CHIMERA- Syracuse University's first Bio-Art Show

by Heidi Hehnly in , , , ,

I'm so excited to help out with this Bio-Art show with Boryana Rossa and our fabulous students. If you are in the Syracuse Area, come check it out.

CHIMERA:

This exhibition features finished works and works in progress that have been made by students and artists who utilize techniques and knowledge from the field of biological sciences, apply discussion from humanities and look for visual and textual expression that comes from the arts.

During the global pandemic, the need for an integrated approach to education that includes both art and science has become imperative for fighting collective distrust in science. Our attempt is to create widely accessible view of the work done in scientific labs and open discussion about its social importance that comes from both sciences and the arts.

While taking the bio-art class the students, who have scientific or artistic backgrounds, studied examples of bio-art, had hands-on experience with microscopy and other biological techniques, and discussed their work reaching beyond their disciplines. The works in the exhibition present varieties of topics, starting with self-portraits, portraits of ecological systems, visual exploration of macro and micro worlds, ethical and personal exploration of the role of the scientist in the society, and the body as a political arena.

Guest artists are presented with signature and award-winning works. Jennifer Willet looks at the topic of co-existence, play and collaboration of human and microbial worlds, Paul Vanouse reflects upon industrial society’s shift from human and machine labor to forms of microbial manufacturing, and Adam Zaretsky presents “The Errorarium,” a device for exploring the gamification of the forced genetic errors that may appear in chamber-grown botanica.

CIMERA is part of the programming of the Bio-Art Mixer, where art and life sciences meet, faculty and grads share their research or look at it from the perspective of a different discipline. Initiated by Heidi Hehnly, Ph.D. Biology, SU; Boryana Rossa Ph.D. FMA.

Supported by CUSE Seed Grant, Department of Film and Media Arts and Department of Biology.

Two cool new courses at SU for Spring! Bio-Art and a Microscopy Lab

by Heidi Hehnly in ,

Boryana Rossa (VPA) and myself (Biology) are offering a Bio-Art Studio/Lab class… The first of its kind at Syracuse! This course is a studio and art history class, which brings together Transmedia, art and biology students, offering overlap of disciplines with hands on study of state-of-the-art digital imaging technologies, microscopy, biological drawing, and also lecturing on the relatively new field of Bio-Art. The outcome of the class will be shown at an exhibition at The Wall Gallery at Shaffer Art building at SU. It’s cross listed as TRM500 and BIO400/600. Students will have access to microscopes in my lab and the Blatt Imaging Center.

If students are interested in Microscopy, I’m offering a Microscopy Laboratory (Adv Micro Tech 400/600) where students will learn sample preparation either for live or immuno-histochemistry, imaging whole organisms and cell culture in three dimensions, different forms of microscopy such as expansion microscopy, epifluorescent imaging, laser scanning confocal, and spinning disk confocal. Students will also be going over kinetic analysis using FRAP, and overall quantitative analysis of acquired acquisitions. Students will have access to the cool biological samples for imaging, Blatt Imaging Center, and Microscopes in my lab.