Bio-Art: Varieties of the Living in Artworks from the Pre-Modern to the Anthropocene

In the face of climate change, the destruction of biodiversity or genetic experimentation, Bio Art appears as a form that is most directly grappling with the problems of the Anthropocene . It develops many different approaches and explores a variety of mediums, often related to scientific research, creating art that uses plants, insects, mammals, bacteria, bird songs, forest sounds, or genetic modification. Bio Art’s uniqueness comes from incorporating, rather than just representing the living in a diverse range of artworks. In discussing such works from various world regions and time periods, the contributors address the divide between human and non-human animals, between culture and nature .

Julio Velasco, artist-researcher, works in the fields of art and of the intersection of life sciences, humanities and social sciences, and holds a PhD in Art and Art Sciences from the Sorbonne Université, Paris. He was a DAAD scholarship holder and is member and co-organizer of the research group Art and Research at the Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin. His current projects are about the Memory of the Plants and the Aestheticization of Immigration.
Klaus Weber, historian, is professor of economic and social history at Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). He researches the impact of early modern and modern globalization on labor regimes and patterns of consumption. Holding a PhD from Universität Hamburg, he worked at the National University of Ireland in Galway, at The Rothschild Archive in London, and at the Institute for the History of the German Jews in Hamburg.