[EN] The Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with a wider public. LASER Talks Brussels are curated by Alexandra Dementieva in collaboration with Edith Doove as moderator.

The upcoming topic is MicroTuning, an artistic research project in the fields of bioart, energy art, art-science and bioethics. This transdisciplinary research offers new perspectives on the intertwining of microorganisms with cooling towers of nuclear power stations, lungs and air. It is an artistic inquiry creating new ways of knowing by weaving science and bioethics into visual and sonic media.

How is it challenging preconceived notions about biodiversity, living organisms as resources, and the urgent need for so-called innovative approaches to contemporary ecological crises? How does it express the tensions associated with the microbiomes residing within the cooling towers of nuclear facilities?

Koelleven, a project by Bartaku, taps into the domaine of MicroTuning. The project delves into the scientific aspects of microbial communities in breathing industrial tower totems, as well as offers a novel conceptual framework. By embracing the ethics of attuning, deep sensing, and responding, it aims to inquire possible ways of reciprocal relationships with these microbial cooling tower communities to foster transformative understandings of multispecies relationships.
One of the distinctive aspects of the work is the creation of a visual medium in which the microbial pigments are used for explorative research of dye-based solar cells, microbial biodiversity, and non-extractive bioelectronic futures with the cooling tower landscape.
“How to express the entanglement of microbiomes with cooling towers of nuclear energy facilities lungs, and the air using principles of attuning in an artistic, transdisciplinary inquiry?”

This Lasertalk session will explore philosophical, scientific, and cultural perspectives on the intricate relationships between microorganisms, nuclear energy infrastructure, and the environment. By examining interactions between cooling towers, air, and living organisms, we aim to raise important questions about sustainability, ecological balance, and the hidden ecosystems that sustain life. The event seeks to foster innovative research and dialogue by weaving together insights from art, science, and bioethics.

The invited guests are:

Bartaku (Bart H.M. Vandeput, PhD)  is an artist situated in the fields of Bio- and Energy art and initiator of Koelleven. Bartaku’s practice explores relations between light, electrical energy, humans, plants and microbes. It senses for – and plays with – tensions between disciplines, process and result, makers and audiences, living and non-living, human and other-than-human. Currently he is senior researcher and postdoc at the Department of Philosophy of Antwerp University. He is visiting researcher at the New Energy Technologies Group at Aalto University, the Centre for Synthetic Biology at Ghent University and X-LAB at Hasselt University.

Suzie Thomas is a Professor of Heritage Studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. She completed her PhD at Newcastle University, UK, and has worked in the heritage sector and in academia in England, Scotland and Finland before moving to Belgium in 2021. She is currently head of the Heritage Studies department in Antwerp, and when she is not sitting in Faculty meetings she is interested in so-called ‘dark’ heritage, heritage crime, and ‘outsider’ perspectives on culture and heritage. 

Marjan de Mey is professor in Metabolic Engineering at Ghent University where she leads the Metabolic Engineering group at the Centre of Synthetic Biology (CSB). She received her PhD in Bioscience Engineering from Ghent University and was visiting researcher at TU Delft (The Netherlands) and MIT (USA). Marjan’s research interests are at the front of industrial biotechnology, metabolic engineering and synthetic biology focusing on the development of biotechnological production processes.

Alexandra Dementieva is a multimedia artist and curator, based in Brussels. The idea of interaction between the viewer and an artwork, mediated by technologically progressive visualization methods, lies at the core of her work. Her installations focus on the role of the viewer and her/his interaction with an artwork and bring forth ways of provoking the viewer’s involvement thus allowing hidden mechanisms of human behaviour to be revealed.

Edith Doove (PhD) is a curator, writer and researcher, specifically interested in notions of emergence and contingency, cross and transdisciplinary collaborations. She holds a PhD as member of Transtechnology Research at Plymouth University where she is a postdoctoral advisor. Since 2018 she lives and works in France, currently in Rouen. She was the curator visual arts for the arts festival Watou in 2023 and currently prepares an exhibition and publication on the Research Group and their influence on art education for the Stadsmuseum and PXL School of Arts in Hasselt (autumn 2024).

[NL] De Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks zijn een programma van internationale bijeenkomsten die kunstenaars, wetenschappers en technologen samenbrengen voor informele presentaties met een breed publiek. LASER Talks Brussels worden gecureerd door Alexandra Dementieva. Het komende onderwerp is MicroTuning, een artistiek onderzoeksproject op het gebied van bioart, energiekunst, kunst-wetenschap en bio-ethiek.

[FR] Les Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks sont un programme de rencontres internationales qui réunissent des artistes, des scientifiques et des technologues pour des présentations informelles avec un large public. Les LASER Talks Brussels sont organisés par Alexandra Dementieva. Le thème à venir est MicroTuning, un projet de recherche artistique dans les domaines du bioart, de l’art énergétique, de l’art-science et de la bioéthique.