioustini is a PhD student in Audio TRANSCENDENCE in at the Interactive Arts Laboratory. Her interact with spaces that include challenging and unpredictable materials? The research explores spatial perception participants’ spatial anxiety in conjunction with art appreciation. In this context, we sound works have been presented at international festivals across Europe. examined participants’ sensory and spatial perception, aiming to explore how these installation art, titled “Reflections on the Mirror,” served as a case study for analyzing in audiovisual art, while her video and Art & Science 2025 elements influenced their emotional responses related to spatial perception, thus Marianne Strapatsakis contributing to the manifestation of spatial anxiety and its relationship to art appreciation. Ionian University Reflecting the interconnectedness of sensory experiences, where external interactions can enhance internal awareness and vice versa, we applied a dual analysis framework: Marianne Strapatsakis has been a bodily sensations and awareness, and (b) Environment-related Perceptual Modalities, emphasis on video installations in which she incorporates painting, sculpture of Abstracts which concern the perception of external environmental stimuli. Participants expressed (a) Body-related Perceptual Modalities, which include processes related to internal pioneer in video art in Greece, with Book a wide range of emotions, with notable references to the categories “Enjoyment and and video. From 2004 she was inspirer, founding member, professor and nature of their experiences. Therefore, our findings show that while spatial anxiety was and Visual Arts of the Ionian University, Greece. In 2005, she was appointed largely elicited, leading to transient feelings of uncertainty and discomfort in visitors, it Appreciation” (40.45%) and “Fear and Anxiety” (37.08%), highlighting the contradictory president of the Department of Audio did not diminish their enjoyment and art appreciation. This suggests that the emotional as visiting professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts. She continues her complexity elicited by such immersive experiences can coexist with positive feelings of work by focusing on the possibilities of enjoyment and appreciation. coexistence of moving images, sound and digital art, on the dialogue between contemporary digital art and civilisations of the past and on the presentation of large size digital works in public spaces (projections mapping). Her work has been widely presented worldwide and it integrates different museum collections in Greece. She lives and works in Greece. 131 Session 12B: Inhibin TABOO ‒ [ir]reverent: Blood Libel TRANSGRESSION ‒ Adam Brown Michigan State University in which the artist used Serratia marcescens—a bacterium known for producing a red, artist, scholar, and researcher. His work incorporates art, science, and blood-like pigment—to simulate a Eucharistic “miracle.” In this new performance, the [ir]reverent: Blood Libel builds upon the themes of [ir]reverent: Miracles on Demand, Adam Brown is an Intermedia TRANSCENDENCE in engineering hybrids including living and exploration intensifies through the live staging of “host desecration.” The artist stabs a biological systems, robotics, molecular “bleeding” effect. This wafer bears the inscription “In God We Trust,” linking divine faith that take the form of installations, interactive objects, video, performance, directly to national currency and suggesting the long history of commodifying miracles consecrated wafer, previously inoculated with Serratia marcescens, to trigger a dramatic chemistry, and emerging technologies and photography. Brown is a Full Art & Science 2025 in service of institutional power. Professor at Michigan State University Eucharist to make it bleed—a fabricated narrative that catalyzed centuries of called Electronic Art & Intermedia and directs the Bridge Artist in Residency persecution and religious hysteria. By orchestrating a miracle in plain sight, [ir]reverent: This visceral act reenacts the medieval anti-Semitic myth that Jews stabbed the where he created a new area of study Program. Brown has exhibited widely in Blood Libel exposes the mechanics of belief, the seduction of spectacle, and the fragile international venues in North and South Book line between the sacred and the profane. America and in Europe and Asia. Brown of Abstracts received the Grand Prize from the Japan The piece also draws attention to the continued potency of conspiratorial narratives. Media Arts Festival as well as an Award Just as blood libel accusations once weaponized fear against Jews, modern of Distinction and several Honorary conspiracy theories—from QAnon to nationalist mythologies—rely on similar patterns Mentions at the Prix Ars Electronica. of scapegoating, anxiety, and sensationalism. Blood Libel reveals the enduring entanglement of ritual, violence, and control—provoking viewers to reconsider where they place their trust, and at what cost. 132 Session 12B: Inhibin TABOO ‒ On Artists and Inventors: Understanding the politics of TRANSGRESSION ‒ invention through art and technology Rodrigo Guzman-Serrano Cornell University “inventores,” inventors of the arts of painting and sculpture. These “ur-artists” created researching the interaction between art, science, and technology. His new modes of being—the arts—which emerged through intellectual, emotional, and In his monumental “Natural History,” Pliny the Elder refers to the mythical first artists as Rodrigo is an art historian and musician TRANSCENDENCE in current research explores the concept material experimentation: Kora of Sicyon invents painting by tracing the shadow of of invention and how it can be used to shadow. The relationship between creativity and material concreteness joins forces artistic practices that engage with technoscience. He holds a master’s in the invention of the arts. Similarly, works of art and technology can be approached her lover; her father, Butades, invents sculpture by casting a mask off the traced frame and understand contemporary degree in Art History from City College of Art & Science 2025 through the conceptual framework of “inventiveness.” Invention is usually associated the City University of New York (CUNY) progress of machines and media that build upon and improve on previous systems Media Arts Cultures, a joint master’s degree program coordinated by Donau and technologies. Technical invention, however, can be understood more broadly as with technical and scientific development, which in turn is often presented as the linear and an Erasmus Mundus degree in Universität Krems, Austria. He has material experimentation that, depending on external circumstances, unfolds into media, worked at institutions devoted to art and Book artworks, useless tinkering, appliances, or useful machinery. The similarity between art research in the United States, Europe, of Abstracts and Asia, including the New York Art making and invention is often framed through the concept of individual creation, which Resources Consortium (NYARC), the Simon Penny states are “at root, almost indistinguishable” (Penny 2008). Works of Archive of Digital Art (ADA) in Austria, art and technology, often refer to as “(new) media art,” share many similarities with and the Asia Art Archive (AAA) in Hong drive behind technical invention as well as the purported autonomy of machines and curated various exhibitions, including Guadalupe Maravilla: Armonía de their relationship to labor. Invention-like artworks, understood as integral, wholesome technoscientific inventions and prototypes. I argue that these works highlight the creative Kong. Rodrigo has also curated and co- la Esfera(Johnson Museum, Cornell devices, are different from technical systems, which propose networks of relationships University, 2024), I Thought I Knew the lens of technological innovation and inventiveness, I argue that the processes of The Death of a Naturalist (The Rest, Ithaca, NY, 2023), and I’m Always Here technical invention and artistic creation share roots that later become negotiated and instead of self-contained mechanical beings. By approaching media artworks through (Syracuse University, 2023), Maro Pebo: (Osage, Hong Kong, 2021). stabilized into more solid categories of “technical device” and “artwork.” 133 Session 12B: Inhibin TABOO ‒ Variable Screen Project: Decomposable and Edible Screen TRANSGRESSION ‒ Yosaku Matsutani Otemon Gakuin University increasingly redirected their focus to the screen as an object of study. Unlike their professor in the Department of Sociology at Otemon Gakuin University in Osaka, predecessors, contemporary screens—such as those of laptops, smartphones, and Since the dawn of the 21st century, scholars in media, visual, and digital culture have Yosaku Matsutani is currently a TRANSCENDENCE in Japan. He specializes in aesthetics, art portable gaming consoles—are ubiquitous, unstable, and in flux. Lev Manovich, for and media theory, and visual culture screens originate from a fundamentally a different genealogy. Similarly, Erkki Huhtamo practices since the aesthetic turn, the relationship between science, emphasizes the intricate and complex genealogy of screens, endeavoring to explore instance, categorizes screens into three types, illustrating that modern computer studies. He works on problems of art technology, and art, and the sensibilities Art & Science 2025 this genealogy through screenology as a media archaeology of the screen. In their common to various organisms and referring to real-time screens, holograms, and head-mounted displays. on various art projects that seek to reconsider the entanglement of the The collaborative art project of filmmaker Yuki Hayashi, artist Hana Sawada, and discussions, both Manovich and Huhtamo point to the disappearance of the screen, things. He also collaborates with artists body, science, technology, and the aesthetician Yosaku Matsutani seeks to conceptualize a variable screen, encompassing environment, and to explore art practice Book even the disappearance of the screen. The theoretical foundation of this project lies itself. Recent articles include “Encounter of Abstracts with the Moon: Critical Reflections in thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics, which applies the principle of on JAXA’s “Lunar Farming” from the energy conservation to thermodynamic systems, asserts that energy can be converted Perspective of Post-Earth Aesthetics,” into various forms, yet the total energy remains constant. Image production, in general, “A Study on the Overlay Images in the Consequently, even when a screen appears to vanish, the image persists in another Cases of Chikako Yamashiroʼs Your Voice Came Out Through My Throat form. Screen practices and research have historically been grounded in this first law. depends on such conversions—mechanical, thermal, electrical, and light energy. Japanese Contemporary Art Scene: and Nobuaki Itoʼs Dead person and However, what might screen practices entail if based on the second law of Living person” and co-authored “(De) energy? This project investigates this question by creating decomposable and edible with Nonhuman.” Recent art projects include “Let’s Ride the Waves on March screens. Since such screens could offer a novel artistic paradigm from the perspective thermodynamics, which addresses the irreversible dissipation and degradation of composing Media Art through Practices 11th,” a collaboration with artist Soichiro of waste, this project would also propose an innovative form of expression in response Mihara and surfer Yuko Takahashi. to a planet in crisis. This paper aims to unpack the implications of this groundbreaking project. Yuki Hayashi Otemon Gakuin University Hayashi was born in Kyoto in 1976 and started making films in 1997. He uses photos as materials for his video making. Hana Sawada Otemon Gakuin University Hana Sawada produces work utilizing various media, including film. aboo Roundtable 5: The Sweetest T This interdisciplinary roundtable explores sugar as material substance, cultural metaphor, and hyperobject flowing through bodies, behaviors, economies, and ecosystems. Participants examine molecular bonds, colonial histories, metabolic pathways, supply chains, personal cravings, and global consequences. Topics include sugar’s dual nature in edible sculptures and military rations (Alyagon Darr), cultural connections between sex, food, and sweets addressing masculinity and queerness taboos (Markovic), sweetness as linguistic power exploring “sugarcoating” and food racism (Koniordou), sugar addiction and fermented food alternatives (Páez Vélez), collapsology through Maillard reactions and a “sugarcoating” app (Mirza), sensory pleasure in collaborative video work (Vincent), and sugar’s historical slavery ties with sustainable material potential (Tóth). Through diverse perspectives, the discussion examines sweet contradictions in pleasure, destruction, addiction, exploitation, and innovation. Markela Koniordou, Rimon Alyagon Darr, Dejan Markovic, Carolina Páez Vélez, Zahra Mirza, Ethan Vincent, Márton Emil Tóth Event Hours: 12/09/2025 (12:00-12:45) Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 135 Roundtable 5: The Sweetest Taboo TABOO ‒ TRANSGRESSION ‒ Markela Koniordou University of Applied Arts Vienna Markela Koniordou is a Greek performance and video artist whose work merges art, science, and social engagement. With an academic background in biological sciences and public health from University College London, and over 15 years of experience in health research, project management, and communications, she is currently pursuing an MA in Art & Science at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her interdisciplinary approach allows her to explore themes of sustainability, health, and the environment by blending scientific inquiry with artistic expression. Markela’s creative practice spans video, TRANSCENDENCE in audio, and performance, crafting sensory experiences that prompt critical reflection on the interplay between technology, nature, and human society. Recent works include the performance “Graziata,” developed during a residency at Seestadt Studios in Vienna, as well as video pieces like “Circa diem” and “Walk in the Mall,” which investigate how media shapes contemporary human experience. In addition, Markela has contributed to documentary filmmaking, serving as associate producer and featured character in the award-winning short film MICROBIOME, and working on the feature documentary E-LIFE, which exposes the environmental impacts of electronic waste disposal. Through her multidisciplinary practice, Markela Koniordou inspires dialogue and action on global issues, urging audiences to reconsider the interconnectedness of human health, the environment, and the systems that shape our world. Art & Science 2025 Rimon Alyagon Darr University of Applied Arts Vienna Rimon Alyagon Darr is a glass artist and cognitive scientist. In order to create multi-sensory works she often works with candy as a secondary material, using traditional glass blowing and sculpting methods on molten candy. Book Dejan Markovic of Abstracts University of Applied Arts Vienna Dejan Markovic (aka. Dejan Klement) (b. 1989, Belgrade) was educated at the Marina Abramović Institute and the Faculty of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade, where he graduated from the Painting Department. He primarily works in the fields of poetry, performance art, pornography, and painting. Since 2008, he has actively exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions, as well as at art festivals in Serbia and abroad. Carolina Páez Vélez University of Applied Arts Vienna Carolina Páez Vélez studied chemistry and microbiology and holds a Master’s degree in Biological Sciences. Her scientific background fostered a deep passion for microbial life and plants, with a particular interest in exploring their symbiotic relationships. Moving between science and art, her practice investigates living systems and their aesthetic, ecological, and cultural dimensions. She has exhibited and curated in projects such as Dar a Luz (2024) and Refractive Perspectives | 310^8 m/s* (2024), and presented her work A Golden Agony (2025). Alongside her artistic practice, she actively participates in excursions, lectures, and collaborative research that connect biology, technology, and cultural heritage. Zahra Mirza University of Applied Arts Vienna Zahra Mirza is a lifelong learner from Pakistan, now living in Austria. She has an educational background in Sculpture and her professional experience extends into public service content and art direction for print and television media. She is also former director of RetroArts; artists platform in Pakistan. She has conducted design seminar and fiber arts studio courses at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore and sculpture workshops for Community College, Kunsthalle Wien and Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. Currently, she is a student at the department of Cross Disciplinary Strategies and works as a tutor at the department of Media Theory at University of Applied Arts, Vienna. Ethan Vincent University of Applied Arts Vienna Márton Emil Tóth University of Applied Arts Vienna Tóth Márton Emil (b. 1988) is a visual artist. He graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts with an MA in 2012 as a sculptor. He is currently studying at the Doctoral School of the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME). He lives in Budapest and has been working at AQB (Art Quarter Budapest) since 2012. He seeks to expand his object-based creative practice by exploring the possibilities of the theme of entropy. Instagram: https://www. instagram.com/tothmartonemil/ Session 13A: Orogeny chair: Hege Tapio, OsloMet 14:15 Cosmic Horror and Cinematic Rebellion: The Aesthetics of Excess in Andrzej Żuławski’s The Silver Globe Despoina Poulou 14:30 Critical Mass : Soft Robotics as an undoing of Fascist Automata Jimi DePriest, Callum Siegmund 14:45 How to Speak with the Dead: An Introduction to Necrosemiotics Ciclón 14:45 Media and Ritual: The Story of Mutual Evolution Anastasiya Maksymchuk Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 137 Session 13A: Orogeny TABOO ‒ Cosmic Horror and Cinematic Rebellion: The Aesthetics of TRANSGRESSION ‒ Excess in Andrzej Żuławski’s The Silver Globe Despoina Poulou University of the Aegean d’aimer, 1975), Polish director Andrzej Żuławski returned to Poland in 1976 to begin Professor of Culture and Digital Audiovisual Arts at the Department of production on his ambitious sci-fi epic The Silver Globe (Na srebrnym globie). Based After his international success of That Most Important Thing: Love (L’important c’est Despoina Poulou is an Assistant TRANSCENDENCE in Cultural Technology and Communication on a novel by his great-uncle, Jerzy Żuławski, the film was conceived as a dark, avant- of the University of the Aegean. Since the narrative follows a group of astronauts who attempt to colonize a mysterious lecturer at the Open Hellenic University in the Undergraduate Program in Film planet, only to encounter savage, mythical beings inhabiting a barbaric yet mystical garde, and visually extravagant exploration of human existence. Set in a distant future, 2023, she has been a coordinator and Writing, Practice, and Research Studies. Art & Science 2025 society. This stark contrast between a futuristic world and an archaic, violent civilization She holds a PhD from the Department of and the human condition. At the same time, the film subtly critiques authoritarianism University of Thessaloniki. Her research interests lie in the fields of film theory, and societal control. However, production was abruptly halted by Polish authorities in provides the backdrop for a philosophical inquiry into freedom, existential despair, Philosophy and Education of the Aristotle film aesthetics, and philosophy of film, 1977, who deemed its themes politically dangerous. Many of the film’s sets, costumes, focusing also on issues of intertextuality Book and props were destroyed, leaving the project incomplete. In 1988, Żuławski returned and intermediality in cinema and on the of Abstracts conversation between filmic and literary to the film and presented a fragmented, rough version of what remained. This paper text. She has presented papers reflecting examines The Silver Globe as an enigmatic, unfinished work, exploring its aesthetic her research interests in journals and excesses, political subtext, and the impact of censorship on its development. conferences and is the author of the book The Philosophy of Eroticism in Cinema: Bataille, Bertolucci, Oshima (Athens, Aigokeros, 2022). 138 Session 13A: Orogeny TABOO ‒ Critical Mass : Soft Robotics as an undoing of Fascist TRANSGRESSION ‒ Automata Jimi DePriest SymbioticA robotic parts out of pneumatically powered silicone appendages that can grip objects and researcher with a background in Anthropology and socialist organizing. or move autonomously when inflated. Soft robots are created by designing 3D models Soft robotics is an emerging and innovative technological practice that involves making Jimi DePriest is an interdisciplinary artist TRANSCENDENCE in Their work involves conducting Marxist that contain air chambers in their central structure and can be turned into a 2 part mold. and Anti Imperialist analyses of military silicone adhesive. Because silicone is such an expensive and non ecologically friendly trajectories and socioeconomic conditions that led to their development. material, I am experimenting with various bio silicone recipes that use ingredients Once 3D printed, the mold is casted in silicone and the parts are bonded together with technologies by examining the historical Jimi’s emerging artistic practice is Art & Science 2025 like glycerol, gelatine, agar agar, K carrageenan and water which are affordable and informed by their research and employs biodegradable to find a formula that is best suited for soft robotics. tactical media methodologies to create In the past my arts practice has involved using body casting to make wax multiples of DIY robotic forms and political films. are novel, unexpected and uncanny. My current arts practice involves making many of Abstracts multiples of soft robots that form an amorphous whole as they all inflate and deflate at Proud owner of the world’s smallest differing time intervals, playing upon notions of biomimicry in robotics to generate life penis (nanobot), Callum J Siegmund like automatons that simulate fungal, botanical and oceanic figures while refusing to and mushrooms. The intended outcome being to form amorphous organic entities that Book CEO of DNASAND ears and other appendages such as hands, thumbs, noses, lips, vulva, chicken feet Callum Siegmund is a bio/nano artist who uses DNA perform any functional task for humans. nanotechnology to create DNA I propose to further push the concept of biomimicry to make soft robots whose primary Nanosculptures, double helices structural forms are created from casts made of human body parts and other organic interwoven into imperceptible 3D objects whose form and sequence are embued material such as fungi and plant matter or organs such as cow hearts or octopus with poetics. Having developed this tentacles sourced from local butcher shops and fisheries. The goal being to explore practice during an extended SymbioticA how soft robotics as an arts practice can be pursued in imaginative and sustainable residency (June 2020-Dec 2022), ways by leaning farther into the concept of biomimicry that it is based upon and further Callum’s highly technical works explore the materiality of the immaterial, the looking to the natural world for inspiration in their construction. absurdity of biotechnology, bioweapons, The conceptual intention of the experimentations draw on psychoanalytic notions about and the epistemological struggles of fascist culture formulated by Klaus Theweleit in “Male Fantasies: Volume II.” In this text everyday life. Theweleit deconstructs the doctrine of the fascist psyche which clings to the rigidity and sterility of martial hierarchy and resentfully rejects the viscous fluidity of desire which is associated with both their internal organs and the seething public masses that comprise crowds found at protest demonstrations. I am interested in combining soft robotics, body casting and bio-silicone to create an artistic representation of what Theweleit describes as the “animal” in the mass which “snaps its greedy jaw and stares poisonously, paralyzing from a thousand eyes. It has a thousand legs, a thousand heads, it can generate a thousand degrees of heat. It can metamorphose into a single creature, many-limbed millipede, rat, snake or dragon.” The philosophy and methodology of my practice is further guided by theoretical frameworks found in disciplines such as cyberfeminism and tactical media, to create a work which stands in opposition to and challenges both the cisgender binary and institutional approaches to electronic arts. 139 Session 13A: Orogeny TABOO ‒ How to Speak with the Dead: An Introduction to TRANSGRESSION ‒ Necrosemiotics Ciclón Necromancer, Trans*media Storyteller summoning the demi-god Castellano, the raccoon Mini, Puss n’ Boots Loki, and the storyteller that is moved by quantum connectivities within and beyond OG Chilango toy poodle Luk Kahlo, as well as any other spirits who want to join the Ciclón will create an electronic disturbance ritual space to resurrect their dead, Ciclón is a necromancer and trans*media TRANSCENDENCE in the technosphere. Their recent work hullaballoo. Endocannibalism for anyone who wants to