NATURAL SCIENCE
In July 2011, twenty artists, scientists, filmmakers, theorists and students engaged in an art/science research experiment where a diverse set of individuals came together to live and work at a bioart field research station in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. BioARTCAMP was a collaborative art/science project designed by Jennifer Willet and co-produced by INCUBATOR Lab and The Banff Centre. Participants worked to build a portable laboratory in the forest and conducted a variety of scientific, ecological, creative, and theoretical projects. BioARTCAMP served to provide alternative visions of of the biotech future: ecological, embodied and responsible visions of our relations and responsibilities to the other life forms we share our planet and our laboratories with.
In this exhibition, NATURAL SCIENCE, Willet will present an un-natural history collection; a collection of items, life forms, images, and stories resulting from the BioARTCAMP project. In the NATURAL SCIENCE collection traditional hierarchies between what is natural and unnatural are undermined. Lab specimens co-exist with local ecological specimens, cultural artefacts and human subjects. These objects, in tandem with photographic, video, and archival documentation of the camp attempt to recount the BioARTCAMP experience and serve to re-imagine the role of biotechnology in our shared natural history.
NATURAL SCIENCE has confirmed Canadian exhibitions at Artcite (Windsor, 2014) Forrest City Gallery (London, 2015) Harcourt House (Edmonton, 2015) and Open Space Gallery, (Victoria, 2016).
Video Direction: Jeanette Groenendaal, Zoot Derks BioARTCAMP Participants: Iain Baxter&, Angus Leech, Tagny Duff, Paul Vanouse, Marta De Menezes, Marie Pier Boucher, Kurt Illerbrun, Bulent Mutus, Jeanette Groenendaal, Zoot Derks, Jennifer Willet, Jamie Ferguson, Britt Wray, Kacie Auffret, David Dowhaniuk. Additionally, Tokio Webster, Grant Yocom, Louise Baxter&, Joan Linder, Dylan Leech.
Project Assistants: Billie Mclaughlin, Arturo Herrera, Lauren DiVito, Dianne Clinton, Patrick Bodnar, Tokio Webster, Amanda White.
Supporters: The Canada Council for the Arts, the Banff Centre, the University of Windsor, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Arts Council, Hostelling International, Parks Canada, Banff National Park, The Art and Genomics Centre at The University of Leiden, Fonds BKVB.
Image Credits:
01) NATURAL SCIENCE: Owl Night Light, 2013. Photo: Arturo Herrera
02) NATURAL SCIENCE installation, Artcite Inc. Windsor, Canada 2014. Photo: Arturo Herrera
03) NATURAL SCIENCE installation, Open Space, Victoria, Canada 2016. Photo J.Willet
04) NATURAL SCIENCE installation, Artcite Inc. Windsor, Canada 2014. Photo: Arturo Herrera
05) NATURAL SCIENCE: Deer Decoy, 2014. Photo: Arturo Herrera
06) NATURAL SCIENCE: Park Map, 2014. Photo: Arturo Herrera
07) NATURAL SCIENCE: Murry the Bear, 2014. Photo: Arturo Herrera
08) NATURAL SCIENCE, Digital Print, 2013. Photo: Arturo Herrera
09) NATURAL SCIENCE, detail specimen catalogue, 2012.
10) NATURAL SCIENCE, Digital Print, 2013. Photo: Arturo Herrera
