Fluid Matter

In May this year, these three proposals were proclaimed the winners of the Bio Art & Design Award 2016, a competition for young artists and designers who move the boundaries of art and science with promising biotechnological projects in collaboration with leading Dutch research institutions.

This year’s award winners are Pei-Ying Lin who collaborated with Miranda de Graaf of the Erasmus MC Viroscience Lab on ‘Tame is to Tame’; Cecilia Jonsson who created ‘Haem’ in collaboration with Rodrigo Leite de Oliveira of The Netherlands Cancer Institute / Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital; and Lilian van Daal & Roos Meerman who developed ‘Dynamorphosis – The beauty of inner mechanisms’ together with Renée van Amerongen of the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences at the University of Amsterdam. Each team had six months to develop their plans. This winter, as part of the exhibition Fluid Matter, MU artspace exhibits the exciting results of these collaborations.

Fluid Matter explores the theme of fluidity inside and between bodies, cells, and substances. Life’s processes abound with continuous exchanges and are often embodied in liquid form, flowing throughout complex and microscopic environments; yet, these phenomena often escape perception. It takes the intervention of artists and designers to bring them into the realm of the observable, lend them meaning, highlight their beauty, or find their material potential at different scales.

Fluid Matter presents the winning projects of the Bio Art and Design Award 2016 alongside several recent artworks that share a dimension of fluidity. The works will reflect on, demonstrate, or even contest advances in life sciences research. They will also probe fluidity in the realms of inter-species exchange, personal identity, metabolic processes, and even in the exchange between our bodies and our oceans.

Curators
Fluid Matter is curated by Angelique Spaninks, Director MU, and William Myers, Jury Chairman Bio Art and Design Awards.