partake. Specifically, they will establishes meaningful connections apotropaic salt forms. plants, and the elements. They seek to amplify spectra of desire. Art & Science 2025 rely on an invocation of the Goddess Chinnamasta for the ritual. All will be protected by amongst goddexxes, ghosts, animals, Book of Abstracts 140 Session 13A: Orogeny TABOO ‒ Media and Ritual: The Story of Mutual Evolution TRANSGRESSION ‒ Anastasiya Maksymchuk Lusófona University, Lisbon society of each epoch. Importantly, today`s artistic processes are manifestations of Anastasiya Maksymchuk received her BA in film directing in Kyiv, and contemporary ritual culture. Media plays the key role in accommodating rituals, and Rituals are undergoing constant evolution, as they keep adjusting to environment and Filmmaker, video artist and activist, TRANSCENDENCE in proceeded with the Masters Degree if in the antient times we spoke of elemental media like water, fire, air etc.; today in film from an international Erasmus performances, moving images. A number of ethnographers and media scholars argue PhD in Media Art at Lusófona University, Lisbon. Her PhD focus was the artistic that contemporary media, both digital and analogue, replace natural elements utilized similar role is played by contemporary media, among which are internet, art objects, program KinoEyes. In 2024, she got a reenactment of trauma as a cinematic Art & Science 2025 by antient ritualistic practices. We utilize media as a transmitter of ideas, emotions, and method. Her latest work investigates In addition to the mainstream theory by Durkheim explaining ritual`s main objective as memory, as well as hybrid documentary as an archival and transformative to strengthen social bonds between members of a society, we see ritual as performing as a storage for meaning. the visuality, ritualism, and digitality of practice. more functions: anxiety relief, identity building, memory conservation, rite of passage, Book empathy. of Abstracts strengthening, communicating emotions and experience, processing loss, myth building and rebuilding. Artistic practices acting as new rituals are aimed to mediate most difficult human feelings as terror, pain, grief. Researchers highlight special importance of these processes in today`s world. We analyze reenactment as a ritualistic practice which is evoked by a deep-seated societal desire to not just repeat and memorize the past, transmitting the experienced history between members of community, but also to ‘change’ the past. We argue that re-experiencing past and even shifting its perception becomes possible by means of ritualistic practice. The transitions rituals undergo, and as a result, transformations in meaning, together with changes in collective memory happen because of evolution through multiple reenactments. Session 13B: Isostasy chair: Gjino Šutić, independent 14:15 Slime Machine matilde sartori 14:30 Unhuman: an essay on the monstrosity of the future body María Nonantzin (MAGENTA) Martínez Bautista 14:45 Mechanisms of care: transgressing online censorship through playful artistic interventions Liza Shkirando 15:00 Plantoverse: Rethinking Perception Through Plant Optics Alexandra Burnusuz, Mariia Moshchenskaia, Veronika Prizova Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 142 Session 13B: Isostasy TABOO ‒ Slime Machine TRANSGRESSION ‒ matilde sartori Independent Slime Machine explores intelligence and the relationship with machines from a non- Technologist, Researcher, Designer TRANSCENDENCE in anthropocentric perspective, challenging the dominant cerebrocentric view. At the https://matildee3.github.io/matilde/ center is the slime mold, specifically Physarum Polycephalum, an organism that defies the binarism between individual and collective, existing both as a single entity and as a collective. Moreover, this organism is decentralized: the slime mould lacks a central control system; it is a brainless organism and its control is distributed everywhere and nowhere. And for these reasons it was the inspiration for an algorithm that would Art & Science 2025 follow its characteristics. The algorithm created is a computer vision algorithm, aaardm.py, and is inspired by the behavior of the slime mold. It uses the Slime Mould Algorithm instead of the classical machine learning model. This algorithm challenges the traditional forms of computing by creating one that seeks to emulate nature. It is a metaheuristic algorithm designed to be decentralized, random, and non-binary, Book inspired by the non-binary, decentralized nature of slime mould. It combats the brain- of Abstracts centered view of intelligence. The aaardm.py algorithm thrives with small data, adapting through exploration rather than relying on large datasets. This project represents a more inclusive and ecological way of doing technology. It showcases how computing can evolve by learning from nature, highlighting the effectiveness of randomness and decentralized decision-making in solving complex problems. 143 Session 13B: Isostasy TABOO ‒ Unhuman: an essay on the monstrosity of the future body TRANSGRESSION ‒ María Nonantzin (MAGENTA) Martínez Bautista independent transdiciplinary designer and In this talk/essay, I want to present to you some concepts from which I have been artist TRANSCENDENCE in developing my artistic project and my reflection on my practice with biomaterials, AR MAGENTA (María Nonantzin Martínez non-human and monstrosity as a way of constructing ourselves and everything it implies researcher, designer, and artist from Mexico City. She holds a Master’s degree from the reflection of posthumanist theory. In order to understand what a Posthuman (augmented reality) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) specifically in this project; about the Bautista, México) is a transdisciplinary or a Transhuman is, it would be necessary to first understand what it means to be a and is currently a PhD candidate in in Sciences and Arts for Design (CyAD) the idea of being human come from? In general, it is taken for granted that we all know and Communication at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (U.A.M.). Her what it is to be a human. However, in the context of Post/Transhumanist speculation, human, how it is constituted and, at what moment it stops being a human. where does Social Sciences with a focus on Politics Art & Science 2025 we would have to go back to the origins in order to know what we are talking about. I and design, live cinema, live coding, artistic practice spans speculative art update the idea of the human. Thus, I propose that the human is built not only based biosensor-based works, and noise Book generated with DIY devices. As an on what is proper to it, such as being rational, free will, among other things; but also will return to the ideal of the human being as a starting point in order to resignify and wearable art, audiovisual performance, for everything he has left behind throughout history and; importantly, for everything academic researcher and educator in of Abstracts transdisciplinary art and multimedia the unhuman, the inhuman, that is, the radically incomprehensible Other. As part of the code as a plastic and aesthetic material, as well as inter-semiotic experimentation talk ,I will present to you a multimedia essay about my artistic process of the work that that has been left aside: the intolerable, that which is of the order of the monstrous: design, she explores the possibilities of I have been working on the subject. (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), DIY with new materials, augmented reality hardware/software, sound collage, and robotics. In the digital sphere, she often integrates biological processes, data, and material experimentation into her artistic production and speculative design. Conceptually, her work engages with critical theory—particularly deconstruction, posthumanist thought, systems theory, and chaos theory— reflecting on both present conditions and possible futures. Her projects have been exhibited internationally in festivals and forums including Transpiksel, e-Cuerpo International Meeting of Wearable Art and Technology, and the International Meeting of Sound Art and Audiovisual Exploration. Her recent project MITOCONDRIA / Immersion in the Maternal Lineage includes the bioart piece Mytochondrial Dress: Travel Stories with My Ancestors, which combines 3D printing, AI, and AR, and has been exhibited at CNART and the Genomic Research Institute. She is also part of Posthuman Art Network as a resident and artist. 144 Session 13B: Isostasy TABOO ‒ Mechanisms of care: transgressing online censorship TRANSGRESSION ‒ through playful artistic interventions Liza Shkirando Independent online censorship and state/institutional censorship and reflecting it back on human painter, a visual artist and an interaction designer based in Malmö, Sweden. experience and experience of an artist. Over the pars few years I have been working with the topic of transgressive art, Liza Shkirando (Swe/Rus, b.1986) a TRANSCENDENCE in I primarily work in oil painting, using I am discussing some of the experiments with AI text2image policies and content traditional media innovatively through One of the experiment was built around crafting prompts for text-to-image LLM to coax conceptual projects. For me, painting transcends aesthetics; it serves as a them into producing “sexually suggestive” images. I have been exploring what the limits moderation of art by Instagram. transgressive experiments and means to research, conceptualize, and Art & Science 2025 of “sexual imagery” are since from the human (especially queer) sexuality perspective, communicate complex ideas. Through the AI). In that experiment I also argue that the process of interacting with generative AI conversation with the audience. My art draws from my lived experiences, such as Midjourney or ChatGPT is play: there is an element of ambiguity, chance and many visuals can be sexually loaded for one individual but not for another (and not for video, I foster a direct and unfiltered exploring identity, paradox, and binaries unpredictability, all, human and non-human actors, are playing with boundaries and while navigating diverse cultures, Book rules and the interaction is turn-based. political views, sexualities, and genders. of Abstracts The transgressive, the queer, and the Blind Spots is an artistic intervention challenging AI algorithms and online censorship. anarchist embody a moving utopian Nine pieces were created as a “puzzle” for Instagram to solve. The painting is losely horizon, while mourning the lost culture based on a glitched AI generated image. Through this experiment I am exploring the I grew up in. Through my practice, and power. This and other experiemnts were showcased at my exhibition Mechanisms boundaries of taste and symbolism. My work exposes raw emotions, expressed of Care (October 2023, Malmö, Sweden). experience of an artist engaging in a playful interaction AI in order to reclaim the agency I challenge the norms, pushing the through the body as a vessel, a prison, Finally I reflect on artist’s experience/phenomenology of creating an artwork knowing and medium. My body is central to my artistic practice affected when we are working while being subjected to (self-) censorship paintings and as a canvas for video and performance. (based on my personal expereince and interviews with other artists)? that it will be censored or deleted from public view (online or physical). How is our art—serving as a reference in my oil I have exhibited throughout Europe and Canada, including Kunsthal Aarhus (Aarhus, Denmark), FRANK Gallery (Malmö, Sweden) and Duplex Gallery (Lisbon, Portugal). Currently I am focused on the topics of identity and censorship, researching them through the prism of transgressive art. I’ve been a guest lecturer at Linnaeus University (Växjö, Sweden) and Malmö University (Malmö, Sweden) speaking about my artistic practice and research. I am involved with the art-based research group led by Professor Susan Kozel at Malmö University. 145 Session 13B: Isostasy TABOO ‒ Plantoverse: Rethinking Perception Through Plant Optics TRANSGRESSION ‒ Alexandra Burnusuz BioArt Lab, ITMO University Müller-Xing, Xing and Goodrich, 2014). Scientists still explore the comprehensive role at the Art & Science Center, ITMO University, with a background in of light in plant life, yet this is no secret. But what if plants receive information about Light, its amount and qualities are essential signals for plants (Szabo et al., 2020; Alexandra Burnusuz is a researcher TRANSCENDENCE in biology (BSc, MSc, Saint Petersburg their surroundings in ways we have not supposed? State University). Her work explores South American vine imitates support plant leaves, and there is no consensus on the media, and artistic practice, with a focus on bioart, bioprinting, and plant– mechanism behind this phenomenon (Gianoli and Carrasco-Urra, 2014). One of the Our work is based on recent insights regarding Boquila trifoliolata mimicry. This the intersections of life sciences, new human interaction. She has co-authored Art & Science 2025 probable hypotheses, recently proposed based on experiments with artificial plants, publications in Scientific Reports, 2022). The presumed nature of this sense may be physical and, possibly, optical. While and Social Sciences Communications, and Convergence. this remains a hypothesis, it has already caused discussion not only about the plant suggests that B. trifoliolata can even mimic plastic leaves (White and Yamashita, Immunology & Cell Biology, Humanities sensory systems but also about the image of a plant among humanity. Plant blindness, Mariia Moshchenskaia Book a statistically proven phenomenon, describes the tendency to overlook plants, treating BioArt Lab, ITMO Universityof Abstracts them as mere objects rather than living organisms (Hershey, 2002). This bias even skews conservation funding in favour of animals (Jose, Wu and Kamoun, 2019). Also, Maria Moshchenskaya is an plants are often seen as “blind” themselves, perceived as receiving information through interdisciplinary artist working at BioArt Our project, Plantoverse, is a media sculpture that illustrates how leaf epidermal interspecies communication, non-verbal dialogue and interaction with plants. cells transform images considering their optical properties (Haberlandt, 1905; Wager, a narrow range of modalities. Lab. She explores the themes of 1909). Current research offers multiple explanations for the role of the leaf epidermis audio-visual festival Intervals (Russia, The artist has exhibited her works at the and Vogelmann, 1990; Bone, Lee and Norman, 1985). In our sculpture, image from New Media (Slovenia, 2021, 2022), the international virtual exhibition Pending built-in cameras is captured and processed through a mathematical model based on in light perception, along with its ecological and physiological implications (Poulson 2019), the Speculum Artium Festival of our data on epidermal cell optics. The resulting image becomes part of the artwork, others. Futures (Netherlands, 2021), and many symbolising how external perceptions shape identity and drive responses. Ultimately, this can define the quality of interaction between the parties. Veronika Prizova BioArt Lab, ITMO University Veronika Prizova is an interdisciplinary artist and culturologist. She studies nature-to-culture narratives and issues of phyto-semiotics. She has taken part in the international festivals ‘Ars Electronica’ (2020) and ‘Speculum Artium’ (2021) as well as in the international virtual exhibition ‘Pending Futures’ (2021). She is a mediator and creator of a guided tour and a leaflet-game for children at the State Hermitage Museum. Session 14A: Delocation chair: Despoina Poulou, University of the Aegean 15:45 Echoes and Future Whispering in Haunted Times Marie-Luise Meister 16:00 Practicing Feralities: On Making Sense with Multispecies Landscapes Markéta Dolejšová, Chewie 16:00 BioQuantum Record: Chiral Handshakes Between Terrestrial Extremophiles and Their Extraterrestrial Counterparts - An Arts-Science Collaboration Anna Steward, Sebastian Gfellner 16:15 Embodying Non-Human Perspectives to Design with Multispecies Empathy Ceren Ozgen, Jiabao Li Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 147 Session 14A: Delocation TABOO ‒ Echoes and Future Whispering in Haunted Times TRANSGRESSION ‒ Marie-Luise Meister Independent of communication with nonhuman and more-than-human entities and assemblages— artist whose work explores processes of change and liminal spaces that weave across porous interfaces of material, sound, and atmosphere. Titled Dialogues with the This artist talk unfolds from a long-term research process that explores speculative modes Marie-Luise Meister is a transdisciplinary TRANSCENDENCE in Other – Echoes and Future Whispering in Haunted Times, the project engages how together past, present, and speculative futures. Employing storytelling as a to the unknown, the silenced, and the yet-to-be-articulated. relationships between humans and the more-than-human world. Her artistic Rather than approaching the Other as fixed alterity, this research situates the concept forms of listening, resonance, and delay can become gestures for rethinking our relation tool, she delves into the symbiotic practice traverses materials, words, Art & Science 2025 within an entangled mesh of symbiotic agencies—those that store without narrative, and and images, shifting fluidly between respond in forms not aligned with linguistic convention. They shimmer through fracture. analog processes and self-trained neural My practice—spanning installation, sound composition, neural image systems, drawing, worlds that reflect themes of biodiversity, ecology, and evolution. They inhabit thresholds, atmospheres, and incomplete loops. networks, crafting evocative in-between writing and sensor-based spatial arrangements—engages the epistemic potential of non- With a background in theater, media art, Book linear, multisensory encounters. Clay, porcelain, field recordings, water, moss, and neural text, and body-based research, Meister knowledge—each carrying tension, delay, and resonance within their very materiality. Visual Arts in Leipzig and the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. Her work The talk will move through recent iterations of Bodies of Water, an ongoing artistic textures become interlocutors. Not representations of nature, but agents of interrupted studied Fine Arts at the Academy of of Abstracts research project that approaches water not as motif, but as thinking medium. Within is deeply rooted in notions of rewilding, embracing the transformative potential this context, rivers and sediments appear as temporal inscriptions—where histories of of artistic exploration to reimagine maps enter as material witnesses—etched, folded, and marked by absence. participated in artist residencies across China, Georgia, Italy, Sweden, Russia, The research is informed by an altered mode of listening—one shaped by a sensorily extraction, violence, and migration leave layered residues. Geological and hydrological ecological narratives. Meister has fractured auditory system. Due to a progressive condition, my hearing registers certain showcased in numerous national and Israel and Palestine, with her works perception is no longer filtered by cognitive hierarchies of relevance. Human speech Supported by institutions such as the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the does not dominate; environmental and nonhuman sounds surface with equal weight. frequencies with heightened intensity, while others remain inaccessible. What enters international exhibitions. This sensory configuration is not a biographical backdrop—it alters the architectural logic Goethe-Institute, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, of my research. Delay, saturation, and dissonance become compositional elements. and Kunst Fonds Bonn, her projects Sound does not serve narrative; it arrives as density, lingers in thresholds, folds into the emphasize the interconnectedness body. Listening, here, is not interpretation—but a method of attunement. of ecological and cultural systems. In Dialogues with the Other, I ask: Currently, she leads the EU-funded residency program Fluid Materialities, an What forms of speech emerge when language fails to align with perception? artistic research initiative exploring the act—not as symbols, but as co-sensing presences? set to unfold in collaboration with the KIND Lab of the University of Applied What does it mean to listen-with materials that do not speak back? How can we build modes of attunement that allow nonhuman and posthuman entities to interrelations of matter and symbiosis, What interests me are infrastructures of delay. Forms that resist the compulsion to Sciences Trier in 2025. Meister’s practice embodies a commitment to reimagining consider poetic storytelling a speculative mode of exchange—where language breaks fostering innovative dialogues between art, nature, and speculative futures. open to allow resonance with other registers: tactile, sonic, mineral, vegetal, algorithmic. name. Fractures that do not collapse into clarity. Echoes that do not return the same. I the boundaries of artistic creation, Communication, in this sense, does not mean alignment. It means proximity. It means friction that does not destroy, but holds. Throughout the talk, I will share fragments from recent works—textual scores, sound fields, sculptural arrangements, and traces from an evolving vocabulary of communication without content. The voice in this research is multiple. Sometimes it arrives through field recordings. Sometimes through code. Sometimes through a silence charged with memory. Violence is not a theme—it is a structural condition, embedded in the material: in cracked porcelain, interrupted frequencies, unrendered data. The question is not how to tell these stories, but how to make them perceptible as tension. The Other does not always answer. But it responds. Through pressure. Through breath. Through the thickened air of haunted times. 148 Session 14A: Delocation TABOO ‒ Practicing Feralities: On Making Sense with Multispecies TRANSGRESSION ‒ Landscapes Markéta Dolejšová The Academy of Fine Arts, Prague of making sense with multispecies landscapes and dataflows. Drawing on our ongoing net) is a practice-based researcher experimenting with embodied and research collaboration with the Křivoklátsko forest in Central Bohemia, we discuss In the talk, we share insights from our practice-based experimentation with ‘feral’ ways Markéta Dolejšová (https://materie. TRANSCENDENCE in sensory experiences in multispecies how feral ways – open-ended, spontaneous, messy, welcoming indeterminacy – may contexts. Her recent focus has been anthropocentric ‘making sense of’ to relational ‘making sense-with’ other-than-human exploring what relations, intuitions, and ways of knowing can emerge in creatures. foster more-than-human co-creation of knowledge and data, and nurture shifts from on ferality and feral eco-systems, the liminal spaces between the wild Art & Science 2025 Our research is often performative and embodied, taking the shape of, for instance, and the domesticated, the familiar dwellers and inhabitants – pine trees, squirrels, dogs, storks, lichen, humans – to intentional. She is also an Assistant Professor at The Academy of Fine Arts explore and understand local landscapes. While walking (crawling, floating, drifting, experimental walks or drifts (or dérives, following Debord, 1958) that invite local and unknown, the serendipitous and in Prague, where she acts as the Head or otherwise moving) together with these participants, we pay attention to our of Doctoral Research Department, Book surroundings, guided by each others’ sense of orientation and interests as well as and recently finished her postdoctoral of Abstracts research fellowship at Aalto University – spontaneous chance encounters. On the way, we exchange conversations (verbal or School of Arts, Design and Architecture otherwise), gather sensory impressions, and record traces in diverse formats: sounds, (2020-24). In 2020-22, she worked with videos, scribbles, sniffs, or simple acts of remembering. The data emerging from such the CreaTures – Creative Practices for dominant data norms – of structured, measurable, reproducible, or clearly codable units she led the Laboratory of Experimental Productions and co-created the of information – as artifacts and experiences open for engagement through sensory, experiential inquiries where knowledge is embodied and felt, often materialises beyond Transformational Futures project, where CreaTures Framework proposing how emotional, and tacit perception. creative practices can stimulate action academic contexts, we illustrate how experimenting with ferality can foreground issues sustainable futures. She has co-founded several art-design research initiatives of power, agency, and control in the currently human-centric discourses around data, Reflecting on our recent (often failed) attempts to share this work within broader towards socially and ecologically including the Uroboros festival, the Open technology, and sensemaking in eco-social transformation efforts. Forest Collective, and the Feeding Food Futures network. Since 2025, she’s been co-directing the ABIS – Ars Biologica Independent Studies, an international platform connecting experimental art, design, technology and science with a focus on perma~culture thinking. Her work has appeared in academic outlets and cultural venues such as the Venice Architecture Biennale, Helsinki Design Week, ArtScience Museum Singapore, National Museum of Scotland, and National Gallery Prague. Chewie Forest Guide Chewie is a forest guide living in Central Bohemia, in the protected landscape area Křivoklátsko. Since 2021, Chewie has been a core member of the Open Forest Collective where he contributes to feral explorations of more-than- human ecologies and leads a series of experimental walks in the Křivoklátsko forest. Through his guidance, Chewie helps other collective members and contributors to learn about diverse multispecies relationalities that make up a forest. 