Where art meets science: SynBio Expressions blends creativity with biology.
Science and art are often considered opposites, the right and the left brain. Last week, SynBio Expressions showcased the beautiful things that can happen when the two disciplines work together.
From Sept. 10 to Sept. 13, this event explored the interdisciplinary study of BioArt,which combines biology and art. Concordia’s 4TH SPACE, located in the LB building, hosted workshops, panels, live discussions, and performances to help students better understand BioArt.
By creating this space where art and science can mingle freely, co-creators and graduate students Kathleen Hon and Zoe Katz hope to democratize science and make it accessible to all.
“You write these papers with very specific jargon; you write them in a very specific context where a lot of people can’t get it,” said Katz. “You write them for a journal that has a paywall, for an audience that has all this training, which is limited by a lot of access barriers and held in elitist structures.”
Hon and Katz hope to continue to spread the gospel of BioArt. They believe that scientific research needs to be explained in a way where it can reach anyone because it affects everyone.
“Science is not a scary thing that happens in a far-removed place and is intangible or abstract,” Katz adds. “You are biology, your health is biology, your food is biology, the interactions you have with people is biology.”
Typically, BioArt is used to communicate scientific ideas to those outside the scientific community using art. It can take many forms, as was visible on the first day of SynBio.
The event began with a panel of successful bioartists who highlighted the utility of artistic and scientific collaboration. One of the panelists, Dr. Matteo Farinella, merges his Ph.D. in neuroscience and his lifelong love of drawing to create works like Neurocomic, an educational comic book. Despite loving both disciplines, it wasn’t until the end of his Ph.D. that he finally dipped his toe into BioArt.
Through his comics, Farinella hopes he can help communicate important scientific information to the public.
“[It’s about] lowering the barrier,” he explained. “Maybe someone wouldn’t read the paper or even the popular science book, but they would read a comic.”
Farinella pointed out that art is very present in science, as many scientists use figures and diagrams to help explain their research.
“It’s interesting to see how many scientists actually do sketches,” said Farinella. “Even if they don’t think of it as art, they do use art in their work.”
Armed with a better understanding of what BioArt can do, guests were ready to attend the “Mitochondrial Drama” show. While most of the BioArt showcased in the event was visual, “Mitochondrial Drama” was an evening filled with performance pieces.
The performances included a drag king explaining amoebas, a roller skating clown with cancer, a short film about eggs, a burlesque performance on a mashup of Rihanna’s S&M, and a lecture about the mitochondria. Biological concepts snuck themselves into the audience’s minds as they laughed and applauded.
