Research designer Nadine Botha, in collaboration with skin infections specialist Henry de Vries, is one of the BAD Award winners of 2020. Her work 'The Orders of the Undead' is part of the exhibition Evolutionaries.
The project explores the colonial origins of contemporary narratives of infectious disease, race, violence, and apocalypses through zombie films. It highlights how our popular entertainment perpetuates colonial tropes of the white-savior complex through fatalistic fear-mongering of an impending Apocalypse. Through four short films, the work draws attention to the war-like language and metaphors of contagion that are used to ‘other’ people.
Press 'CC' to turn on Dutch subtitles.
Video by: Isolde Hallensleben (composition & interviews), Wouter Sessink (camera & animation), Willem Sluyterman van Loo (camera) and MU Hybrid Art House
Artist Sissel Marie Tonn is one of the BAD Award winners of 2020. Her work 'Becoming a Sentinel Species', that she created together with researchers Leslie Heather and Juan Garcia Vallejo, is part of the exhibition Evolutionaries.
The experimental science-fiction film follows two researchers on a quest to explore and amplify their own bodies’ sensitivity to microplastics on a cellular level. The fictional narrative emerges around the documentation of the artist’s research into the immune system and microplastics. By imagining a future with humans in the role of sentinels signaling pollution in their bodies, the film reflects on how all life on earth is fundamentally interconnected with each other and the environments they inhabit.
Press 'CC' to turn on Dutch subtitles.
Video by: Isolde Hallensleben (composition & interviews), Wouter Sessink (camera & animation), Willem Sluyterman van Loo (camera)
Designer & architect Dasha Tsapenko, in collaboration with researcher Han Wösten, is one of the BAD 2020 winners. Her work 'Fur_tilize' is part of the exhibition Evolutionaries.
The work offers a speculative prototype of a value-building form of fashion, in which a garment evolves through phases of growing: producing materials as well as food for consumption. Five grown 'fur' coats show five live-use cycles of one garment and illustrate how different species support each other, increasing the value of a particular piece over time.
Press 'CC' to turn on Dutch subtitles.
Video by: Isolde Hallensleben (composition & interviews), Wouter Sessink (camera & animation), Willem Sluyterman van Loo (camera) and MU Hybrid Art House
Jalila Essaïdi won a BAD Award in 2010 with the project ‘2.6g 329m/s’, also known as ‘Bulletproof Skin’. Her work ‘Double Edged’ is currently on show at MU during Evolutionaries. Jalila is specialized in the fields of bio-based materials and bio-art and is the founder of BioArt Laboratories, one of the leading artistic development institutes in this field in the Netherlands.
Video by: Isolde Hallensleben (composition & interviews), Wouter Sessink (camera & animation), Willem Sluyterman van Loo (camera)
The artist-led think tank Center for Genomic Gastronomy examines the biotechnologies and biodiversity of human food systems. Their mission is to map food controversies, prototype alternative culinary futures, and to imagine a more just and biodiverse food system. Over the years, they participated multiple times in the bio art and design exhibitions at MU. The first time was in 2011, when they won a BAD Award with the project ‘Eat Less, Live More, & Pray for Beans’. This year, ‘Welcome to the O.F.F.I.C.E’ is on show: an interactive space that combines ten years of their research.
Video by: Isolde Hallensleben (composition & interviews), Wouter Sessink (camera & animation), Willem Sluyterman van Loo (camera)
In 2020, the Bio Art & Design (BAD) Award celebrated its tenth anniversary. Specially for this unique edition, the three winners of 2020 and one winner of each previous years were interviewed about their intriguing projects, created in close collaboration…
In 2020, the Bio Art & Design (BAD) Award celebrated its tenth anniversary. Specially for this unique edition, the three winners of 2020 and one winner of each previous years were interviewed about their intriguing projects, created in close collaboration with researchers. Together the 12 video portraits underline how meaningful a prize like the BAD Award is for the collaboration between art and science.