149 Session 14A: Delocation TABOO ‒ BioQuantum Record: Chiral Handshakes Between Terrestrial TRANSGRESSION ‒ Extremophiles and Their Extraterrestrial Counterparts - An Anna Steward Arts-Science Collaboration Transdisciplinary Artist launched by NASA in 1977 aboard the Voyager spacecraft. The post-Voyager concept multimedia artist. Her practice combines performance, installation, and examines the implications of scientific advancement and contemporary cultural, societal, BioQuantum Record is a speculative artistic project that reimagines the Golden Record Anna Steward is a transdisciplinary TRANSCENDENCE in scientific collaboration, with a focus on and philosophical thought. While the Golden Record was designed to communicate the microbiology, neurology, and a growing shifts the focus to life itself, proposing that microbial collectives are most likely the first at Arts Educational Schools London in 2000 and initially worked as an actor form of extra-terrestrial life we may come in contact with. message of humanity to an intelligent extra-terrestrial life, the BioQuantum Record passion for astrobiology. She trained before shifting to Live Art in 2007. Art & Science 2025 This project explores the possibility of molecular communication with these hypothetical Anna graduated with honours from the molecules. On Earth, life relies on left-handed amino acids and right-handed sugars, 2023, where she now lectures. Supported by a scholarship from the Bavarian State but alien life could operate with opposite chirality. This hypothesis of mirror life forms extra-terrestrial microorganisms, using the concept of chirality—the “handedness” of Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg in Ministry of Science and the Arts, she the speculative basis of BioQuantum Records. collaborated with the German Archaea Book The sci-fi narrative of the project proposes sending an artistic prototype hosting Centre at the University of Regensburg, of Abstracts Germany, where she remains a visiting biochemical materials and ‘a crew’ of prokaryotes into space to initiate a chiral artist. Her 2024/2025 Arts-Science handshake with their extra-terrestrial siblings. The crew members are extremophilic Residency at the Center for Molecular archaea, namely, the two species Metallosphaera sedula and Halobacterium salinarum. Biophysics (CBM)–CNRS Orléans and states. H. salinarum has been isolated from ancient salt crystals, demonstrating its Orléans, hosted by LE STUDIUM Loire Valley Institute for Advanced ability to endure geological time. It thrives in high-salinity environments, which are M. sedula thrives in hot, acidic, metal-rich environments, and can survive in desiccated École Supérieure d’Art et de Design Studies (France), sparked an ongoing common throughout the solar system. partnership with CBM’s Exobiology and the idea that life can travel between planets on space debris—serving as a metaphor for Chemistry teams. Together, they explore microbes, meteorites, and molecules. life’s potential cosmic journey, its resilience, and adaptability, as well as the possibility The design of vessels carrying them into space is informed by the panspermia theory— Synthetic Protein and Bioorthogonal of seeding extra-terrestrial environments. Sebastian Gfellner By blending real and speculative concepts, scientific research, and experiments with Center for Molecular Biophysics, CNRS– Earth, and invite discussions on the fragility of planetary ecosystems, possibilities of Sebastian Gfellner is a postgraduate interstellar encounters, and boundaries between science fiction and scientific reality. poetic storytelling, the project aims to provoke new ways of thinking about life beyond Orléans, France researcher in the Exobiology Group at happens when we send not just a message, but life itself, to the unknown? CNRS – Orléans, and the University of Orléans (France). His scientific Developed during an arts-science residency (November 2024 – February 2025) at the Ultimately, the project is a question, an invitation, and an open-ended experiment: What the Center for Molecular Biophysics, Center for Molecular Biophysics, CNRS – Orléans and École Supérieure d’Art et de journey from Earth Sciences to Astrobiology started at the University this project initially aimed to produce a prototype. The collaboration, however, turned the University of Bremen (Germany), with stops at Harvard University (United out to be much richer, generating a wealth of material experiments and conceptual Design, hosted by the LE STUDIUM Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies (France), of Vienna (Austria) and continued at expansions, and we are looking at the creation of the entire cosmos surrounding it. States) and the University of Liège (Belgium). Primary research focuses to continuing their shared endeavors. The BioQuantum Record team has co-authored survivability under extreme conditions, and analysis of their biosignatures. His an abstract of the project and received an invitation to present this work at the Biennial Owing to the high quality of transdisciplinary collaboration, all partners are committed on extremophilic microorganisms, their European Astrobiology Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland. In addition, production began special interest lies in the detection of traces of microbial life on other planetary On a meta-level, the project functions as a real-time investigation into the dynamics of arts-science collaboration, Sebastian found a way to add a transcendental interdisciplinary collaboration: What is there to gain from arts-science collaborations? for exhibiting in Orléans as part of the France Design Week 2025. bodies, particularly on Mars. Through What constitutes a successful trans-disciplinary process? Can laboratories serve narrative conceptualized by Anna Steward to his research, bridging the two as artistic studios in which materiality, processes, and experimentation transcend worlds of arts and science. disciplinary boundaries? In this experimental approach, arts-science partners tackle scientific questions using an artistic narrative by combining and uniting the best of the two worlds. In compliance with scientific quality standards, artistic freedom is given an additional dimension. 150 Session 14A: Delocation TABOO ‒ Embodying Non-Human Perspectives to Design with TRANSGRESSION ‒ Multispecies Empathy Ceren Ozgen University of Texas at Austin other species and ecosystems. This anthropocentric approach has contributed to designer, urban planner, artist, and dancer whose work bridges interaction habitat destruction, ecological imbalances, and the exclusion of non-human beings Design has traditionally focused on improving human lives, often at the expense of Ceren Ozgen is an interdisciplinary TRANSCENDENCE in design, urban systems, and everyday from human-shaped spaces. This paper introduces embodied movement practices as experiences. With a fluid and adaptive workshops. Drawing on Uexküll’s Umwelt theory, Gibson’s ecological psychology, and between people, places, and materials, moving freely across scales and somatic design principles, these workshops allow participants to explore the sensory a method to build empathy and foster collaboration across species through immersive approach, she explores relationships disciplines. Her practice integrates Art & Science 2025 worlds of non-human species, such as dogs and pigeons. These workshops challenge sustainability and multispecies perceive the world. Through sensory simulations and guided activities, participants can friendly materials such as bioplastics and using embodied movement to cultivate temporarily “step into the shoes” of non-humans and explore their sensory worlds. human-centered paradigms by offering designers an experience of how non-humans perspectives, experimenting with eco- empathy in design. Tools like dichromatic lenses, which replicate how dogs rely more on smell than sight, Book and beak prosthetics, which mimic bird behaviors like foraging and navigation, provide Jiabao Li of Abstracts designers with firsthand insights into the challenges and behaviors unique to non-human The University of Texas at Austin as critical stakeholders. Participants use these insights to create practical, inclusive University of Texas at Austin, founding director of Ecocentric Future Lab, and visiting professor solutions for shared environments. Case studies include designs addressing the sensory species. This fosters a more inclusive approach to design, viewing non-human species Jiabao Li is an artist, assistant professor at The at Stanford. She creates works addressing and behavioral needs of dogs—such as olfactory-enriched spaces, non-toxic sensory climate change, multispecies futures, humane gardens, and texture-focused pathways—and pigeon-friendly urban features like safe technology, and perceptions. Her mediums perches and feeding stations. These examples demonstrate how embodied empathy include wearable, robot, AR/VR, performance, scientific experiment, installation. In Jiabao’s can inspire designs that promote coexistence. This paper demonstrates how embodied TED Talk, she uncovered how technology movement practices enable designers to empathize with and address the sensory and mediates the way we perceive reality. Her behavioral needs of non-human species. By fostering ecocentric approaches, these Arctic Couldn’t”, “Progenitorial Hysteresis”, “Perception Omnifold”, and “Ecological Soup: recent solo exhibitions include “Chill Out: The workshops offer practical frameworks for designers, researchers, artists, educators, Interspecies Encounters”. Jiabao is the and others. Inspired by Haraway’s concept of coexistence, this work envisions a future recipient of numerous awards including Forbes where design transcends human-centric limitations, embracing shared responsibility China 30 Under 30, STARTS Prize, Falling and fostering resilient, multispecies environments through inclusive and innovative Walls, Fast Company, and the Outstanding Instructor Award from Bio Design Challenge. practices. Her work has been exhibited internationally, at MoMA, Venice Architecture Biennale, Ars Electronica, Exploratorium, Today Art Museum Biennial, SIGGRAPH, Milan and Dubai Design Week, ISEA, etc. Her academic papers have been published in top conferences and journals including SIGGRAPH, CHI, IEEE VIS. Her work has been featured on Fast Company, Art Forum, Business Insider, Bloomberg, South China Morning Post, Domus, Yanko Design, Harvard Political Review, Leonardo. She is a member of Onassis Foundation and a Fellow at Ars Electronica Founding lab. She graduated from Harvard GSD with Distinction and thesis award. Session 14B: Resonance chair: Ingrid Cogne, KMD - University in Bergen (NO) 15:45 Dust to Dust Lyndsey Walsh 16:00 The dust that will keep you alive, the dust that kills, the dust you return Line Krom, Brian Degger 16:15 Cyborg Woman-Plant-Machine Experiment Carolina Sudati 16:30 How a spectral realm of vision fuses tarmac, human skin and paper Anna Olszewska Location: Komuna - Kino Šiška 152 Session 14B: Resonance TABOO ‒ Dust to Dust TRANSGRESSION ‒ Lyndsey Walsh Humboldt University of Berlin systems, the necrobiome is a living community of micro and macro-organisms haunting researcher from the United States and based in Berlin, Germany. Lyndsey has bodies and materials beyond the boundary given to define “life”. The Necrobiome Unlike the microbiome, which has been described as working in symbiosis with living Lyndsey Walsh is an artist, writer, and TRANSCENDENCE in a Bachelor’s in Individualized Studies and the Thanatomicrobiome that comprises it microbial agents actively dismantle the from New York University and a Master’s putrefaction[1], [2]. the SymbioticA Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts at the University of However, the necrobiome remains an undeniably important framework for understanding material composition of life as we knew it, signaling to cultural notions of the abject and in Biological Arts with Distinction from Western Australia. Lyndsey’s practice Art & Science 2025 the complex and shifting network of interactions and relationships that living organisms fuses speculative narratives with necrobiome exists all around us and plays a crucial role in planetary cycles. the ruptures created by technology in the corporality of culture. Lyndsey sets Consulting both scientific and cultural practitioners working with these facets of death, have beyond the anthropocentric boundary of death. From whale fall to compost, the autoethnographic investigations into out to question the cultural binaries of “Dust to Dust” attempts to examine the value systems projected onto death, the human-non-human, diseased-healthy, Book meaning death has in life cycles (micro and macro), and the rituals that exist around and life-machine using Crip, Queer, of Abstracts and intersectional feminist frameworks. death (both scientific and cultural). Exploring the role of planetary forces and the needs Currently, Lyndsey is the first and only of overlapping systems of living entities that permeate the boundary between life and residing artist of the Department of death, “Dust to Dust” offers artistic mediation on the cycling of carbon on our planet. Experimental Biophysics at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. They have been [1] Kristeva, J., 2024. Powers of horror: An essay on abjection. Columbia University awarded the S+T+ARTS Prize 2024 Honorable Mention, and their work Press. has been featured in events and with [2] Nakas, K., 2013. Putrefied, Deliquescent, Amorphous: The ‘Liquefying’ Rhetoric of institutions such as Frieze Art Week Ugliness. In: A. Pop and M. Widrich, ed., Ugliness: The Non-Beautiful in Art and Theory. New York, the Humboldt Forum, the Ural I.B.Tauris. Biennial, the Berlin Biennale, Athens Digital Arts Festival, Transmediale/CTM, and more. 153 Session 14B: Resonance TABOO ‒ The dust that will keep you alive, the dust that kills, the dust TRANSGRESSION ‒ you return Line Krom Independent “Dust/ futures are already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet” William Gibsons Line Krom is a German artist and TRANSCENDENCE in cultural anthropologist, who explores the Dust is a surprising mix of the mundane and the extraordinary. Minerals, organic matter, cultural richness of dust collected from museums, archives, mines, fields and pollutants, and sometimes even traces of gold are part of its story. It’s a poetic reminder other sites of social significance. Krom Dust doctor, dust detective, dust-divinator, dust-wrangler as umbrella terms for those material into performances, paintings, digital objects, and installations. Dust dealing with dust, its consequences or uses. There are dusty times ahead, for good that even what seems insignificant can carry meaning—and value. has transformed this often-overlooked serves as both a metaphorical and Art & Science 2025 and ill, and these people will be needed. To mitigate, to diagnose, to treat, and to material substrate in her practice for Dust vs dust when it comes to pollen, dust wars, where (engineered)-antibodies are environmental justice, and cultural heritage. used to stop the activation of the immune system against dusty allergens (like pollen). celebrate our dusty future. investigating themes of time, memory, inscribes the local dust-o-sphere....Too much human in the sample? Perhaps it’s time of Abstracts to bring in the other, the canine, the mossy, the outside air. Too much pollen, perhaps The Art-Object acts as a probe into these dusty futures, a sentinel that continuously Book Brian Degger Independent it’s time for some personalised medicine to stop your asthma. Too much pm2.5/4/10 black carbon, time to be aware, put the filter on high mode, or get away. Too much I am an interdisciplinary maker with a microplastics, perhaps a flocculating bacterial mist, that sinks the particles to be robo- PhD in biotechnology, passionate about open-source practices and shareable vacuumed and fused into a plastic puck for the plastics recycler. expertise. I also bring enthusiasm to grassroots software and science policy. My work often involves collaboration with artists(such as Anna Dimitriu and Blast Theory, particularly in creating innovative projects that integrate biological media. Over the past two decades, I have been actively involved in workshops, hack-days (https://www.hackteria.org/ workshops/surf-and-turf/), hack labs (eg FieldNotes, Fi; LabLife, Uk, Hlab11&14), residencies(MigratingArtAcademies), and art collective projects worldwide. These experiences have allowed me to develop my technoscientific art practice and voice, blending accessible technology with creative expression. I am a founding member of the Maker Space in Newcastle upon Tyne and an active participant in the North East England Maker community, and the broader UK and international networks. My role extends beyond hands-on projects—I advocate for documentation, mapping, and promotion to preserve and amplify the impact of communities like mine. I am also inspired by thought- provoking artists, writers, and theorists who explore technoscientific discourses. 154 Session 14B: Resonance TABOO ‒ Cyborg Woman-Plant-Machine Experiment TRANSGRESSION ‒ Carolina Sudati Translúcida Bruta, BR of human becoming through the integration of body, technology, and nature. Rooted in is a Brazilian dance and performance artist who investigates the relationship biodesign and phenomenology, the project envisions mutation via prosthetic devices A.v.p. (Alba viridi pythonissan) is an artistic-scientific experiment exploring new forms Carolina Sudati a.k.a. Translúcida Bruta TRANSCENDENCE in between body and wearable devices, that enhance environmental relationships, the ingestion of concentrated chlorophyll, interested in converting psycho- Developed in collaboration with visual artist and designer Leo Ceolin, the Cyborg of movement. The successive creation of feminine becomings is present in Woman-Plant-Machine Experiment employs bio-industrial wearables made from and the induction of trance states through repetitive movement and sound frequencies. emotional limitations into expansions their projects in which ruptures and Art & Science 2025 biomaterials and organic substances, designed to transform bodily limitations into reconnections with rhythm and the The performative research investigates how saturation, trance, and bionic movement investigated at the intersection of territory.prosthesis.body. Together with can generate an immersive environment where performer, guests, and audience co- expanded choreographic possibilities. natural environment are constantly associated artists—particularly visual create the experience. Wearable objects, mobility devices, and sound interventions artist and designer Leo Ceolin, multi- Book serve as catalysts for this process, positioning the observer as an active participant in instrumentalist Jose Bárrickelo, and of Abstracts photographer Mayra Azzi—she creates the experiment. performance-installations, video- By weaving together the symbolic dimensions of Alba (light), Viridi (green/plant performances, and wearable devices kingdom), and Pythonissan (witch/healer), the project illuminates new pathways of in different contexts and supports. She coexistence, resistance, and reconnection with ecological rhythms, proposing a cyborg increasingly dedicates herself to the ontology of care and attentiveness. study of dark ecologies that emerge from vegetal hacking processes and material manifestations linked to mining, neo- extractivism, and post-industrialism, as well as to artistic investigation through specific parameters that include trance practices and consciousness expansion. She shares her processes through laboratories that stem from the subtle field of collectives and communities, converted into raw wearable manufacturing, generating dances and performative actions. Since the end of 2019, she has intensified creation in direct relationship with territory and local communities, establishing a transit between the rural zone and the urban space of the megalopolis São Paulo. Since 2023, she has been connected to the South American platform Observatorio de la Agonía, alongside Luis Carvalán, Mecha Mio, and Cristian Espinosa, with whom she has maintained a continuous exchange since 2017 through the project Corredor Electromagnético Paulista. 155 Session 14B: Resonance TABOO ‒ How a spectral realm of vision fuses tarmac, human skin and TRANSGRESSION ‒ paper Anna Olszewska AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow / Faculty of Humanities materialities brought about by research practices operating in extended registers of Faculty of Humanities, AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, visibility. The proposal begins by uncovering a paradoxical state in which technical This is to report and curate an emergence of sensory orders, sets of materials and Anna Olszewska, PhD is a lecturer at the TRANSCENDENCE in where she works in the Department ensembles that produce operational, invisible visuality (Paglen 2019; Mackenzie, of Cultural Studies and Digital Age a strip of rainbow produced by a Newtonian prism. This is where, new aesthetic on the intersections of culture and the digital age, and she is actively engaged affordance emerges. As the registers of visibility extend into adjacent ultraviolet, near- Munster 2019) are simultaneously born into the realm of sensing much more than Research. Her academic work focuses in research and teaching within this field. Art & Science 2025 infrared and far-infrared frequency bands, the realm of colour and form merges with the configuration of material emissivity and reflectance. I invite to study and creatively expand practices founded on the discovery of spectral signatures - fingerprints of matter - first understood in the famous experiments of Gustav R. Kirchoff and Robert W. Bunsen in 1859. Kirchoff shone light through a flare of Book burning salt and used the spectroscope to observe its yellow glow. Large-scale projects of Abstracts measuring the spectral signatures of the Earth’s surface from satellites, such as the Landsat Multispectral Scanner System of the 1970s, propagated a particular way of thinking about the sensory qualities in terrestrial structures (Schowengerdt 2007:3). After a few decades of routine measurements, piles of recorded spectral signatures prompt a spontaneous formation of aesthetically intriguing objects. These are conglomerate lists of materials and surfaces that collocate emissivity and reflectance values for commonly measured structures. In these purely technical indexes, reflectance and albedo values establish an unexpected proximity between freshly fallen snow and river sand. Contrast both with moorland and tarmac. Emphasise the similarities between human skin and paper. Compare black bodies-like vantas and emissive mirrors of polished gold, aluminium, and silver. Session 15A: Syntopy chair: Jasna Jernejšek, Kino Šiška 17:45 Stamping Genes: A Speculative Union of Flamingo, Urchin, and Rice Kristin Lucas, Nathalie Dubois Calero 18:00 Exoplanetary Poetry: experimental chemistry as a universal language for alien communication Julie-Michèle Morin, Bart Kuipers, Daniela Brill Estrada Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 157 Session 15A: Syntopy TABOO ‒ Stamping Genes: A Speculative Union of Flamingo, Urchin, TRANSGRESSION ‒ and Rice Kristin Lucas University of Texas at Austin Speculative Union of Flamingo, Urchin, and Rice, a conceptual performance and connectivity as both an interpersonal process and a condition of the digital evolutionary biohacking experiment. In this scenario, the fusion of two species produces In this talk, we share the motivations and processes behind Stamping Genes: A Kristin Lucas is an artist exploring TRANSCENDENCE in age, shaped by technological and a novel gene expression that enhances the nutrition and breeding capacities of both ecological forces alike. Through Building on a collaboration initiated at TTTlabs in Crete, we explore key questions spanning biohacking, solar-powered web projects, and AR installations, that drive our inquiry: How can horizontal evolutionary biology—where genetic material species, symbolizing resilience and adaptability. speculative, often collaborative works, she embraces complexity, challenging Art & Science 2025 flows between organisms rather than through lineage—reshape our understanding of dominant narratives that shape how we nonhuman species, and how can we address the ethical challenges this raises? How and the more-than-human agents with whom we co-create realities. Lucas’s do we challenge entrenched notions of human purity and exceptionalism to envision adaptation and evolution? What does consent mean when working with microbiota and see ourselves, relate to one another, work has been featured in Art in America, more inclusive and interconnected approaches to evolution and coexistence? Engadget, and Hyperallergic, with Book Blending art and science, this talk invites reflection on these questions and explores commissions from institutions including of Abstracts Dia Center for the Arts, FACT Liverpool, new