Art Laboratory Berlin is delighted to invite you to take part in our Colloquium, a discursive format on research in art, science and humanities, curated by Regine Rapp. It takes place in tandem with our Reading Club, curated by Tuçe Erel.

The Colloquium addresses an international interdisciplinary research audience to present and discuss past, present or future projects by artists and scholars, curators or editors from the fields of art, science and the humanities. The topics could refer to an art project, a book, text or chapter, a research or exhibition project, a lab experiment, a lecture series, a conference concept or other.

The presentations and exchange will focus on the work-in-progress. Methodological approaches – theoretical or practical – are also of great interest here. While researching, we often tend to shift between practical inquiry and theoretical research, browsing various disciplines. Following the original meaning of colloquium as “speaking together”, we want to provide a platform for exchange and embrace various kinds of work processes which are often not seen or talked about.

Structure of the sessions: Each session will include two presentations followed by discussions, altogether 90 min. The colloquium welcomes informal conversations amongst the participants.

Speakers on 13 September 2023 Session

Helena Nikonole | Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System and Antiwar AI

Helena Nikonole is a new media artist, independent curator and educator currently based between Berlin and Istanbul. Her field of interests embraces AI, hacktivism, hybrid art and bio-semiotics. One part of her work is dedicated to utopian scenarios of post-human future while another is focused on dystopian present and critical approach to technology. She presents lectures and workshops in the field of Art & Science and AI & art at different institutions including Paris College of Arts, Mutek Festival (Montreal and Tokyo), Leiden University, IMAL (Brussels) and many others. Her artistic work have been presented internationally by institutions and festivals such as Ars Electronica 2019 and 2022, ZKM Museum (Karlsruhe), CTM Festival (Berlin), Athens Digital Art Festival, Kapelica Gallery (Ljubljana), Chronus Art Center (Shanghai), Drugo More (Rijeka), “YouFab Creative Award 2019 Winners Exhibition”, SHIBUYA QWS (Tokyo), Open Source Body Festival 2022 (Paris), Warsaw Biennial 2022 etc.

Lucy Ojomoko | Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System

Lucy Ojomoko is a molecular biologist and artist. She is focusing her science and artistic research in the field of synthetic and neurobiology: exploring the problem of trans-species and intraspecific communication, and studying plasticity limits of living systems for reprogramming. Lucy was selected for participation in the 13th Young Scientists Forum 2013, FEBS Congress 2013 (Saint-Petersburg, Russia), FEBS Congress 2014 ( Paris, France), and SENSE6 2013 Conference (Cambridge, UK), Perspective in Molecular Neuroscience in Health and Disease, 2014 (Bochum, Germany), Basel Life Conference 2017, 2018 (Basel, Switzerland), and many others. A finalist of Singularity University and Skolkovo competition with synthetic biology project (creation of a handy-tool software for SynBio). Her scientific project was presented at a competition organized by MIT and Global Innovation Labs, Boston, USA. Awarded in a range of grant programs, including DAAD. She is authour of scientific papers and patents. As an artist Lucy Ojomoko was exposed to a range of exhibitions and festivals include MetabolA.I at Ars Electronica 2017, Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System at Ars Electronica 2022, “Art4Med”, Paris 2022, “Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art” 2017,”Polytech” Science festival”, 2015, “Medianovation. Science-art Experiment No1/2014” 2014, “Geek Picnic”, 2014, “Manifesta-10”, 2014, and many others.

In the Colloquium Helena Nikonole and Lucy Ojomoko will delve deep into their project Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System that bridges the gap between art, science, and medicine by modifying the human skin microbiome to self-diagnose or prevent diseases using olfactory signals. They will share the inspiration, insights, and innovative ideas that drove this project, and discuss its potential impact on society, revolutionizing how we perceive and approach healthcare, diagnostics, and bio-semiotics.

In the second part of the colloquium, Helena Nikonole will share insights into her hacktivist project Antiwar AI. She will elaborate on her experience of creating the project and present some snippets of the video documentation.