This artistic research project focuses on current bio-scientific breakthroughs: the Human Microbiome, the
related shift from Genomics to Metagenomics and the subsequent evolving perception of what our body is made of and was developed
in collaboration with Birgit Nemec, Cocky Eek and Hauke Smidt. If 50 percent of cells that constitute our body are not human
but microbial, how do we have to re-imagine the human and where could this new knowledge lead?
The collective became
interested in how a biological concept developed by scientists, health politicians, policy makers and different public, could
be critically challenged using close dialogue between art, design and historical epistemology, and how artists could translate
abstract research into a more tangible and immediate experience. The idea behind this unconventional confrontation is that
all these areas – art/design, philosophy and laboratory science – question and shape the relational and context-dependent
aspects of human existence.
Sonja Bäumel (Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam) works across various disciplines including
art, design, fashion and biological practice. Sonja studied Fashion Design at the Fashion Institute of Vienna, and holds a
Bachelor in Arts from the University of Arts of Linz, as well as a Master from the Design Academy Eindhoven. She is lecturing
and giving workshops in various international Institutions and Universities. Her work has been exhibited internationally in
e.g. Ars Electronica Center (AT), Anthology Film Archives New York (USA), MAK Museum of Applied Arts (AT), Museum of Contemporary
Art Taipei (TW), Gewerbemuseum (CHE), Waag Society (NL). She is co-founder of the Dunbar's Number collective (2011), member
of Pavillion35 (2012) collective based in Vienna, and of the WNDRLUST (2013) collective based in Amsterdam. Sonja currently
teaches at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam.
The Guest Lecture Series of Professor Ingeborg Reichle’s seminar
“Bioart – Biodesign – DIY: Reframing Life in Current Artistic Practices and Design Approaches” is an informative and stimulating
opportunity to hear from distinguished artists about what’s going on in the emerging fields of bioart and biodesign and will
help our students build their network of contacts. Our guest lectures are open to all.
http://www.sonjabaeumel.at/works/bacteria/fifty-percent-human/