possibilities for resilience, adaptation, and interconnected futures. Rhizome.org, and the Whitney Museum. She is represented by And/Or Gallery in Pasadena and Electronic Arts Intermix in New York. Lucas studied at The Cooper Union and Stanford University, and currently teaches in the art department at the University of Texas at Austin. Nathalie Dubois Calero Ionian University Nathalie Dubois Calero is a BacterVirHuman, scientist (Ph.D. in biology, UPMC, France) and bioartist (BA, University Concordia, Montreal, MFA, University of Windsor, Canada, MAres student, Ionian University, Corfu). BacterHuman is a series of feminist/ queer works that explore human-microbe relationships inside the human holobiont through workshops, performances, ontological workshop games, and videos/sounds (aka Bacterhuman in Bandcamp) using fabric and tattoos made with pH indicator culture media, where color changes testify conflicts, overlapping multiplication or equilibrium between human skin (and its excretions), and microbiota- creating images and sounds interacting with her performative quest of human identity. She collaborates on MaterVirus, an ontological workshop game about human viral identity with Cecilia Vilca, Waterbodies with Ada Gogova, and Stamping Genes with Kristin Lucas. Her website is at nathalieduboiscalero.com 158 Session 15A: Syntopy TABOO ‒ Exoplanetary Poetry: experimental chemistry as a universal TRANSGRESSION ‒ language for alien communication Julie-Michèle Morin Artist-researcher + Postdoctoral Fellow @ University Laval (Canada) We were selected for the Cosmic Consciousness Literary Artist residency of the SETI Julie-Michèle Morin is an artist-researcher, TRANSCENDENCE in dramaturg, and technoqueerfeminist thinker (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute with our project Exoplanetary Poetry, working at the intersection of live arts, an experiment in communication with speculative extraterrestrial beings. The project is machines, and political speculation. They recently completed a joint PhD at Université supported by the AI Stipendium in der Kunst of the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Culture. de Montréal and the University of Antwerp We would be excited to present our creative process to the TTT community, to spark (2025), where their research interrogated the dramaturgies of robotics and the reflections on interspecies communications and the alien umwelt. lingering humanist, technocapitalist, racist, We aim to co-author a collection of poems with a speculative extraterrestrial being Art & Science 2025 and patriarchal assumptions embedded in in the form of an AI and present it as a multi-sensory experience. In the process, we technoscientific imaginaries. Their most recent performance projects— hope to transcend linguistic and sensory boundaries to make the co-created poems Glitching Optimization in a Few Steps: A accessible to a multitude of human and other-than-human bodies. Lecture-Performance about Robotic Failures (2023) and Reassembling Bolts of Care: Yet Inspired by Sara Walker’s research on the origin of life, and SETI’s research on Another Talk about the Future of TechnoCare the chemical composition of exoplanetary atmospheres as indicators of potential (2024)—stage machinic encounters that resist Book solutionism and care for failures as a mode of extraterrestrial life, we propose chemistry as a poetic language to communicate with living and caring.of Abstracts a speculative alien being. We want to train a language model using chemical data by Currently a postdoctoral fellow at Université mapping atmospheric structures onto natural (human) language, reimagining chains of Laval, they examine the affective narratives mobilized by the AI industry and explore how molecules as sentences, molecules as words, atoms as letters/syllables, and subatomic artists disrupt, reconfigure, or sabotage these particles as haptics and sounds. dominant scripts through critical fabulation and speculative performance. With this language model, we will co-author the poetry in English, then translate Julie-Michèle’s writings have appeared in the result back to chemistry creating a multi-sensory atmospheric performance of Theatre Research in Canada, Liberté, Jeu, Esse arts + opinions, aparté | arts vivants, “chemical life poems” — controlled environments where chemical reactions produce Spirale and Percées. They co-edited the visual, olfactory, and tactile experiences. This approach speculates how alien beings book La vidéo en scène : l’acteur et ses might perceive and create poetry, aligning with Walker’s notion of the vast and diverse technologies [Video on Stage : Actors and their technologies] (2023) with Josette Féral. possibilities of life shaped by chemistry. Presenting our creative process as part of this conference would allow us to open a Bart Kuipers dialogue about chemistry as an interspecies linguistic mode of communication and Independent author + multimedia artist enable discussions about poetic gestures beyond the human. Bart Kuipers is a hybrid writer and multimedia storyteller from The Netherlands living in Berlin. He is the unexpected product of master degrees in computer science and creative writing and anything at the intersection of language and science has a high probability of piquing his interest. His fiction and poetry have appeared in magazines in The Netherlands and The United States and his screenplays have been produced for Dutch and German public television. Daniela Brill Estrada Johannes Kepler University (Linz), University of Applied Arts, Vienna daniela brill estrada is an artist and researcher from Bogotá, living and working in Vienna. in her artistic work, currently focused on origin of life research and astrobiology, daniela shows matter that mutates, changes and interacts, to question and challenge western hierarchical taxonomies, disciplines, and categories. in her installations and research daniela questions the apparent static, binary, linear and mechanical existence of bodies, humans, societies, and systems, and looks for the complex, chaotic elements that guide them. daniela is currently an artist in residence at the SETI institute, and a PhD candidate at the art x science school for transformation. Session 15B: Parapatry chair: Rodrigo Guzman-Serrano, Cornell University (USA) 18:45 Etymological transgression and colonial taboos: the post-human hypothesis and the risk of western narcissism Theodore Kabouridis 19:00 The Non-Image as Method John Santomieri 19:15 I always write “knowledges”, even it is not grammatically correct. Ingrid Cogne 19:30 Coral Dialogues: An Enactive Biosemiotic Approach to Interspecies Communication Annan Zuo, Augustas Lapinskas Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 160 Session 15B: Parapatry TABOO ‒ Etymological transgression and colonial taboos: the post- TRANSGRESSION ‒ human hypothesis and the risk of western narcissism Theodore Kabouridis Independent, Dr. of Philosophy, AUTH. anthropological understanding by setting the idea of being human under question. At Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with field of research the anthropological, the same time, both terms presuppose the idea of humanity not only etymologically by For the last twenty years, the concepts of post-human and post-humanism reframe our Theodore Kabouridis is a researcher in TRANSCENDENCE in productive and legal reconstitution of the prefix (post-) but also as a repetition of being human, that is expressed either by the digital technologies. His doctoral thesis to be redefined. the diachronic and systemic relation between technology and human In the first condition of post-humanist discourse, the disposition to transcend need to move beyond (humanism) or as an inescapable condition (human) that needs (Aristotle University, 2014) studied internality, whereas his post-graduate Art & Science 2025 humanity beyond itself, a new taboo begins to arise by the name “human”. According studies (Aristotle University, 2008), environmental destruction, and climate crisis. In its second condition, the redefinition and philosophy of social sciences. He completed his graduate studies of being human relates to an attempt to discuss, organize, and predict new ways of to this discourse, the latter is synonymous with technological (mis-) advancement, concerned political philosophy, ontology in London Metropolitan University ethics and living that will correspond to the avoidance of the first condition, i.e., the (2004), in the faculty of Philosophy and Book continuation of Anthropocenic elimination of the human species. Sociology. of Abstracts My paper will argue that both conditions need to be discussed under the criticism of the decolonization discourse since what it means to be human in post-humanist studies is the completion of human ineffectiveness that results in catastrophe. But by proposing this human definition, post-humanists actually sketch a way of being that corresponds to Western, white colonial development. In other words, they draw a definition of human that splits the responsibility of colonial history and its repressive development equally among the colonialized. Consequently, the second condition of post-humanism which strives for a re-shape of humanism, without a close circumspection by decolonial discourse, faces the risk of bringing the old colonial taboo of the “pre-human” primitive Other that needs to be reshaped in the form of a new taboo, that of being human, and its alteration by post-human forms of biopolitics. 161 Session 15B: Parapatry TABOO ‒ The Non-Image as Method TRANSGRESSION ‒ John Santomieri Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute paper extends the image as a method of knowing—one based on sensory symbolism Integrated Electronic Arts program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New and representation. And, one that is an important consideration of the nonhuman. By Appropriating its title from a work of medical anthropology (Stevenson 2013), this John Santomieri is a PhD student in the TRANSCENDENCE in York, where his research-led practice reconfiguring the construction of the nonhuman image (or Non-image), it suggests bridges horticulture, landscape design, is extrapolated from early futurist discourse of “contextual-mapping,” found in Magda Practices from the University at Buffalo and a BA in Urban and Public Policy and John McHale’s proposal for the Conceptual Revolution, first developed in 1971. speculative means for expressing complex nonhuman frameworks of information. This and BioArt. With an MFA in Emerging Studies, his work aligns critical theory, Art & Science 2025 Within these parameters, this paper triangulates a theoretical groundwork for inter- landscape technologies, and vegetal species ‘understanding’ based on representational frameworks of meaning-making. agency to reimagine relationships with This idea is presented informed by certain key principles of biosemiotics written about the living environment. by David Dusenbery (1992), Terrence Deacon (1997), Jakob von Ueküll (2015), among others, and shown during this paper presentation in demonstration as a coded digital Book video artwork. As counterpart to scientific precis, this thesis is buttressed by a range of of Abstracts philosophical perspectives on meaning-making. These include Henri Bergson (1998), Gilles Deleuze (2003), and Elizabeth Grosz (2008), among others, in support of the McHale’s idea that information is, at a baseline, spatial and biological. As argued in this paper, the idea of the Non-Image, once founded, can be expanded to better develop an ethological understanding of interspecies meaning. 162 Session 15B: Parapatry TABOO ‒ I always write “knowledges”, even it is not grammatically TRANSGRESSION ‒ correct. Ingrid Cogne KMD - University in Bergen (NO) – performed by supposed authorities when I would prefer the “doing”/practicing facilitator, dramaturge, researcher working across Arts, Choreography, knowledges to be more than working on the fixity of their presence in systems. I am struggling with “hierarchy” – the recurrent principle of inclusion or exclusion (PhD.) born 1977 is a French artist, TRANSCENDENCE in and Sciences. Cogne conceptualizes I have a principle: in order to fight the conditioning, the consensus of knowledge and artworks in the form of articulated supposed collective identity – I refuse to use in my articulation references “suggested” artistic researches, and text-based objects—be it alone or in collaboration. in the sense of imposed by external voices or others. I believe there is enough spaces references to be used by “the” system of knowledge – that is a political construction of a sculptures, expanded choreographies, She uses choreography to create Art & Science 2025 to maneuver a thinking that remains free from conditioning. Thinking is something movement and suspension, circulation in movement as much as language needs to be understood as a practice – a “social in relation to Economy, Knowledge, Work, and Individuals. Her work praxis, a semiotic activity susceptible of subjectivation and emancipation” (Canut, p.9. else than responding to injunctions of imposed norms. Knowledges need to be kept and time, positioning and displacement problematizes the dramaturgy of trans. Cogne). (existing or created) situations. With Book I probably mentioned that the circulation of knowledge does not build on the use of soft provocation for movement in of Abstracts representations and structures, Cogne the same vocabulary by the people involved in the situation, so several systems of likes to—slowly, progressively—shake knowledge called in a communication are welcomed. I see communication as the and shift perceptions, projections, and ultimate result of acceptance of others’ ways of thinking. We understand each other perspectives. Cogne is currently a senior and it is only through the concept of conversation (that focuses on the “how”) that we Vienna with the arts-based research project The Dramaturgy of Conversation can reach a profound exchange and a state of being with. In other words, each of us when we have accepted that we do not use or belong to the same system of knowledge, researcher at the Academy of Fine Arts (Elise Richter PEEK project V709, AT), accepts to read what the other one is sharing without fixing the projection/understanding an associate professor in Text-based- we may have on what the other one has articulated. Communication is not fixed and arts at the Bergen Academy of Art and relying on words. Design (NO). and an artist represented by Galerie Michaela Stock (Vienna, AT). 163 Session 15B: Parapatry TABOO ‒ Coral Dialogues: An Enactive Biosemiotic Approach to TRANSGRESSION ‒ Interspecies Communication Annan Zuo University of Oxford communication, providing potential to bridge the gap between humans and nonhuman researcher and architectural designer. He holds an MPhil in Architecture and animals. However, questions raised by philosopher Thomas Nagel persist: can we truly Advancements in AI-assisted language models have spurred efforts to decode animal Annan Zuo is a more-than-human TRANSCENDENCE in Urban Design from the University of understand another species without sharing their biological and sensory structures? Cambridge and currently works at Foster our own. The nature of beings who perceive their environment in ways inaccessible to he will begin a PhD in Geography and the Environment at the University of humans remains beyond human comprehension. Human senses, constrained by our bodies, limit our understanding of lifeworlds beyond + Partners in London. In October 2025, Oxford. His research focuses on post- Art & Science 2025 This project seeks to address this “anthropocentric bias” created by cognitive and phenomenology, intersubjectivity, more- applying empathy to inter-species communication. Connecting autopoietic enactivism recovery, empathy, and care. Annan’s work has been featured at international with biosemiotics, it proposes an enactive biosemiotic domain that applies empathy to sensory limitations by embracing our inherent anthropocentric perspective and than-human architecture, landscape platforms including the Venice transcend linguistic barriers, emphasizing reciprocal, affective dynamics and mutual Biennale, Edinburgh Fringe, the Media Book influence. Architecture Biennale, and exhibited in of Abstracts institutions such as the Shanghai Ming To illustrate the enactive biosemiotic domain, the installation “Echoes of Light: A Contemporary Art Museum and Austin Conversation with Corals” offers an immersive experience exploring the empathetic Unchained Gallery. He is the recipient relationship between corals and their symbiotic algae. Inspired by bleaching corals’ of the 2024 BioDesign Challenge Grand pigments driving optical feedback loops (Bollati et al., 2020), the project invites visitors Nature and Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. He into an interactive holographic installation using Large Language Models and the attempts to shield their symbiotic partners from climate crises through bright neon Prize and has published with Springer has presented at conferences across Pepper’s Ghost technique. Movement sensors capture visitors’ bodily movements, cybernetics, systems design, bio art, and the hologram, which depicts coral-like structures shifting in geometry, color, and light and ISEA 2025. He was nominated for both the RIBA Bronze and Silver Medals intensity to reflect and influence visitors’ emotions. analyzed by an algorithm to interpret emotional states. This data informs changes in architecture, including RSD12, ASC60, and is an active member of the American While anthropocentric perspectives shape our understanding of nonhuman experiences, Society for Cybernetics and the Eco- this project emphasizes that shared sensory and emotional interactions can indeed centric Future Lab. provide opportunities to facilitate meaningful connections, bridging perceptual divides and transcending human-centric modes of communication. Augustas Lapinskas Independent I am an architect and interdisciplinary artist, actively engaged in artistic research and interdisciplinary collaborations. Architectural education and extensive artistic experience allow me to collaborate with specialists from various fields, conceptualize and realize ideas that require multifaceted knowledge. I am an alumnus and/ or participant of Ars Electronica, the Architecture Fund’s Experiment Platform, the Venice Biennale, EIT Climate-KIC Hub, Tech Arts Incubator, and the “Creating Vilnius” programs; a co-founder of the interdisciplinary art collective “micro-empathy”; and a member of a speculative architecture collective “3022”. Roundtable 6: Humming to Myself This roundtable engages temporal perspectives —past, present, and future— through artistic and theoretical explorations as ways of practically shaping alternative trajectories. Honorato reflects on the past decade of the TTT initiative (2015–2025). Šebjanič presents Echoes of the Abyss, a series exploring the ecological and legal implications of discarded chemical weapons on the ocean floor, revealing their hidden impact on marine life and more-than-human ecologies. Vesna discusses SUNFlower Plasma & the Solar MAXIMUM, an immersive performance connecting solar flares to human breath, exploring how magnetic disturbances ripple through ecosystems and collective psyche. TTT2015-2025 and now what? - Dalila Honorato Echoes of the Abyss - Robertina Šebjanič SUNFlower Plasma & the Solar MAXIMUM - Victoria Vesna Event Hours: 12/09/2025 (19:15-20:00) Location: Katedrala - Kino Šiška 165 Roundtable 6: Humming to Myself TABOO ‒ TTT2015-2025 and now what? TRANSGRESSION ‒ Dalila Honorato Ionian University transformations, marked by both achievements and challenges in adapting to evolving the conference “Taboo-Transgression- Transcendence in Art & Science”. She contexts. This presentation reflects on the key milestones of the past ten years, Over the past decade, the TTT initiative (2015–2025) has navigated significant Dalila Honorato, Ph.D, is the starter of TRANSCENDENCE in is a Professor in Aesthetics and Visual highlighting the lessons learned, the strategies that succeeded, and the areas where Semiotics at the Ionian University, expectations were unmet. Greece. where she is also the Director of the Interactive Arts Lab and the Master of Research in Hybrid Arts. A collaborator at the Center of Philosophy of Sciences Art & Science 2025 - University of Lisbon, her research focus is on embodiment, monstrosity, the uncanny and the acrobatic balance between phobia and paraphilia. Book of Abstracts 166 Roundtable 6: Humming to Myself TABOO ‒ Echoes of the Abyss TRANSGRESSION ‒ Robertina Šebjanič Independent artist (SI) yet often overlooked issue of discarded chemical weapons on the ocean floor. These explores the biological, chemical, (geo) political and cultural realities of aquatic remnants of past conflicts, hidden beneath the ocean’s surface, disrupt biodiversity, Echoes of the Abyss is opus of works by Robertina Šebjanič; that address the critical Robertina Šebjanič is an artist whose work TRANSCENDENCE in environments and the impact of humanity water chemistry, and ecological balance, acting as environmental time bombs. Echoes on other organisms. Her projects call issue of discarded chemical weapons on the ocean floor. These remnants of past strategies aimed at recognising the other (non-human) entities. In her analysis conflicts, hidden beneath the ocean’s surface, disrupt biodiversity, water chemistry, of the Abyss is opus of works that are addressing the critical yet often overlooked for the development of empathetic of the Anthropocene and its theoretical Art & Science 2025 and ecological balance, acting as environmental time bombs. Building on preliminary framework, the artist uses the terms Sea and continued in the frame of Made in platform residency at the Adriatic Sea, this refer to the human impact on marine environments. She exhibited / performed project integrates an interdisciplinary approach, the research explores the interactions research conducted during artist residency aboard the TARA research vessel at Baltic “aquatocene” and “aquaforming” to at solo and group exhibitions as well as between decaying munitions and the perspectives of more-than-human entities. The in galleries and festivals worldwide. Her Book work also highlights how acts of war and human exploitation not only shape global works received awards and nominations of Abstracts at Prix Ars Electronica, Starts Prize, realities but leave lasting damage on marine ecosystems at both small and large scales. Falling Walls, Re:Humansm 2023. Beyond its scientific focus, the project examines the (in)effectiveness of (current) laws Her art work Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva in addressing these environmental challenges. generator (artist proof) is since 2019 part of the NewArt { collection;}. _ Electronic Art Collection, Spain. https://robertina. net/ 167 Roundtable 6: Humming to Myself TABOO ‒ SUNFlower Plasma & the Solar MAXIMUM TRANSGRESSION ‒ Victoria Vesna UCLA Art Sci center Tuning into the Magnetic Web: A Collective Meditation on Solar Resonance Victoria Vesna, Ph.D., is an Artist and TRANSCENDENCE in Professor at the UCLA Department SUNFlower Plasma & the Solar MAXIMUM is an immersive projection and sound of Design Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci Center at the School of the performance that invites the audience into a collective meditation on the entangled Arts (North campus) and California waves to bees, sunflowers, and human breath—the work transforms scientific data, campus). Although she was trained early on as a painter (Faculty of Fine microscopy, and field recordings into a dynamic audiovisual landscape. As the Sun forces of our time. Bridging macro and micro scales—from solar flares and Alfvén NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) (South arts, University of Belgrade, 1984), Art & Science 2025 reaches peak activity, the performance highlights how disturbances in the magnetic field her curious mind took her on an wildfires, floods, war, and emotional unrest. This experience invites audiences to reflect can be defined as experimental creative research residing between disciplines on interconnection, vulnerability, and the unseen waves that shape our shared world. ripple through Earth’s atmosphere, ecosystems, and collective psyche—manifesting as exploratory path that resulted in work and technologies. With her installations she investigates how communication Book Developed in collaboration with plasma physicist Walter Gekelman and biomedical technologies affect collective behavior of Abstracts and perceptions of identity shift in engineer/microscopist Haley Marks. relation to scientific innovation (PhD, CAiiA_STAR, University of Wales, 2000). Her work involves long-term collaborations with composers, nano- scientists, neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists and she brings this experience to students. Victoria has exhibited her work in 20+ solo exhibitions, 70+ group shows, has been published in 20+ papers and gave 100+ invited talks in the last decade. She is the North American editor of AI & Society journal (Springer Verlag, UK) and in 2007 published an edited volume - Database Aesthetics: Art in the Age of Information Overflow (Minnesota Press) and another in 2011 -- Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. (co-edited with Christiane Paul and Margot Lovejoy) Intellect Ltd, 2011. Currently she is working on a series Art Science & Technology based on her online lecture class. https://victoriavesna.com/ ArtShow opias g Ut In a time of cultural contestation and planetary crisis, artists coin utopias as speculative acts of resistance, care, and transformation. This curated program brings together experimental works that confront ideological manipulation, challenge anthropocentric hierarchies, and reimagine the contours of embodiment, ecology, and agency. From hacked biologies to altered landscapes and posthuman desires, the pieces unfold Coinin alternative currencies of meaning — where rebellion meets ritual, and futures are shaped not by domination, but by interdependence, imagination, and poetic disruption. Kino Šiška, Sept 9-13, 2025 Opening 6pm on Sept 9, 2025 Exhibition Date & Time: 09/09/2025 (18:00-22:00); 10/09/2025-12/09/2025 (9:00-21:00); 13/09/2025 (12:00–18:00) Location: Kamera, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) Curated by: Jasna Jernejšek Participating artists: Michael Valiquette: A Line in the Sand, Andrew Carnie: The River Running Through Us, Darya Warner: Amalgamated Landscapes, Angelina Almukhametova: Neon Biotope, Leena Saarinen: Decoy, Leena Saarinen: Birdsong, Leena Saarinen: Etudes for birds, Jude Abu Zaineh: Studies in Colour & Flora, Stephanie Rothenberg: AQU-ADISIA Version 2.0: Lubricating the Public Sentient Machine, Špela Petrič: Operational Bodies: The Tomato Tasted Like Automation of Care, *Adam W. Brown: [ir]reverent: miracles on demand, *Melisa Cano: SHIOPI 170 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias A Line in the Sand TRANSGRESSION ‒ Michael Valiquette simultaneously, a family of five runs as fast as they can toward an opening underneath artist, photographer, book maker, and graphic designer, based in Troy, New the train tracks. This is one of the moments I observed while working on A Line in the Below Mount Cristo Rey, where one can stand in the United States and Mexico Michael Valiquette is a multidisciplinary TRANSCENDENCE in York. Michael makes photographs that Sand, an ongoing series of photographs that integrates border politics, accessibility, integrates border politics, accessibility, Inspired by navigating a cross-border relationship with my Palestinian-Canadian complexities of human nature. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Siena partner, I critically document the larger ecosystem and polarizing nature of the United separation, secrecy, intimacy, and the complexities of human nature. separation, secrecy, intimacy, and the College and has worked as a Graphic Art & Science 2025 States’ policies and border relations with its neighbors to the north and south. Over Designer and Photographer at the are real and imagined, across Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The border Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). crisis has never been more present than it is right now and it is only going to get more the course of two years, I have been making images in places that divide, barriers that Experimental Media and Performing challenging in the next four years of the incoming United States presidency. I need Book to continue exploring the existing tensions in these border areas. I am adding to the of Abstracts traditions of contemporary photography by responding to and documenting the current geopolitical climate. It has never been more important to photograph these areas in these precarious times of division. 171 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias The River Running Through Us TRANSGRESSION ‒ Southampton University, UK Andrew Carnie ‘Groundswell’, The Regenerative Agriculture Festival at Lannock Farm, Hertfordshire. exhibiting contemporary visual artist practising in the UK. His main concerns The Groundswell Festival provides a forum for farmers, growers, or anyone interested In 2024, one of the most significant acts in my creative practice was two days spent at Andrew Carnie is an internationally TRANSCENDENCE in focus on the interface of art and in food production and the environment to learn about the theory and practical science, often working in collaboration introducing livestock into the arable rotation, to improve soil health. His approach is media agnostic, using methodologies and media as Attending the conference strengthened my focus on the relationship between land, applications of ‘regenerative farming’ systems, including no-till, cover crops and re- with scientists, though not exclusively. informed by the context, concepts, Art & Science 2025 soil, and our ecosystem. Since then, I have begun to develop work that reflects what and concerns. Drawing, painting, and Polylactic Acid, a biodegradable thermoplastic polyester derived from renewable his practice, but video, projection, and installation are his primary strengths. resources like corn starch or sugarcane. The works Pick Up and A River Runs Through I have understood and further explored, making biologically based figures using PLA, sculpting have an enduring place in He creates environments that are try to reflect how closely we are associated with the biome that lives in the soil. endlessly fascinating around subjects, Book like heart transplants, metabolism, and neurological conditions that intrigue him, of Abstracts and engage audiences in how we see ourselves through the world of science. Recent work has been shown at the Fundación Telefónica, Madrid. the CCCB, Barcelona, Brain Observatory, RSU Anatomical Museum, Riga, and Spencer Museum, Kansas. 172 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Amalgamated Landscapses TRANSGRESSION ‒ Darya Warner United States Airforce Academy scientific research that weaves into the creative process. For this project Darya has the intersection of art and science by bridging the creative process and combined various digital and alternative photo processes with sustainable art practices Inspired by nature and driven by climate change, Darya’s work always includes Darya Warner (they/she) works at TRANSCENDENCE in growth/connections with human and methodologies. non-human actors through the prism multilayered map of artists meandering through the local landscape of Colorado. site-specific history, ecology, and local systems of communication Darya aims Consciously collected natural artifacts – stones, bark, flowers, seeds, fungi, and more Amalgamated Landscapes is an ongoing series of cross-processed artworks - a of Climate Change. By addressing to mine a new form of hybrid space for Art & Science 2025 – were scanned and then returned to their place of origin. The resulting cyanotypes “intermatter” interaction with an emphasis recorded by GPS. Resembling wind movement and shadows, these “drawings” tell across species. Their research explores the Systems Theory as a crucial factor a story of artist and object in a time and place: the complex, changing ecology of are each etched with a unique pattern that delineates the associated hiking path as on the interconnectivity of intelligence in reconnecting humans and nature via Colorado. The heat and the burn of the laser amalgamated with cyanotype process interactive installations, visual displays, Book embodies the sun, the sky, and surrounding landscape into one entity. photography, sound, time-based media, of Abstracts and bioart in the new form of hybrid The series were started during Covid-19 as a response to isolation, evolving into a matter based on care. They address project celebrating and examining local ecology. Darya worked with a local woodworker issues of environmental impact among and framer to create one of a kind frames specific to the location. In the recent decades artists and connect creative processes leading to destruction of western North American pine forests. Since 2004 unusually an educator, and they are implementing sustainable art practices methodology warm winters, hot summers in combination with matured pine forests have caused a Climate Change has driven local populations of Mountain Pine Beetles to explode to earth-conscious practices. Darya is as a part of the educational curriculum. massive forest insect blight seen in North America since European arrival. The signature Darya graduated from the School of the trees.The artwork responds to these changes by being framed with Beetle KIll Pine, the University at Buffalo. They have exhibited nationally and internationally, preserving as much of the original tunnels in wood as possible. blue stain of the pine is the symbiotic fungus without which beetles cannot survive in Visual Arts (BFA) and got their MFA from including in NYC, Denver, Albuquerque, LA, Miami, India, and Germany, and shipped by the artist, and these are the copies of the photos originally used to produce projects. Darya teaches photography and art+science collaborative practices the piece. *Due to governmental fund cuts for traveling in the US, the cyanotypes could not be received multiple grants to support their at the United States Airforce Academy, Colorado. www.daryawarner.com 173 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Neon Biotope TRANSGRESSION ‒ Angelina Almukhametova Lewis & Clark College between neon light and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a model organism widely used Russia) is a US-based transdisciplinary artist whose research engages in biological research. By utilizing neon light for its affectual, sensory qualities rather Neon Biotope is a living artwork that investigates the affective and ecological reciprocation Angelina Almukhametova (b. Kazan, TRANSCENDENCE in cybernetics, techno-culture, and than semantic or semiotic ones, the work establishes a cybernetic system where the the interplay of digital and analog its lifesource. This system probes the organism’s biological response to specific light performance, installation, and sculpture to create autonomous, indeterminate spectra, and repositions neon as an active participant in a multiplicitous assemblage spectral properties of neon – tuned to the algae’s photosynthetic preferences – become systems. Almukhametova works across systems that respond to site and context. Art & Science 2025 of technology and life. Through this interdisciplinary convergence, this sculpture Almukhametova’s current research recontextualizes neon light for a biocentric future and proposes new methodologies for examines neon beyond semiotic and engaging with luminous media. figurative forms, to affirm the medium’s material agency within cultural and aesthetic assemblages and to discover its affective impact on human and non- Book human sense apparatuses. This research in effect aims to confront conventional of Abstracts modes of artistic engagement with light media. Almukhametova holds a BFA in Art & Technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited and performed work internationally, and has presented her research at SGMK Hackteria (CH), BioFeral.BeachCamp (GR), FEMeeting 2023 (US), Taboo- Transgression-Transcendence 2023 (MT), Experimental Sound Studio, and the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum (US), among others. 174 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Decoy TRANSGRESSION ‒ Leena Saarinen 2022, Installation; sound piece and whistles (wood, plastic, metal, ceramics, paper and Independent reed) Leena Saarinen (b. 1988) is a visual TRANSCENDENCE in The work Decoy is part of Leena Saarinen’s ongoing research on languages of humans artist based in Helsinki, Finland. Her practice is multidisciplinary and research and other species and their connections, as well as interspecies communication and based. She works with questions of mimicry. Saarinen has studied decoy whistles used for hunting. She has built whistles posthumanism in the age of climate that mimic the vocalizations of other animals, especially birds, from different materials change and mass extinctions. In her and learned how to play them. Making instruments and learning to play them helps work she studies culture, language and the relationship between human and her to better study and understand sound as a phenomenon. She also explores the Art & Science 2025 non-human species. Her works have connection between mimicry and empathy, as well as the dark side of empathy; reading been exhibited in galleries, museums someone’s mind with the objective to harm them. In her own work Saarinen tries to find and public spaces in Finland and the potential connection between species through empathy and mimicry. internationally. She is currently doing her master’s degree in the Academy of Fine Arts in University of the Arts Helsinki in the sculpture department. Book leenasaarinen.com Birdsong of Abstracts 2019, Audiovisual moving image piece 3min 29sec In the Birdsong piece Leena Saarinen aims to bring the languages of people and birds closer to each other by creating an alphabet for birdsong. For the piece she has studied sound visualization through spectrograms, that show how frequencies vary over time. While studying bird vocalization she found that the whistle tones in the spectrograms look visually similar to letters or alphabets. That is one of the links Saarinen tries to make to bring the human and nonhuman languages closer to each other. She tries to see their connections and similarities in order to dismantle the structures and hierarchies in the languages. Saarinen is also interested in different kinds of translations between image, sound and text and what knowledge can be gained and lost in the translation process. Etudes for birds 2020, Installation, soundscape 2 min 50 s and a publication (16 pages, 20 x 29cm) In the piece Etudes for birds Leena Saarinen studies language, mimicry and interspecies communication. She’s interested in translations and the knowledge that can be gained or lost in the translation process. She’s also interested in the relationship between the original and fabricated imitation. One of the starting points of the work is the idea of mimicry as an interspecies pidgin language. For the piece Saarinen has studied bird languages and spectrograms as visualizations of the bird sounds. First she has imitated the bird vocalizations by drawing, then translated the drawings into sounds as spectrograms and finally collected the drawn sounds into a constructed soundscape. She has gathered the drawings into a publication that works as a score for the soundscape. She has also played the drawn sounds for the birds in the Central Park of Helsinki. Through mimicry Saarinen tries to understand the point of view of the other; She tries to become someone else to feel empathy for other beings. 175 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Studies in Colour & Flora TRANSGRESSION ‒ Jude Abu Zaineh Independent developed into an experimental film and installation, “FORMations”. This process- Canadian interdisciplinary artist-curator working across art, food, science, based work reflects the natural ecology of food and flora in the settler-regions between Studies in Colour & Flora is an ongoing series of works that began in 2022 and Jude Abu Zaineh is a Palestinian- TRANSCENDENCE in and technology studies. Her work the south west Ontario and Upstate New York corridor–two areas the artist often develops counter-archive practices foods, FORMations examines the constant evolution within an ever-shifting cultural displacement, storytelling, diaspora, and belonging, through de-colonial and and geographical landscape; the petri-dish environment makes visible the invisible frequents. Sampling the earth, indigenous and collected plant species, and leftover and investigates themes of culture, feminist perspectives. She examines Art & Science 2025 by providing a medium of growth for the microbial and bacterial communities that ideals of home and community influenced gives metaphorical and visual connections to the often ignored or erased narratives Southwest Asia. https://www.judeaz.com/ and the layered complexities of hybrid existences that many newcomer (human and naturally exist within food and our overall surroundings. This enclosed environment by her childhood and upbringing in nonhuman species) experience in their respective, evolving habitats. The work gives a Book visual nod to the artist’s cultural heritage in referencing geometric forms found in South of Abstracts West Asia and North African architecture and Islamic art, while acknowledging the larger landscapes, foods, resources, and diverse ecosystems that make-up Southwest Ontario & region. 176 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias AQUADISIA Version 2.0: Lubricating the Public Sentient TRANSGRESSION ‒ Machine Stephanie Rothenberg University at Buffalo potion that would create an equal playing field between all entities, human and other- traditional media and digital formats to make visible the inequitable systems and than-human? And now imagine that this special potion is made by a new species of What if humans could cure climate change by simply drinking a special potion? A Stephanie Rothenberg works in both TRANSCENDENCE in infrastructures of techno utopias. Moving bioengineered oysters. These new and improved cyborg oysters secrete a fluid that between real and virtual spaces her sentience – an “aquadisia”! Our insatiable consumptive desires are transformed into emerging economies and their underlying sociopolitical impact. Earlier projects sensorial and energetic pleasures beyond the mere sexual, leading to new forms of when ingested turn that ecstatic feeling of aphrodisia in humans into a new state of artworks focus on themes concerning explored the rise of digital currencies and Art & Science 2025 sentient interconnections with the cycle of life. their effect on global labor. More recently aphrodisiac to reimagine a more mutually symbiotic relationship between humans and conservation initiatives and sustainability myths around new blue economies such other-than-humans. The project narrative engages a pseudo-scientific overview of Aquadisia is a speculative design project that plays on the myth of the oyster as an she has been researching the politics of as aquaculture. She is also currently the process for creating this magical fluid. Anyone can access it by simply turning on developing a collaborative artwork on Book their faucet and taking a drink. It begins with extraction and gene manipulation of the the impact of anthropogenic sound as of Abstracts an environmental detriment on marine organisms in the lab, studies on its effect on the human body, and then moves outward life. Her artworks engage a variety to the ocean where the futuristic aquaculture vessels are being harvested around the of platforms that include interactive world. These structures allow the fluid to be pumped into public water systems. installation, drawing, sculpture, video, The project explores several critical issues significant to our ecological crisis within sound and performance. the intersection of biotechnology and marine science: the use of nonhuman life for https://stephanierothenberg.com/ human survival through genetic engineering, the illusion of conservation within the “blue economy” enabled through ecosystem services, and the neoliberal desire to transcend climate change through individuated responses. Moving between reality and fantasy, Aquadisia not only questions human action but also the ethical and economic dimensions of our solutions. The project aims to generate discussion on what are the real-world possibilities and action steps for moving forward in this vulnerable real-world situation we are all in. 177 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Operational Bodies: The Tomato Tasted Like Automation of TRANSGRESSION ‒ Care Špela Petrič independent project examines the infrastructures and automation used in the production of bodies, media artist with a background in the natural sciences. Her artistic research following the interlock of technological innovation, market affordances/constraints Taking the Dutch horticultural sector as a case in point, Petrič’s artistic research Špela Petrič is a Slovenian hybrid TRANSCENDENCE in and practice combines (bio)media and and the particular futurity that arises from them. In response, a series of interventions performativity to enact strange relations agribusiness. underpinnings of our (bio)technological societies. Recently she has been busy Infrastructures are notoriously difficult to grasp as they are designed to be reliable and into the horticultural sector are performed, each geared towards a critical aspect of between bodies that question the with looking closely at automation of Art & Science 2025 unseen, taken for granted unless they break. The Operational Bodies series applies care in agriculture and medicine. Harun Farocki’s method of exposing operational images as a way to observe the digital infrastructure of an industrial greenhouse in spite of its invisibility, through authentic artifacts. Operational (or functional) images are images captured to be immediately analyzed for information, most often by machines. They can therefore be considered Book as part of our invisual culture. of Abstracts The artwork presents the operational images taken by a robot in a tomato greenhouse. Every evening, the Plantalyzer robot slowly rolls along the heating pipes between rows of tomato plants. During its 6 hour ride, it snaps images every 10 centimeters with its 6 cameras. After their capture, it uses AI to analyze the visual images for data, identifying the number of tomatoes and their color. The grower receives a report containing the current harvestable yield, classified into 12 categories of ripeness. Credits: 2024 | Concept and execution: Špela Petrič | Operational images rendering: Tim Oblak | Facilitation: EatThis. (Peter van der Sar, Rene Snijders, Ed Smits) | Plantalyzer robot data: HortiKey (Andreas Hofland) | Produced by: Zavod 2^32 | Supported by: Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology (CARADT), Creative Europe - EU Digital Deal, and the Netherlands Film Festival. 178 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias [ir]reverent: Miracles on Demand TRANSGRESSION ‒ Adam Brown Michigan State University monstrance that incubates a Eucharistic host inoculated with Serratia marcescens, a artist, scholar, and researcher. His work incorporates art, science, and naturally occurring bacterium known for its red pigmentation. By creating the appearance [ir]reverent: miracles on demand is an installation featuring a custom-designed Adam Brown is an Intermedia TRANSCENDENCE in engineering hybrids including living and of a “bleeding” wafer, this piece subverts the notion of miracles as exclusively divine biological systems, robotics, molecular prompting viewers to question the boundaries between faith, evidence, and fabrication. that take the form of installations, interactive objects, video, performance, Art & Science 2025 events. Instead, it foregrounds the act of human intervention and scientific process, chemistry, and emerging technologies and photography. Brown is a Full Professor at Michigan State University where he created a new area of study called Electronic Art & Intermedia and directs the Bridge Artist in Residency Program. Brown has exhibited widely in international venues in North and South Book America and in Europe and Asia. Brown received the Grand Prize from the Japan of Abstracts Media Arts Festival as well as an Award of Distinction and several Honorary Mentions at the Prix Ars Electronica. 179 Exhibition TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias SHIOPI TRANSGRESSION ‒ Melisa Cano Independent In a context where people move around the space, Shiopi tries to highlight the TRANSCENDENCE in Melisa Cano (Spain, 1990) is a pianist and sound listening process. Shiopi presents itself as a Sound_Installation/Sound_Object artist focused on contemporary music, free impro and Sonification of the Invisible. The name Shiopi comes from the Greek word she is an artist with classical music academic background, her artistic work aims to explore and that explores three main concepts through a listening exercise: Silence, Nature and new ways of sound expressions. Although Siopí, which means silence, and the onomatopoeia sh, used to ask for silence. experiment with sound using it as a bruit material: Silence is understood as an open space to listen. Thus, the search of silence electronic sounds created with supercollider/ effort. The sonification of the invisible is made by measuring the temperature, techniques in different instruments...etc; combining these materials with improvisation, intuition and aims to enhance the listening process. Besides, this search must be a collective PureData, soundscape recordings, extended Art & Science 2025 humidity, ambient-light and uv radiation and mapping the information to create our natural environment. As a performer, she different sounds in real time. These sounds are only audible when there is likes to explore different sound effects produced The sounds generated through sonification are mixed with field recordings harmonics, scraping or muting strings. She is co- Book lead of n0n0is, a free-impro group where she plays silence in the exhibition space. inside the piano sound box and the strings such of natural environments of the North of Spain. These nature sound filed the piano, oramics_live, programmed sensors, lyre of Abstracts recordings are always present, despite the level of silence. However, only when and tambourine. This year, n0n0is has realeased sonification appear, creating the illusion of a magical natural environment. ONICяA is her artistic name for sound art works: Onirical-Nuances + Irreverent-Creations the exhibition space is focused on listening, the sounds generated through their first album: https://nonois.bandcamp.com. On the contrary, when there is a considerable level of noise in the installation + Realistic Attitude https://onicramelisacano. space we can’t hear these sounds and a disruptive noise appears. This noise is bandcamp.com created measuring the fundamental frequency of the space in real time. Currently, her main projects are Oramics_back_ to_life (ORAMICS_live) and SHIOPI. Oramics_live is a live version of Oramics, the graphic sound synthesizer by Daphne Oram, for iPad/tabled that she has programmed with PureData and Mobmuplat (https://youtu.be/j6EJRS2f97U). It was a final project for her studies in electroacoustic composition, and she uses as an instrument for free improvisation. SHIOPI is a sound installation/ sound object that explores three main concepts: silence-nature-listening. It was programmed with supercollider and puredata, using different sensors for temperature, humidity and uv. She is also currently working in soundscape works processed in supercollider, for her first solo album, using field recordings of different places in Europe (Spain, Bosnia Herzagovina, Croatia, Greece, etc). Oramics_Live was presented in the last edition of Piksel Festival (Norway). The free impro group n0n0is has given different concerts and participated in a variety of projects with other artists (visual artists and dance), improvising the music for silent movie “Der müde Tod”, or designing the sound for a theatre play. As a contemporary pianist, she has participated in several festivals, like Festival Expresiones Contemporáneas (Mexico, 2022, 2019), Fluxes (Madrid, 2022) or SIM (2022, 2019). In addition, she has also played as a classical accompanying pianist in Palacio de Festivales (Santander, 2025) or Ateneo (Santander, 2025). Melisa Cano holds a BA in Piano Performance (Consmupa, Spain), a BA in Piano Pedagogy (Metropolia-University, Helsinki, Finland), a MA in Contemporary Music (Royal Conservatory, Madrid, Spain) and a MA in Electroacoustic Composition (Katarina Gurska Music Institute, Madrid, Spain). She works as a piano teacher and piano accompaning pianist at the Professional Conservatory of Music Jesús de Monasterio and Torrelavega (Cantabria, Spain). Screening Date & Time: 09/09/2025, 18:00–22:00 Location: Katedrala, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) Curated by: Maria Chalkou Participating artists: Stanza: Entangled Cities, João Pedro Oliveira: Things I Have Seen in My Dreams, Laura Cinti: AI in the Sky, Beverley Hood: MOTHER, Müge Yildiz: Non/Living, Senem Pirler & Monica Duncan: Tears for Lost Frequencies, Yukang Tao: Annihilation, Ian Haig: Worm Pornography 181 PART I (43’ 10’’) TABOO ‒ Screening Coining Utopias Things I Have Seen in My Dreams TRANSGRESSION ‒ João Pedro Oliveira University of California, Santa Barbara 9’ 28’’ Composer João Pedro Oliveira holds the TRANSCENDENCE in Corwin Endowed Chair in Composition A poetic animation that reflects on the beauty and emotion found in dreams, drawing for the University of California at Santa Barbara. He studied organ performance, from the filmmaker’s own memories. Through a collage of vivid images and sounds, it composition, and architecture in Lisbon. captures the fleeting, mysterious nature of the dream world. He completed a Ph.D. in Music at the University of New York at Stony Brook. His music includes opera, orchestral compositions, chamber Art & Science 2025 music, electroacoustic music, and experimental video. He has received over 70 international prizes and awards for his works, including the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023, the Bourges Magisterium Prize, and the Book Giga-Hertz Special Award, among others. His music is played all over the of Abstracts world. He taught at Aveiro University (Portugal) and Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil). His publications include several articles in journals and a book on 20th century music theory. www.jpoliveira.com 182 Screening TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Entangled Cities TRANSGRESSION ‒ Stanza Independent 3’ 9’’ Dr Stanza is an independent artist based TRANSCENDENCE in in London who has been exhibiting An experimental film about how data and AI shape the way we live in and see cities. worldwide since 1982. His work lives at the intersection of art and potential futures Through art and non-human perspectives, it imagines a future where technology of disruptive and opportunistic nature, creates new divisions and changes how we experience the world. delving into scenarios of observation, invisible agency, and the changing human environment. The artworks demonstrate how humans are complicit Art & Science 2025 and thus entangled in the surveyed and monitored technological layers they communicate. They fit seamlessly into what he calls ‘panoptic aesthetics’. The technologies incorporated in his digital artworks can include, custom-made Book sensors, networked cameras, robotics, and computers. What becomes real are of Abstracts the art installations, sculptures, websites, software systems, and paintings Stanza exhibits. Stanza’s artworks have won twenty international art prizes and art awards including:- Vidalife 6.0 First Prize Spain. SeNef Grand Prix Korea. Videobrasil First Prize Brazil. Cynet Art First Prize Germany. Share First Prize Winner Italy. Video Formes France. https://www.stanza.co.uk/ 183 Screening TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias AI in the Sky TRANSGRESSION ‒ Laura Cinti C-LAB 9’ 29’’ Laura Cinti is a research-based artist TRANSCENDENCE in whose practice intersects science, A film about the search for the rare E. woodii plant in South Africa’s oNgoye Forest technology and visual storytelling through experimentation and field using drones and AI technology. Combining aerial images and data, it shows how the research. More recently, her focus has extinct in the wild. and technological approaches to rethink our relationship with endangered Art & Science 2025 forest is scanned and analysed from above in the quest to rediscover a species thought shifted to biodiversity loss, using creative species. Her works have been exhibited and presented internationally. Book of Abstracts 184 Screening TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias MOTHER TRANSGRESSION ‒ Edinburgh College of Art, Beverley Hood University of Edinburgh 10’ 26’’ Beverley Hood is an artist and researcher TRANSCENDENCE in based in Edinburgh. Since the mid- An experimental photofilm that explores motherhood using AI-generated images. 1990s, she has been delving into the impact of technology and science on Based on her own experience, Beverley Hood uses poetic text to push beyond typical the body, relationships, and human AI visuals and create more emotional and complex representations of being a mother. experience, through the creation of digital media, performance art projects, and writing. Her work is interdisciplinary and research-led, undertaken in collaboration Art & Science 2025 with a range of practitioners, including medical researchers, scientists, writers, technologists, dancers, actors, and composers. Book of Abstracts 185 Screening TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Non/Living TRANSGRESSION ‒ Müge Yildiz Aalto University 10’ 38’’ Müge Yıldız is an artist-filmmaker and TRANSCENDENCE in researcher at Aalto University. She A silent Super 8mm experimental film that explores the connection between living yeast has a BA in Cinema from Galatasaray University, further expanded her cinema and a ghost archaeologist through cameraless, process-based techniques. Blending education as an Erasmus exchange human and nonhuman – to create a unique, open-ended experience. and completed her MA in Visual Cultures, Curating, and Contemporary Art at Aalto Art & Science 2025 art and science, it invites spontaneous sound interventions during screenings – both student at Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, University on a Finland Scholarship. Her work blends experimental filmmaking with hybrid techniques while emphasizing sustainable practices. Her work has been showcased at major international film festivals, including the BFI London Film Festival and Images Festival in Toronto. Book She also participated in the Oberhausen Film Seminar and Istanbul Biennial of Abstracts Production and Research Program. 186 PART II (67’ 29’’) TABOO ‒ Screening Coining Utopias Tears for Lost Frequencies TRANSGRESSION ‒ Senem Pirler University of Chicago 17’ 31’’ Senem Pirler (she/her) is an artist, TRANSCENDENCE in sonic improviser, and educator. Pirler’s An experimental film that explores our entangled relationship with plastic as both interdisciplinary work crosses over into sound engineering, sound art, a naturalized and invasive presence in our lives. Using microscope imagery of composition, performance, video art, microplastics found in human tears, it reflects on grief, loss, and the idea of plastic as movement, and installation. an unexpected part of healing. https://www.senempirler.com/ Monica Duncan Art & Science 2025 Lehman College - CUNY Monica Duncan (she/her) is a video and performance artist. Her time-based work investigates sensory perceptions, queer Book potentiality, and interconnectedness with of Abstracts our more-than human world.. Duncan’s video and performance work has been exhibited Hebbel am Ufer HAU1, Frankfurt Lab, zeitraumexit, Komuna// Warszawa, The Kitchen, Roulette, Atlanta Contemporary, Hallwalls, La Casa Encendida, ZKM, LACMA, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, amongst others. She has been a visiting artist at the Atlanta College of Art, Georgia State University, Hunter College, New School, Pratt Institute, Signal Culture, Experimental Television Center, Scena Robocza, Institute for Electronic Arts, PACT Zollverein, LMCC Governors Island and Stoveworks. Duncan received her BFA from the NYSCC School of Art and Design at Alfred University, MFA in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego, and while on a D.A.A.D fellowship her MA in Choreography and Performance at the Institute for Applied Theater Studies, Justus Liebig University Gießen, Germany. Duncan joined the faculty of the Department of Music, Multimedia, Theatre & Dance at Lehman College- CUNY in Fall 2019. For more information visit: www.monicaduncan.net 187 Screening TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Annihilation TRANSGRESSION ‒ Yukang Tao Syracuse University 15’ 44’’ Yukang Tao (b. 2000) is an TRANSCENDENCE in interdisciplinary artist working across A film that examines the allure of meat and how the aesthetic and ethical framing of electronic arts, animation, video, and performance. His internationally animal flesh hides the violence of slaughter. Using the pig as a metaphor, it explores exhibited works explore gender, we might rethink our relationship to death, consumption, and subjectivity. of technology, blurring the boundaries between the virtual and the real. Art & Science 2025 the exploitation of human and non-human bodies under capitalism and questions how power, and society through the lens Book of Abstracts 188 Screening TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Worm Pornography TRANSGRESSION ‒ Ian Haig RMIT University, Melbourne 34’ 14’’ Ian Haig works across media, from TRANSCENDENCE in video, sculpture, drawing, technology A collage-style underground film made during Melbourne’s Covid-19 lockdown, based media, mutant AI and installation. Haig’s practice refuses to accept that following a hazmat-suited narrator who discovers a strange parasite spreading through the low and the base level are devoid mutated pop culture in a world overwhelmed by information and infection. body obsessed themes can be seen throughout a large body of work over Art & Science 2025 media. As he unravels, his story dives into bizarre themes like AI, virtual worms, and of value and cultural meaning. His the last thirty years. Previous works have looked to the contemporary media sphere and its relationship to the visceral body, the degenerative aspects of pervasive new technologies, to cultural forms of fanaticism and cults, to ideas of attraction and repulsion, body horror, Book transhumanism gone bad, and the defamiliarisation and confrontation of of Abstracts the human body. His work has been exhibited in galleries and video/media festivals around the world. Including exhibitions at: The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne; The Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide; The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne; Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Artec Biennale – Nagoya, Japan; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; China Millennium Monument Art Museum, Beijing; Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot, Germany; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; The Museum of the Moving Image, New York; The Havana Biennial, Cuba. In addition his video work has screened in over 200 festivals internationally including The Ann Arbor film festival, US; VideoBrasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Melbourne International film festival and Rencontres Internationales, Paris/ Berlin. In 2003 he received a fellowship from the New Media Arts Board of the Australia Council and in 2013 and 2017 he curated the video art shows Unco and Very Unco at The Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles. Performances Curated by: Dalila Honorato, Jasna Jernejšek, Peter Purg, Uroš Veber Producer: Lara Mejač, Uroš Veber 190 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias AQUADISIA Version 2.0: Lubricating the Public Sentient TRANSGRESSION ‒ Machine Stephanie Rothenberg University at Buffalo desire into new forms of sentient interconnection. Blending myth, biotechnology, and traditional media and digital formats to make visible the inequitable systems and marine science, the project speculates on symbiotic futures while questioning the ethics Aquadisia imagines bioengineered oysters that secrete a potion transforming human Stephanie Rothenberg works in both TRANSCENDENCE in infrastructures of techno utopias. Moving of using nonhuman life to address ecological crisis. between real and virtual spaces her artworks focus on themes concerning emerging economies and their underlying sociopolitical impact. Earlier projects explored the rise of digital currencies and Art & Science 2025 their effect on global labor. More recently she has been researching the politics of conservation initiatives and sustainability myths around new blue economies such as aquaculture. She is also currently developing a collaborative artwork on Book the impact of anthropogenic sound as an environmental detriment on marine of Abstracts life. Her artworks engage a variety of platforms that include interactive installation, drawing, sculpture, video, sound and performance. https://stephanierothenberg.com/ Date & Time: 09/09/2025, 18:30-19:30 Location: Upper Foyer, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 191 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Blots diffusion: what do you see? TRANSGRESSION ‒ edna trans body based on audience prompts, opening questions about agency, exclusion, and scientist, blending sound art, experimental music, and digital and self-representation. It explores how the projection of social taboos and fears An interactive DJ performance uses an uncensored AI model to reshape an artistic edna is multidisciplinary artist TRANSCENDENCE in performance. Her background in reinforces control over marginalised bodies, and how biased generative AI entrenches material chemistry and heritage normativity and exclusion. sciences and her work on the origin of colours in the first colour photographic process resulted in her PhD graduation from the Ecole Normale Superieure Art & Science 2025 (Paris) in 2018. In the framework of the SACRe doctoral program (Science, Arts, Création, Recherches) she initiated Arts/ Sciences collaboration on photographic processes, and image formation. As an artist and trans woman, her work Book intersects vulnerability, body politics, and more recently AI. She uses DJing and of Abstracts live performances to challenge normative ideas about identity, technology, and censorship. Her recent performances in SOMA gallery in Marseille, Maloka Interactive Museum in Bogotá and Casa Bagre in Lima explored topics such as depersonalization, self-representation, and healing through collaborative, immersive sonic and visual experiences. Her scientific background uniquely informs her artistic practices and enables her to approach projects with a blend of analytical depth and creative experimentation. Date & Time: 09/09/2025, 20:00-21:00 Location: Komuna, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 192 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Feral Navel TRANSGRESSION ‒ Dann Disciglio Lewis & Clark College piloted state of glossolalia - the phenomenon of speaking in tongues - with a neural transdisciplinary artist who explores notions of naturalism, intelligence, & network. Feral Navel is an audiovisual performance in which Dann Disciglio will enter into a co- Dann Disciglio (b. 1993) is a TRANSCENDENCE in vitality in biological and abiological systems. Disciglio works with technology, broadly, as both a tool and a material, appropriating and amalgamating discrete components to develop unique technological systems that function as Art & Science 2025 interfaces and prostheses which make his audience attentive to perspectives, vital signals, and temporalities which are normally humanly inaccessible. Disciglio is currently a Visiting Professor of Art & Technology at Lewis & Clark College, Book where he also serves as the co-direct and curator of the Experimental Art of Abstracts Research (EAR) Forest. https://danndisciglio.com/ Date & Time: 09/09/2025, 21:00-21:15 Location: Upper Foyer, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 193 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias trans.fail perspectives: community, body, and agency TRANSGRESSION ‒ (chapter /combodagen) Luka Prinčič Emanat / Kamizdat / University of Malta real-time audiovisual elements with text into a wild, chaotic network of data, images, designer, and media artist. They have been writing music, creating sound art, and sound. It draws data and transfiguration from various sources, including media A hybrid live-coding audiovisual performance weaves together pre-recorded and Luka Prinčič is a musician, sound TRANSCENDENCE in performing, and manipulating new media oversaturation, homemade software, sonic experiments, visual algorithms, hacks, in various ways since the mid-’90s. They fluidity, imperialism, media theory, praxis, and artistic critiques of digital capitalism. funk beats, immersive soundscapes, incidental music for live arts and video, Art & Science 2025 glitches, and thematic frameworks such as Slavic-Romani mythofuturisms, gender specialize in computer music, elaborated and digital media experiments. https://prin.lu/ Book of Abstracts Date & Time: 09/09/2025, 21:30-22:30 Location: Komuna, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 194 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Cassiopeia’s Secret - The Future of Intimacy in Space TRANSGRESSION ‒ Rudolf Arnold SEADS Collective gender identity. Despite a male biology, the performer aspires to become Cassiopeia, physics graduate from the University of Ulm, has been a media educator a multi-gender space girl who transforms her sexual arousal into art and music through The lecture-performance explores the intersection of science fiction, space travel, and Rudolf Arnold, a mathematics and TRANSCENDENCE in since 1980, co-founding Radio Free medical sensors and computer processing. The tactile stimulators of the pleasure FM in 1995. A cosplayer since 2006, physiology, environmental sensors, and cosmic phenomena. Be Here” and joined the smart fashion community in 2013. Since 2014, he has Art & Science 2025 spacesuit respond both to the performed music and to data drawn from human he has embodied Hatsune Miku in “Still been an experimental musician and won Berlin’s Fashion Hack Day awards. In 2018, he collaborated with Dr. Nicole Prause to develop a novel sensor for the sonification of sexual arousal, showcased globally. His “Pleasure Space Suit” concept debuted at the Book “7th International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots.” Presenting as of Abstracts “Cassiopeia, the Science Space Girl,” Rudolf’s art merges technology, gender identity, and space exploration, with works like “Cosmic Caresse” featured internationally. Recent performances include “Cassiopeia’s Secret” at NIME 2024, exploring themes of space sexology, music, astrophysics, and gender identity. Date & Time: 10/09/2025, 12:30-12:45 Location: Katedrala, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 195 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias A.v.p. Alba viridi pythonissan - the Cyborg Woman-Plant- TRANSGRESSION ‒ Machine Experiment Carolina Sudati Translúcida Bruta, BR The performance combines dance, hybrid prosthetics, and live sound interventions Carolina Sudati a.k.a. Translúcida Bruta TRANSCENDENCE in is a Brazilian dance and performance to explore mutations between body, plant, and machine. Conceived as a biopoetic artist who investigates the relationship lecture, it invites the audience to experience a shift between species in a multisensory between body and wearable devices, interested in converting psycho- environment. emotional limitations into expansions of movement. She increasingly dedicates herself to the study of dark ecologies that emerge from vegetal hacking Art & Science 2025 processes and material manifestations linked to mining, neo-extractivism, and post-industrialism, as well as to artistic investigation through specific parameters that include trance practices and consciousness expansion. She shares Book her processes through laboratories that stem from the subtle field of collectives of Abstracts and communities, converted into raw wearable manufacturing, generating dances and performative actions. Since the end of 2019, she has intensified creation in direct relationship with territory and local communities, establishing a transit between the rural zone and the urban space of the megalopolis São Paulo. Leo Ceolin Translúcida Bruta, BR Leo Ceolin graduated in design from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of Buenos Aires. In 2015, he founded Galpão Base, a space for creating, producing, and executing projects at the convergence of design, scenography, and visual arts. As a visual artist, he investigates various traces such as metals, waste, and residues, developing a kind of archaeology. Interested in the relationships between matter and memory, he increasingly focuses on the impact of consumer culture’s excesses on the Earth. Date & Time: 10/09/2025, 13:00-13:40 Location: Upper Foyer, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 196 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Stamping Genes: Mobile Lab TRANSGRESSION ‒ Kristin Lucas University of Texas at Austin biohacking experiment invites the audience to explore species hybridisation as connectivity as both an interpersonal process and a condition of the digital a creative response to the environmental challenges faced by local ecosystems. The DIWO (Do-It-With-Others) collaborative mobile laboratory and speculative Kristin Lucas is an artist exploring TRANSCENDENCE in age, shaped by technological and Participants wear agar patches infused with microbiota representing the hybridisation ecological forces alike. Through of consent, agency, resistance, and co-evolution. spanning biohacking, solar-powered web projects, and AR installations, Art & Science 2025 of two local species, and through the experience of microbial merging reflect on notions speculative, often collaborative works, she embraces complexity, challenging dominant narratives that shape how we see ourselves, relate to one another, and the more-than-human agents with whom we co-create realities. Lucas’s work has been featured in Art in America, Engadget, and Hyperallergic, with Book commissions from institutions including Dia Center for the Arts, FACT Liverpool, of Abstracts Rhizome.org, and the Whitney Museum. She is represented by And/Or Gallery in Pasadena and Electronic Arts Intermix in New York. Lucas studied at The Cooper Union and Stanford University, and currently teaches in the art department at the University of Texas at Austin. Nathalie Dubois Calero Ionian University Nathalie Dubois Calero is a BacterVirHuman, scientist (Ph.D. in biology, UPMC, France) and bioartist (BA, University Concordia, Montreal, MFA, University of Windsor, Canada, MAres student, Ionian University, Corfu). BacterHuman is a series of feminist/ queer works that explore human-microbe relationships inside the human holobiont through workshops, performances, ontological workshop games, and videos/sounds (aka Bacterhuman in Bandcamp) using fabric and tattoos made with pH indicator culture media, where color changes testify conflicts, overlapping multiplication or equilibrium between human skin (and its excretions), and microbiota- creating images and sounds interacting with her performative quest of human identity. She collaborates on MaterVirus, an ontological workshop game about human viral identity with Cecilia Vilca, Waterbodies with Ada Gogova, and Stamping Genes with Kristin Lucas. Her website is at nathalieduboiscalero.com Date & Time: 10/09/2025, 17:00-17:15 Location: Upper Foyer, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 197 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias The Intimacy of Otherness TRANSGRESSION ‒ Jatun Risba Independent healing journey during recovery from multiple sclerosis. The transformative process artist from Slovenia whose work engages with ecofeminist and unfolded through guerrilla art interventions, dances of urgency, and diverse techniques A transmedia and multisensory lecture-performance about the artist’s radical self- Jatun Risba (they) is a transmedia TRANSCENDENCE in posthumanist discourses through of bliss, such as clubbing, (self-)hypnosis, and erotic expression. performance art, ecoart, relational practices, and acts of détournement, abjection, and intervention. Bridging ritual and disobedience, their practice cultivates reciprocity between species Art & Science 2025 by awakening sensory awareness through the application of Vajrayana Buddhist principles and subversive uses of technology. At its core, their work reimagines Art as a site for healing, transformation, and expanded modes of Book being. Their research unfolds along two primary trajectories: Arts for Health and of Abstracts Art as Nourishment for the Bodymind. Jatun’s work has been presented internationally at Galerija O.K. (Rijeka), Crow’s Nest (Baltimore), Studio Alta (Prague), Opens (Singapore), the Prague Biennale Re-connect Art festival (2023-25), Meta.morf Trondheim Biennale (2022), Bangkok Biennial (2020), Fabbrica del Vapore (Milan), and Y Gallery, Kersnikova Institute, and Cirkulacija2 (Ljubljana). They have delivered talks and workshops at DRHA 2024 (Munich), Akademia Sztuk Pięknych (Wroclaw), the University of the Underground, Goethe University Frankfurt, Strasbourg University, and the Moving Image Research Lab (Montreal). They are the founder and co-facilitator of Be-coming Tree, a global Live Art platform fostering ecological connection through collective performance (becomingtree. live). Risba has received the a-n Artist Bursary (2019), an ERSTE Foundation Fellowship (2020), and the Social Art Award (2021). Their writings and interviews have appeared in Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, Body, Space & Technology (BST), ecoartspace.org, and other publications. Jatun holds a BA (Hons) from NABA (Milan) and a PG Cert in Art & Science from UAL, London. More at: jatunrisba. com. Date & Time: 10/09/2025, 20:00-20:45 Location: Komuna, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 198 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias The Inconsumable Power of Showing Hole TRANSGRESSION ‒ Max Lester Independent and the secrecy of power. Through speech acts, movement, animation, silence, and scholar, retired punk, and actor-for-hire. Max was born in Tkaronto and currently sound, the artist circles around an invisible void, tracing connections between Dutch The lecture-performance explores the intertwined paradoxes of the power of secrecy Max Lester is an artist, writer, rogue TRANSCENDENCE in lives in Rotterdam. He spends much of water infrastructure, the rise of modern cities, the transition from feudalism to capitalism, his time walking, often in circles, through and the theological foundations of imperial power. the cities he dwells in. This is where he conducts his observational and very subjective research and collects material for sculptures and images. Max is curious Art & Science 2025 about the mysteries of power and the power of mystery. He believes that if he looks closely at the surfaces of things and tends to the waste and commodities of the world, he might come to understand how ideologies of this racist- Book colonial-capitalist system we live in, are encoded, sublimated, and maintained. of Abstracts Max received an MFA at the Piet Zwart institute and a BFA in Integrated Media at OCAD University He has held solo exhibitions at InterAccess and Bunker 2 and has also exhibited at TENT, A Tale of Tub, United Contemporary, and Eastern Bloc. Date & Time: 11/09/2025, 13:00-13:30 Location: Upper Foyer, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 199 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias La Inteligencia Artifecal TRANSGRESSION ‒ Praba Pilar California College of the Arts hyperreality and our taboo, transgressive, and transcendent preconceptions of AI. Colombian artist creating interdisciplinary projects that disrupt the Through a biohazardous body, she critiques the erotic fetishisation of a resurrected In this performance, a defiant cyborg explores “artifecal” intelligence, which drives Praba Pilar is a queer diasporic TRANSCENDENCE in cult of the techno-logic. She is working death drive and the claims of AI’s demonic destructive power, questioning whether our internationally on subversive, playful, their vision of death. systems to nixtamalize the technology sector, creating algorithms, code, Art & Science 2025 fear of AI means renouncing ourselves or merely serving necropolitical billionaires and and simultaneously serious ways with AI images, and songs that challenge data extraction techno-colonialism and offer algorithms of liberation. Her artworks have been presented in museums, galleries, universities, festivals and streets around the world – including the Museum of World Culture Book in Gothenberg, Sweden; MUAC in Mexico City; La Facultad de Bellas of Abstracts Artes, Altea, Spain; Vancouver’s LIVE BIENNALE; Toronto’s McLuhan Center for Culture & Technology; SIGGRAPH in South Korea; the Zero One Festival at ISEA; OCAD in Toronto; Galeria Studio Cerrillo in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico; MOCA in Los Angeles; San Francisco’s MOMA; BAN 5 at Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena; Grace Performance Space in New York City; the Oakland Museum of California; and many more, with works on exhibit in perpetuity at the Kitchen in NYC and in ACM SIGGRAPH’s Future Past VS. Coloniality: Decolonial Media Art Beyond 530 Year. She is a 2025-27 HUMAN (Humanities Understanding of the Machine Assisted Nexus) Fellow at Lake Forest College/ Ragdale, Co-Director of the Bioarts Ethical Advisory Komission, and an Emeritus Board Member of Women Eco Artists Dialogue. Pilar has a PhD in Performance Studies from the University of California, Davis, and you can learn more about her work at prabapilar.com. Date & Time: 11/09/2025, 20:00-20:20 Location: Upper Foyer, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 200 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias ReVerie TRANSGRESSION ‒ Pinyao Liu Independent generative diffusion model to translate whispered dream memories into real-time and researcher based in Vancouver, Canada and Linz, Austria. His practice visualisations of dream objects. In doing so, it allows participants to explore a shared The AI performance explores the scientific concept of dream re-living, using a 3D Pinyao Liu is an interdisciplinary artist TRANSCENDENCE in explores 3D generative AI and “dreamscape”, turning dreams into a public, collective experience. immersive technology for altered states of consciousness and transformative experiences. His interactive AI artwork has been exhibited at Ars Electronica Festival (AT), the 13th Shanghai Art & Science 2025 Biennale (CN), Vancouver International Film Festival VR Gallery (CA), IEEE VR Art Gallery (FR), MUTEK (CA), SIGGRAPH Immersive Pavilion (US) and CVPR AI Art Gallery. His research has been published and presented in the Book Leonardo Journal by MIT Press, ACM CHI and NeurIPS. of Abstracts Date & Time: 11/09/2025, 20:30-20:50 Location: Komuna, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 201 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Consume Our Consumption: Culinary Adventures in the TRANSGRESSION ‒ Pacific Garbage Patch Anya Koehne The University of Texas at Austin The performance envisions a deliciously dystopian future where plastic waste Anya Koehne is a junior at The University TRANSCENDENCE in of Texas at Austin, known for her work in is recycled not only through bins but also through stomachs. Plascetamol™ is a biochemistry and her innovative project that speculative probiotic made from the excrement of a superworm; through the isolation, involves creating a probiotic pill designed to help digest plastic waste. She recently won identification, and amplification of bacteria that break down plastic waste, it enables a grand prize award for her project, which promotes sustainability and creativity. digestible miracles, helping the human digestive tract process plastic. The number of participants for this event is limited, available upon registration. Annan Zuo Art & Science 2025 University of Oxford Registration Annan Zuo is a more-than-human researcher and architectural designer. He holds an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of Cambridge and currently works at Foster + Partners in London. In October Book 2025, he will begin a PhD in Geography Oxford. His research focuses on post- of Abstracts and the Environment at the University of phenomenology, intersubjectivity, more-than- human architecture, landscape recovery, empathy, and care. Annan’s work has been featured at international platforms including the Venice Biennale, Edinburgh Fringe, the Media Architecture Biennale, and exhibited in institutions such as the Shanghai Ming Contemporary Art Museum and Austin Unchained Gallery. He is the recipient of the 2024 BioDesign Challenge Grand Prize and has published with Springer Nature and Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. He has presented at conferences across cybernetics, systems design, bio art, and architecture, including RSD12, ASC60, and ISEA 2025. He was nominated for both the RIBA Bronze and Silver Medals and is an active member of the American Society for Cybernetics and the Eco- centric Future Lab. The University of Texas at Austin Jiabao Li Jiabao Li is an artist, assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin, founding director of Ecocentric Future Lab, and visiting professor at Stanford. She creates works addressing climate change, multispecies futures, humane technology, and perceptions. Her mediums include wearable, robot, AR/VR, performance, scientific experiment, installation. In Jiabao’s TED Talk, she uncovered how technology mediates the way we perceive reality. Her recent solo exhibitions include “Chill Out: The Arctic Couldn’t”, “Progenitorial Hysteresis”, “Perception Omnifold”, and “Ecological Soup: Interspecies Encounters”. Jiabao is the recipient of numerous awards including Forbes China 30 Under 30, STARTS Prize, Falling Walls, Fast Company, and the Outstanding Instructor Award from Bio Design Challenge. Her work has been exhibited internationally, at MoMA, Venice Architecture Biennale, Ars Electronica, Exploratorium, Today Art Museum Biennial, SIGGRAPH, Milan and Dubai Design Week, ISEA, etc. Her academic papers have been published in top conferences and journals including SIGGRAPH, CHI, IEEE VIS. Her work has been featured on Fast Company, Art Forum, Business Insider, Bloomberg, South China Morning Post, Domus, Yanko Design, Harvard Political Review, Leonardo. She is a member of Onassis Foundation and Date & Time: 12/09/2025, 13:00-13:30 a Fellow at Ars Electronica Founding lab. She graduated from Harvard GSD with Distinction Location: Upper Foyer, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) and thesis award. 202 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias on/scenity TRANSGRESSION ‒ Cristina Dezi ALMA de Bruixes Alma de Bruixes is a nomadic collective of biohackers witches who see little A provocative ritual intertwining sex, technology, magic, and biology, delving into the difference between a speculum and a TRANSCENDENCE in sex toy. They weave together like a spell, depths of occult pleasures and synthetic desires. Together with the audience, cybernetic biomaterials, DIY biology, gynaecology witches cast erotic spells linked to sensors and digital bodies, challenging established and lubricants for the pleasure of self- norms. Inspired by queer, feminist, and posthumanist mythologies, the performance exploration. Born from the union of ALMA transforms eroticism into a political act of liberation and a ritual of technological Futura, which studies and develops tools for radical change in vaginal and gender hybridisation. health, and Bruixes-Lab, a nomadic laboratory of biohacking, sextech and Art & Science 2025 witchcraft rituals. Founded by Cristina Dezi, Isabel Farina and Giulia Tomasello. The collective is investigating the rebellious act of re-imagining science, alchemy and gynecology as alternative forms of care, knowledge and pleasure. How can we re-frame pleasure through Book spells and rituals and free our eroticism from the violence of racist and misogynist of Abstracts medical claims? The starting point is the violence from which gynaecology was born but the ending one is pleasure as anti-colonial, anti-patriarchal and anti-capitalist. The collective has been collaborating so far with Arse Elektronika, Mu Hybrid Art House, Witches are Back, Bellakeo and Abbramà Festival. Giulia Tomasello ALMA de Bruixes Giulia Tomasello is an interaction designer committed to female’s intimate care and its innovation, combining biohacking and interactive wearables. Founder of ALMA [al-ma.org] where design, science and anthropology are combined to co-create tools for a radical cultural change in female’s bodies.With Future Flora in 2018 she wins the STARTS Prize, assigned to projects representing “innovative alliances between technology and artistic practices”. Her multidisciplinary work has also received other awards at european and international level such as the World Omosiroi Japanese Award in 2020. Giulia offers new deeper knowledge of female’s wellbeing, developing innovative tools in the intersection between medical and social sciences. Coded Bodies is her teaching platform designed to learn the basics of soft wearables and the exploration of biological textiles. Date & Time: 12/09/2025, 13:30-13:50 Location: Katedrala, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) 203 Performances TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias SUNFlower Plasma & the Solar MAXIMUM TRANSGRESSION ‒ Victoria Vesna UCLA Art Sci center interconnection, vulnerability, and the invisible waves that shape our world. It highlights Professor at the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts and Director of the impact of solar activity on Earth, ecosystems, and the collective psyche. Solar The immersive audiovisual performance invites the audience to meditate on Victoria Vesna, Ph.D., is an Artist and TRANSCENDENCE in the Art|Sci Center at the School of the flares, bees, sunflowers, and breathing are interwoven, which is why disruptions in the Arts (North campus) and California magnetic field affect everything, manifesting as fires, floods, wars, and unrest. NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) (South campus). Although she was trained early on as a painter (Faculty of Fine arts, University of Belgrade, 1984), Art & Science 2025 her curious mind took her on an exploratory path that resulted in work can be defined as experimental creative research residing between disciplines and technologies. With her installations she investigates how communication Book technologies affect collective behavior and perceptions of identity shift in of Abstracts relation to scientific innovation (PhD, CAiiA_STAR, University of Wales, 2000). Her work involves long-term collaborations with composers, nano- scientists, neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists and she brings this experience to students. Victoria has exhibited her work in 20+ solo exhibitions, 70+ group shows, has been published in 20+ papers and gave 100+ invited talks in the last decade. She is the North American editor of AI & Society journal (Springer Verlag, UK) and in 2007 published an edited volume - Database Aesthetics: Art in the Age of Information Overflow (Minnesota Press) and another in 2011 -- Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. (co-edited with Christiane Paul and Margot Lovejoy) Intellect Ltd, 2011. Currently she is working on a series Art Science & Technology based on her online lecture class. https://victoriavesna.com/ Date & Time: 12/09/2025, 19:30-20:20 Location: Katedrala, Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) Reels Date & Time: 09/09/2025 (18:00-22:00); 10/09/2025-12/09/2025 (09:00-21:00); 13/09/2025 (12:00–18:00) Location: Upper Foyer - Kino Šiška (Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana) Reels: BioFeral Acts, curated by Adam Zaretsky, and Mestna Jaga - A Decade of Urban Hunting, curated by Marc Dusseiller & Dominik Mahnic 205 Reels TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias BioFeral Acts TRANSGRESSION ‒ Adam Zaretsky BEAK, NADLinc, psyFert Ionian University Documents from TTTlabs and TTTfellows BioFeral.BeachCamp “Do it With Others” in vitro Adam Zaretsky, Ph.D., is a former TRANSCENDENCE in and ritual intertwine around creative, hands-on, In Vitro Fertilisation (DIY-IVF+). The themes of experience. His art practice critically new reproductive technology and human germline gene editing included depth research creation explores the legal, ethical, social, and and workshops in ovum and sperm stimulation and collection, fertilisation through artificial libidinal implications of biotechnological microinjection insemination, germline gene editing, cryogenic suspended animation archive materials and methods, with a particular Art & Science 2025 2024 TTTlabs BioFeral.BeachCamp and TTTfellows residencies — spaces where body, biotech, Biology and an experimental bioartist with over a decade of teaching fertilisation camps (TTTlabs BFBC IVF DIWOfert), this reel gathers moments from the 2023 and researcher at MIT’s Department of banking, mutant embryo implantation studies and ex-vivo wombs. More information: TTTlabs focus on transgenic humans. Known and TTTfellows. for his engaging, hands-on bioart labs, Zaretsky creates dynamic spaces for The events were part of the Ionian University contribution to the Rewilding Cultures project bioart production. He has led the VivoArts experimental activities, co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union. bioart class at institutions including Participants: (SFSU), SymbioticA at the University of San Francisco State University Book (8’21’’) TTTlabs BioFeral.BeachCamp 2023, New Repro-Rebirthing Retreat - Gestalt Bioart/ Western Australia (UWA), Rensselaer of Abstracts Bodyart on the Beach (TTTlabs BFBC IVF NR-RR GB/BB) - short doc: Stefanía Ólafsdóttir, Daisy Polytechnic Institute (RPI), The Arts Fairclough, Kalan Shh!, Mary Maggic, Dann Disciglio, Chanee Choi, Sara Cowdell, Angelina and Genomic Centre (TAGC) at Leiden (21’37”) TTTlabs BioFeral.BeachCamp 2024 Spring, New Repro-Zombie Studies - Undead Bioart/ Bioart Ethical Advisory Kommission Bodyart on the Beach (TTTlabs BFBC IVF NR-ZS UB/BB) - short doc: WhiteFeather Hunter, (BEAK) and the BEAK thinktank Institute Marko Markovic, Kim Doan Quoc, Wave (Weeratouch) Pongruengkiat, Natalie Jeremijenko, for Sociobiology of Netporn (ISN) in Prathima Muniyappa, Anastasia Mandel, Shih Wei Chieh, Kelly Tarenidi, Elli Leventeri, Viktoria New York (since 2022). Since 2024, Koniaeva, Serafim Parsaloglou Marathias, Uroš Veber, Adam Zaretsky, Dalila Honorato. Zaretsky, Dalila Honorato. the Head of Research at Nadlinc (since 2016) and a Research Consultant at Almukhametova, Maria Antelman, Laura Rodriguez, Rüdiger Wassibauer, Elsa Ferreira, Adam University, and the Waag Society. He is he has been a Visiting Professor at the (34’59”) TTTlabs BioFeral.BeachCamp 2024 Fall, New Repro-FlaOctomingopus - Non-Human Department of Audio & Visual Arts at the Fernandez, Viktoria Koniaeva, Kristin Lucas, Serafim Parsaloglou Marathias, Nikolas Marcellos, project (2022-2026), part of the Feral Janet Sarson, Nafsika Tzanoulinou, Ivana Tkalčić, Adam Zaretsky, Dalila Honorato. Lab Network, co-funded by the Creative (6’12’’) Ovum Cryo- TTTfellows: Art & Science Residency 2023 - short doc: Aisen Caro Chacin, Europe Programme of the European Lindsey Walsh. Dubois Calero, Lyn Hagan, Kinyua Malaika, Praba Pilar, Chiara Pitrola, Chinedum Muotto, Isidora as the Creative Director of TTTlabs and TTTfellows in the “Rewilding Cultures” Bioart/Bodyart on the Beach (TTTlabs BFBC NR-FO N-HB/BB) - short doc: Nupur Doshi, Nathalie Ionian University, where he also serves Union. (14’38”) Fertilization - TTTfellows: Art & Science Residency 2024 Spring - short doc : Robert Lisek, Clarissa Ribeiro, Adam Zaretsky, Dalila Honorato. (12’48’’) Implantation - TTTfellows: Art & Science Residency 2024 Fall - short doc: Heidi Hehnly-Chang, Boryana Rossa, Adam Zaretsky, Dalila Honorato. (4’16’’) Mooncalf Homuncularium | 2024: Marko Markovic, Kim Doan Quoc, Wave (Weeratouch) Pongruengkiat, Natalie Jeremijenko, Prathima Muniyappa, Anastasia Mandel, Shih Wei Chieh (Abao), Elli Leventeri, Viktoria Koniaeva, Serafim Parsaloglou Marathias, Adam Zaretsky, Dalila Honorato, Elizabeth Littlejohn, Uroš Veber, Blu Zaretsky, WhiteFeather Hunter. (10’24’’) Embryonic | 2025: *Collaboration by: Praba Pilar, Adam Zaretsky, Dalila Honorato, Janet Sarson, suno.ai, krea.ai, real tamale beet masa and Cretan cicada exoskeletons. (12’28) TTTLab Official VR World | 2025: Nupur Doshi, Nathalie Dubois Calero, Lyn Hagan, Kinyua Malaika, Praba Pilar, Chiara Pitrola, Chinedum Muotto, Isidora Fernandez, Viktoria Koniaeva, Kristin Lucas, Serafim Parsaloglou Marathias, Nikolas Marcellos, Janet Sarson, Nafsika Tzanoulinou, Ivana Tkalčić, Adam Zaretsky, Dalila Honorato, Callum Siegmund, Brian Contreras, Augusto Calçada, Xristina Sarli. Art & Science coordination: Adam Zaretsky - Dalila Honorato Videography: Serafim Parsaloglou Marathias (2024) - Thanos Tsigkas (2023) - Iakovos Panagopoulos (coordination). Video contributions: *Pilar et.al. (2025), The Terrabytes Glitch Lab [Augusto Calçada + Xristina Sarli] (2025), Elizabeth Littlejohn - WhiteFeather Hunter (2024). Reel curation: Adam Zaretsky Event Hours: 09/09/2025 (18:00-22:00), 10/09/2025-12/09/2025 (09:00-21:00), 13/09/2025 (12:00-18:00) Location: Upper Foyer - Kino Šiška 206 Reels TABOO ‒ Coining Utopias Mestna Jaga - A decade of Urban Hunting TRANSGRESSION ‒ Marc Dusseiller International Hackteria Society & Center for Alternative Coconut Research From snails in Ljubljana 2013 to city rabbits in Helsinki, the International Federation of Urban performs DIY (do-it-yourself) workshops Hunters challenges us to confront the uncomfortable truths about life, death, and survival in our in lo-fi electronics and synths, open cities. hardware for citizen science, bioart / biohacking and DIY microscopy. He was “Mestna Jaga” - questioning our relationship with urban ecosystems and hidden food systems. transdisciplinary workshopologist, lecturer, cultural facilitator and artist. He Marc Dusseiller & Dominik Mahnic explore with this reel the provocative world of BioArt through Dr. Marc R. Dusseiller is a TRANSCENDENCE in co-organizing Dock18, diy* festival and poolloop (Zürich, Switzerland), KIBLIX Art & Science 2025 2011 (Maribor, Slovenia), workshops for artists, schools and children (2008- now) as founding member of the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society, SGMK and is the co-founder of the Hackerspace Collective Bitwäscherei (2020). He has worked as guest faculty and mentor at Book various schools, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IN), UCSB of Abstracts (USA) and in Switzerland, FHNW, ZhdK, HEAD, HSLU, ETHZ. In collaboration with Kapelica Gallery, he has started the BioTehna Lab in Ljubljana (2012 - 2013), an open platform for interdisciplinary and artistic research on life sciences. Currently, he is developing means to perform bio- and nanotechnology research and dissemination, Hackteria | Open Source Biological Art, in a DIY / DIWO fashion in kitchens, ateliers and in the Majority World. He is part of the Center for Alternative Coconut Research developing low-cost educational open hardware. He was the co-organizer of the different editions of HackteriaLab 2010 - now in Zürich, Romainmotier, Bangalore, Yogyakarta, Klöntal and Okinawa and collaborated on the organisation of the BioFabbing Convergence, 2017, in Geneva, and the Gathering for Open Science Hardware 2016 in Geneva, 2018 in Shenzhen & 2026 in Bali, and organized international residencies and research collaborations in Zürich 2020-2024, Yogyakarta 2019-2023 and Chiang Mai 2024. Dominik Mahnič Dominik Mahnič (Ljubljana, Slovenia), FA of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana., an emblematic figure nestled between the realms of academic painting, video mastery, cave sherpa, urban hunting, and street art insurgency, raises questions about the perpetual dialectics between classical artistry and the onslaught of contemporary technological modalities. https://app.assembla.com/spaces/ dominik-mahnic/wiki Event Hours: 09/09/2025 (18:00-22:00), 10/09/2025-12/09/2025 (09:00-21:00), 13/09/2025 (12:00-18:00) Location: Upper Foyer - Kino Šiška TTT2025 opias of Satellite Acts g Ut Emerging from the conceptual core of Coining - CoininX Utopias, these series of four peripheral acts beyond the main venue extends TTT2025 from underground rituals in the Karst to post- industrial fieldwork and archival disruptions. A collaborative constellation curated with Kapelica Gallery, Cirkulacija 2, MAO, Projekt Atol, Pixxelpoint 2025 and GO!2025, X-Coining Utopias events unfold across Ljubljana and Nova Gorica–Gorizia. Satellite Acts [A] FORENSIC PERFORMATIVITY / KAPELICA Date & Time: Wednesday, Sept 10–Friday, Sept 12 (21:00–23:59) Location: Kapelica Gallery (Likozarjeva 1, Ljubljana) Curated by: Jurij Krpan and Sandra Sajovic [B] MESTNA JAGA (URBAN HUNTING) / CIRKULACIJA 2 Date & Time: 10/09/2025 (21:00-23:59) Location: Cirkulacija 2 (Podhod Ajdovšična 2, Ljubljana) Curated by: Marc Dusseiller, Dominik Mahnic, Tatiana Kocmur [C] FUTURE LEGACIES / MAO Location: Museum of Architecture and Design (Rusjanov trg 7, Ljubljana) Date & Time: 13/09/2025 (11:30-12:30) Guided Tour by: Cvetka Požar and Robertina Šebjanič [D] KARST / GO2025! Karst Location: Ruska jama (1.8 km north of Kostanjevica na Krasu), GPS: 45.858895, 13.638604 Curated by: pETER Purg eliXir Participating artists: Floravita, Jatun Risba, Uroš Brezavšček Date & Time: 13/09/2025 (18:00–19:30) Lament Participating artists: Margherita Pevere with music by Ivan Penov Date & Time: 13/09/2025 (20:30–22:00) 209 Satellite Acts TABOO ‒ X - Coining Utopias Forensic Performativity TRANSGRESSION ‒ Exhibition Many performances presented at Kapelica Gallery have left a profound impact on visitors, as their artistic potency pushed TRANSCENDENCE in the boundaries of the perceivable. Their unrepeatability leaves behind a tangible void and a commitment to historicize these extraordinary events. Attempts to capture the structure of the environment that provided the context for these amazing artworks often elude video documentation, and are entirely absent in the case of reenactments. In order to offer the most authentic experience of the performance as artwork, Kapelica Gallery curators are developing a presentation method that includes forensic remnants, video and photo documentation, and the performative experience of Art & Science 2025 personal storytelling within the intimate setting of the exhibition set at the gallery. The exhibition, with open slots for individual tours with a storyteller, will take place from 10th – 12h September as part of the accompanying program for the international conference TTT2025. Book The exhibition is part of the accompanying program of the TTT2025 conference, organized by the Department of Audiovisual of Abstracts Arts at the Ionian University in collaboration with Kino Šiška and the Projekt Atol. Produced by: Galerija Kapelica / Kersnikova Institute Supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia The number of participants for this event is limited, available upon registration. Registration Jurij Krpan Kesnikova Institute In 1995, Krpan conceived the Kapelica Gallery - Gallery for Contemporary Investigative Art as a non-governmental and non-profit organization. As a curator and commissioner, he has contributed to both national and international exhibitions and festivals, the largest international productions to date being the organization and artistic leadership of the Slovenian national pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, the conceptual gallery Cosinus BRX at the European Commission building in Brussels, and U3 the 5th Triennial of Contemporary Investigative Arts 2006 at the Museum of Modern Art - Ljubljana. In September 2008 he curated the presentation of the Kapelica Gallery in the Featured Art Scene section of Ars Electronica in Linz and in 2009 the survey of contemporary investigative art relating to 80 years of avant-garde art in Slovenia. In 2014 he co-curated the Designing Life section of the Ljubljana Design Biennale and was co-curator of the Slovenian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. He has been a member of the Prix Ars Electronica jury for the Hybrid Arts category in 2010, ‘13, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17 and 2023. Since 2012, he become the artistic director of the Kesnikova Institute. BioTehna, Rampa, and Vivarium research and development laboratories have become important R&D platforms for the Kapelica Gallery. Since early 2017 he has worked on systemic solutions for innovation design, bringing artistic ideations as innovation catalysts in the innovation process for smart industries and communities for a more sustainable, safer, inclusive, and ethical future. In 2020, he co-curated the symposium The Future of Living with AI for EUNIC at Bozar Brussels, where the selection of Slovenian artists was presented in the framework of the S+T+ARTS awards. In 2019, the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy awarded him the title of Ambassador of Smart Specialisation of the Republic of Slovenia. He is a member of the National Council of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia representing and advocating cultural NGO interests from 2019 to date. Jurij Krpan lectures on the artistic profile of the Kapelica Gallery and the cultural profile of the Kersnikova Institute in Slovenia and abroad. Sandra Sajovic Curator Sandra Sajovic (SI) graduated at the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana and has been working as a curator and lead producer in Kapelica Gallery, a space for contemporary investigative art, based in Ljubljana since 1995. She has been involved in the program development of BioTehna, a platform for artistic research of living systems, adjacent to the gallery within the Kersnikova Institute. She coordinated several international projects and is a team member for strategic development of Kersnikova Institute. As a lead producer she has been engaged in development and implementation of many art projects, some of which received wide international recognition and most prestigious awards. Her experiences as a curator and producer led to some of the most prominent national and international artistic manifestations’ collaborations - Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, 2008), Cosinus BRX Gallery at the European Commission (Brussels, 2007-2010), Device_art triennial (Zagreb, San Francisco, Tokyo, Montreal, 2004-2018), Thingworld - International Triennial of New Media Art at the NAMOC (Beijing, 2014). Event Hours: 10/09/2025-12/09/2025 (21:00-23:59) Location: Kapelica Gallery (Likozarjeva 1, Ljubljana) 210 Satellite Acts TABOO ‒ X - Coining Utopias Mestna Jaga: Urban Hunting TRANSGRESSION ‒ Artists Marc Dusseiller and Mahnic Dominik present through this participatory performance a provocative exploration of TRANSCENDENCE in BioArt that confronts an essential question: How can there be authentic biological art without embracing the reality of killing? This participatory performance builds on over a decade of “Urban Hunting” expeditions beginning with snails and pigeons in Ljubljana in 2013 which, through the International Federation of Urban Hunters, the artists have expanded to Helsinki and beyond. Now back in Ljubljana, curated by Cirkulacija 2 to TTT2025 Malta as a satellite act, Mestna jaga invites participants to join guided walks through the city, engaging in discursive exploration as both artistic practice and philosophical inquiry into the boundary between “Living” and “Non-Living.” Each expedition will be filmed and documented, culminating in both an online video publication and an offline fanzine that captures the collective investigation of urban survival, animal welfare, Art & Science 2025 and the uncomfortable truths embedded in our daily consumption. This work challenges audiences to confront the hidden cruelty within our food systems while exploring how contemporary art can authentically engage with questions of life, death, and our relationship to the urban wild. More information: https://www.hackteria.org/wiki/Urban_Cuisine Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPkDli0Q75c&list=PLS8G_dyPXl1QfB15ZJXjsYoZ8J6_gHbLt&index=7 of Abstracts The number of participants for this event is limited, available upon registration. Registration Cirkulacija 2 is an artist-led initiative based in Ljubljana, founded in 2007 and registered as an association in 2009. Functioning as a local hub for independent artistic production, it fosters interdisciplinary practices grounded in mutual support, shared methods, and social cohesion. With a flexible, process-oriented approach inspired by tactical media, the initiative develops dynamic forms of expression across media such as radio, sound, internet, video, performance, robotics, and digital technologies. Its name (cirkulacija) reflects an ongoing commitment to evolution and experimentation in contem-porary art. Marc Dusseiller International Hackteria Society & Center for Alternative Coconut Research Dr. Marc R. Dusseiller is a transdisciplinary workshopologist, lecturer, cultural facilitator and artist. He performs DIY (do-it-yourself) workshops in lo-fi electronics and synths, open hardware for citizen science, bioart / biohacking and DIY microscopy. He was co-organizing Dock18, diy* festival and poolloop (Zürich, Switzerland), KIBLIX 2011 (Maribor, Slovenia), workshops for artists, schools and children (2008-now) as founding member of the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society, SGMK and is the co-founder of the Hackerspace Collective Bitwäscherei (2020). He has worked as guest faculty and mentor at various schools, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IN), UCSB (USA) and in Switzerland, FHNW, ZhdK, HEAD, HSLU, ETHZ. In collaboration with Kapelica Gallery, he has started the BioTehna Lab in Ljubljana (2012 - 2013), an open platform for interdisciplinary and artistic research on life sciences. Currently, he is developing means to perform bio- and nanotechnology research and dissemination, Hackteria | Open Source Biological Art, in a DIY / DIWO fashion in kitchens, ateliers and in the Majority World. He is part of the Center for Alternative Coconut Research developing low-cost educational open hardware. He was the co-organizer of the different editions of HackteriaLab 2010 - now in Zürich, Romainmotier, Bangalore, Yogyakarta, Klöntal and Okinawa and collaborated on the organisation of the BioFabbing Convergence, 2017, in Geneva, and the Gathering for Open Science Hardware 2016 in Geneva, 2018 in Shenzhen & 2026 in Bali, and organized international residencies and research collaborations in Zürich 2020-2024, Yogyakarta 2019-2023 and Chiang Mai 2024. Dominik Mahnič Dominik Mahnič (Ljubljana, Slovenia), FA of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana., an emblematic figure nestled between the realms of academic painting, video mastery, cave sherpa, urban hunting, and street art insurgency, raises questions about the perpetual dialectics between classical artistry and the onslaught of contemporary technological modalities. https://app.assembla.com/spaces/dominik-mahnic/wiki Kocmur Tatiana Cirkulacija 2 Tatiana Kocmur (BA, 1992) is a visual artist and contemporary art producer, representing the Cirkulacija 2 association and co-creator of the TRANSLACIJA/ TRASLACIÓN platform for the production, exhibition, and research of performative art. Event Hours: 10/09/2025 (21:00-23:59) Location: Cirkulacija 2 (Podhod Ajdovšična 2, Ljubljana) 211 Satellite Acts TABOO ‒ X - Coining Utopias Future Legacies TRANSGRESSION ‒ Exhibition The exhibition brings together the results of three years collaboration between designers, artists, craftspeople, scientist and TRANSCENDENCE in other experts, facilitated by ten organizations as part of the MADE IN Platform for Contemporary Crafts & Design. The Future Legacies is a space where heritage meets innovation, place-based knowledge intersects with speculative futures, and craft stands at the heart of both cultural continuity and ecological transformation. This exhibition is built on an exploration of the ways in which traditional skills, local materials and scientific methods can enrich each other. The Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) is Slovenia’s central institution for architecture and design – preserving national heritage, fostering critical reflection and future oriented dialogue. As both museum and a platform for contemporary Art & Science 2025 creativity, it connects cultural and creative sector with business, science and education, shaping the role of architecture and design in society and everyday life. Book of Abstracts Cvetka Požar PhD (MAO) Cvetka Požar, PhD (MAO) is an art historian, museum councillor and curator at the MAO and has a PhD in the development and theory of design. Her main research interests are in the history of design, especially visual communication and contemporary design. She curated the exhibitions The Century of the Poster: Slovenian Poster Design in the 20th Century (2015) and To the Polling Booths! The Poster as a Political Medium in Slovenia 1945-1999 (2000), and authored the accompanying books with the same titles. She has also co-curated several exhibitions, most recently Castle → concepts, objects, spaces (2024), Jože Brumen: Modernist Designer and Art Connoisseur (2021), The World Inside: Designing Modern Interiors, 1930-Today (2021), and MADE IN: Crafts and Design Narratives (2020). Robertina Šebjanič Independent artist Robertina Šebjanič is an artist whose work explores the biological, chemical, (geo)political and cultural realities of aquatic environments and the impact of humanity on other organisms. Her projects call for the development of empathetic strategies aimed at recognising the other (non-human) entities. In her analysis of the Anthropocene and its theoretical framework, the artist uses the terms “aquatocene” and “aquaforming” to refer to the human impact on marine environments. She exhibited / performed at solo and group exhibitions as well as in galleries and festivals worldwide. Her works received awards and nominations at Prix Ars Electronica, Starts Prize, Falling Walls, Re:Humansm 2023. Her art work Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva generator (artist proof) is since 2019 part of the NewArt { collection;}. _ Electronic Art Collection, Spain. https://robertina.net/ Event Hours: 13/09/2025 (11:30-12:30) Location: Museum of Architecture and Design (Rusjanov trg 7, Ljubljana) 212 Satellite Acts TABOO ‒ X - Coining Utopias KARST/GO!25 TRANSGRESSION ‒ Organized as part of the GO!2025 official programme “Xmobil” and of the conference “Taboo - Transgression - Transcendence TRANSCENDENCE in in Art and Science “ (TTT2025 Ljubljana) program, the event is curated by pETER Purg and co-organized with Projekt Atol and “Pixxelpoint” 2025 Festival of Contemporary Art in the context of GO!2025 European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica - Gorizia. Location: Ruska jama (1.8 km north of Kostanjevica na Krasu), GPS: 45.858895, 13.638604. Art & Science 2025 Important: The Ruska jama cave location on the Karst plateau is 10km from and 300m above the Adriatic sea, the weather is likely to be late-summer mild. However all event participants are advised to bring rain/sun/wind proof clothing according to weather forecast, and wear shoes suitable for walking on a rocky footpath (1,8 km each way).- The group walk from and to the bus will be guided. Book - No mobile signal at the event venue. of Abstracts - Free food and drink to be provided at the venue. - Tick protection advised (long trousers, mosquito spray). - Bring some water and a charged phone -- torchlight needed for the walk back to bus. The number of seats in the bus ride to the performance programme in Karst/ Lament and eliXir is limited, available upon registration. Registration If you decide to bring your own transportation, please note that the parking space at the location (near the cave) is extremely limited, plus a few lay-by options on the narrow forest tracks around the venue -- the sharp rocky gravel roads are not suitable for lower cars! The “Ruska jama” cave is located between settlements Lokvica and Kostanjevica na Krasu: Way from road crossing near Lokvica, 1,8km (recommended parking): https://maps.app.goo.gl/p285qu1B9UunJ2gd9 | Way from Kostanjevica na Krasu, 1,8 km (recommended parking): https://maps.app.goo.gl/zqsS9V2MhZHKVSX26 Date: Saturday, September 13 Point and time of departure: Kino Šiška, Ljubljana at 15:45 | Departure of the bus back to Ljubljana 22:30. 213 Satellite Acts TABOO ‒ X - Coining Utopias eliXir TRANSGRESSION ‒ In the heart of Slovenia’s wildfire-scarred Karst plateau—off-grid and underground—you are invited to gather at Ruska TRANSCENDENCE in jama, a cave resonant with ancestral presence, to partake in a ritual feast of and through the manifold selves of nature. eliXir is a mobile art-science research residency within xMobil, a nomadic 2025 lab for ecological and artistic experimentation. Combining local foraging, transmedia ritual, and sustainable tech innovation, eliXir connects communities through shared knowledge and food. The eliXir trio—Floravita (PATCHING), Jatun Risba (DRENCHING), and Uroš Brezavšček (SCORCHING)—lead this multi-sensory, participatory gathering into a single performative ecology. Art & Science 2025 Vita Matjac Institute Floravita Book Vita Matjac, MA in Sociology, passionate forager, certified herbalist, farmer, artist has been studying the use of edible wild plants, herbs and mushrooms of Abstracts in everyday nutrition and medicine for many years, and explores the diversity of their use and storage. Through her practice, she explores the process of “domestication” of wild plants, herbs and mushrooms as part of the modern eco-movement and rediscovery of nature’s hidden potential. She is also a director of institute Floravita and through that also a leader of Laboratory of future of food. Jatun Risba Independent Independent Jatun Risba (they) is a transmedia artist from Slovenia whose work engages with ecofeminist and posthumanist discourses through performance art, ecoart, relational practices, and acts of détournement, abjection, and intervention. Bridging ritual and disobedience, their practice cultivates reciprocity between species by awakening sensory awareness through the application of Vajrayana Buddhist principles and subversive uses of technology. At its core, their work reimagines Art as a site for healing, transformation, and expanded modes of being. Their research unfolds along two primary trajectories: Arts for Health and Art as Nourishment for the Bodymind. Jatun’s work has been presented internationally at Galerija O.K. (Rijeka), Crow’s Nest (Baltimore), Studio Alta (Prague), Opens (Singapore), the Prague Biennale Re-connect Art festival (2023-25), Meta.morf Trondheim Biennale (2022), Bangkok Biennial (2020), Fabbrica del Vapore (Milan), and Y Gallery, Kersnikova Institute, and Cirkulacija2 (Ljubljana). They have delivered talks and workshops at DRHA 2024 (Munich), Akademia Sztuk Pięknych (Wroclaw), the University of the Underground, Goethe University Frankfurt, Strasbourg University, and the Moving Image Research Lab (Montreal). They are the founder and co-facilitator of Be-coming Tree, a global Live Art platform fostering ecological connection through collective performance (becomingtree.live). Risba has received the a-n Artist Bursary (2019), an ERSTE Foundation Fellowship (2020), and the Social Art Award (2021). Their writings and interviews have appeared in Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, Body, Space & Technology (BST), ecoartspace.org, and other publications. Jatun holds a BA (Hons) from NABA (Milan) and a PG Cert in Art & Science from UAL, London. More at: jatunrisba.com. Uroš Brezavšček Independent Uroš Brezavšček is a mechanical engineer, consultant, and speaker with a passion for growing his own food and living in harmony with nature. He enjoys designing and building devices that support his vision of self-sufficiency and help others on their path to a more fulfilling and sustainable life. The number of active participants [interacting with performers instead of being part of the audience attending the event] in eliXir is limited, available upon further registration. Registration Event Hours: 13/09/2025 (18:00-19:30) Location: ruska jama 214 Satellite Acts TABOO ‒ X - Coining Utopias Lament TRANSGRESSION ‒ The striking aesthetic and rigorous research of Lament invite audiences to explore death and regeneration of post-wildfire TRANSCENDENCE in ecologies. In a more-than-human death-bed, Pevere becomes a tentacular soil creature, probing the space after the fire among heaps of soil and glass sculptures hanging low on the area. The music weaves field recordings, cello and live electronics. The biotechnological elements of the installation and elements of the costume were sampled by Pevere after the 2022 Karst wildfires, while Penov explored the bioacoustics and hidden sounds of the burnt woods. Pixxelpoint and TTT bring a unique edition of the artwork at the very site of the wildfires. Lament was awarded the COAL Prize 2024 Transformative Territories Mention. Art & Science 2025 https://margheritapevere.com/lament/ Credits: Lament by Margherita Pevere | Music by Ivan Penov Duration of the performance: 50 mins Book Disclaimer: Partial nudity. of Abstracts Lament is an artwork by Margherita Pevere. Commissioned by the EC Joint Research Centre in the framework of the SciArt project’s Resonances IV cycle on “NaturArchy: Towards a Natural Contract”. Margherita Pevere Margherita Pevere Studio Known internationally for her otherworldly work with living matter, ecology and biotechnology, Dr Margherita Pevere is an artist and researcher addressing taboos like death, sex and vulnerability. Her practice embraces object-making, installation, performance, and writing, which she waves seamlessly thanks to her transdisciplinary background. Her project Lament on wildfire ecologies received the COAL Prize / Transformative territories mention (2024) and she was nominated for the Falling Walls Awards / Category Art and Science (2023) for the body of work around her concept ‘arts of vulnerability’. Her artworks have been shown at iMAL - Center for digital cultures and technology, Bruxelles; Foundation L’Art Pur, Ryhad; Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin; Kiasma Theatre, Helsinki; Kapelica Gallery / Kersnikova, Ljubljana; KONTEJNER, Zagreb; Ars Electronica, Linz; Wiener Festwochen; Casa Viva, Mexico City, among other. She runs the performance group Fronte Vacuo with Marco Donnarumma to create works that combine body art, dance, theatre, audiovisual performance and technology. Among the projects she initiated, the show Membranes Out Of Order (co-curated with Theresa Schubert and Karolina Żyniewicz) featured an innovative exhibition concept based on artworks and research materials. Recent art and science partnerships include the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and the Heimholz Centre for Infection Research. She is a member of the Finnish Bioart Society and the Queer Death Studies Network, and affiliated researcher of The Eco- and Bioart Lab. Pevere holds a doctorate in artistic research from Aalto University on art, biotechnology and queer studies. Her publications cover arts, aesthetics, environmental humanities and queerfeminist studies. Ivan Penov Musician, Sund Artist Ivan Penov is a musician and sound artist whose artworks are inspired by natural and rural contexts. His audio works distinguish themselves for featuring unusual sounds of musical instruments and field recordings. His musical output ranges from sound installations and acousmatic compositions to audiovisual works and music for dance performances. Across the diverse media, the “gestures” of both sound and video are often inspired by material and ecological processes, be it the vibration of a bow or the fermentation of yeasts. Besides his individual practice, he writes commissioned music pieces such as for the Ivana Kocevska Company / Macedonian Opera House. His research has been presented at ICMC, Pact Zollverein, and the upcoming Cense Ljubljana. Event Hours: 13/09/2025 (20:30-22:00) Location: ruska jama Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence in Art & Science 2025 Book of Abstracts Edited by: Dalila Honorato © 2025 by the authors all texts Licenced under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 1st edition Issued by: Zavod Projekt Atol, Ljubljana Trg prekomorskih brigad 1 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia digital issue available free of charge Published with the support of the Ionian University, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the City of Ljubljana ISBN 978-961-96713-3-7 Kataložni zapis o publikaciji (CIP) pripravili v Narodni in univerzitetni knjižnici v Ljubljani COBISS.SI-ID 247975683 ISBN 978-961-96713-3-7 (PDF) TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE IN ART & SCIENCE 2025 9-13 September 2025, Kino Šiška, Ljubljana We encourage all participants to: #Join our Community Facebook + Instagram @TTTinArtSci BlueSky @tttinartsci.bsky.social Website: https://ttt-conference.org #Talk about us Use our hashtags for related posts. The official hashtags of the conference are: #tttinartsci #ttt2025 #tttconference #artscience #tttljubljana Organization: Department of Audio and Visual Arts, Ionian University in collaboration with Kino Šiška and Projekt Atol Supported by: Kapelica, Cirkulacija 2, Pixxelpoint, Intellect, InArts – Interactive Arts Lab, Xcenter, GO! 2025 Founder: Dalila Honorato Organising committee: Dalila Honorato (Ionian University), Jasna Jernejšek (Kino Šiška), Uroš Veber & Lara Mejač (Projekt Atol), Peter Purg (University of Nova Gorica) Producers: Lara Mejač, Uroš Veber Exhibition curator: Jasna Jernejšek Performances curators: Dalila Honorato, Jasna Jernejšek, Peter Purg, Uroš Veber Screenings curator: Maria Chalkou Reels curators: Marc Dusseiller, Adam Zaretsky Proofreading and translation: Daniel Sheppard Design: Ioanna Logaki Events posters photography: Gina Rottweiler https://ttt-conference.org Contact TTT Conference: av-ttt@ionio.gr All events of the TTT2025 Ljubljana conference program will take place at the Kino Šiška. Kino Šiška has been the central Slovenian institution of the contemporary concert scene since 2009, complemented by activities in visual and performing arts. Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture | Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, 1000 Ljubljana | https://maps.app.goo.gl/vjzXLGkxWNxfSrec6