COVID Suit: Stay-At-Home Paper Laboratory with Dr. Jennifer Willet
Help us test a new INCUBATOR Art Lab workshop!
Hosted by Science Gallery Detroit
Wednesday, December 2, 2020 6:00 PM
Friday, December 11, 2020 10:30 PM
The COVID Suit series explores shared experiences of fear and isolation under orders to stay-at-home during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Dr. Jennifer Willet, an artist, a mom, and laboratory researcher, performs daily pandemic activities - cooking, caring for children, shopping - while wearing a bedazzled hazmat suit. During this time of social isolation, Willet was fortunate to work from home but has missed access to her Bioart Laboratory and her research group at the University of Windsor. To address this loss, she and her lab team designed a paper puppet theatre cut out of INCUBATOR Art lab and conduct simple kitchen grade bioart performances with the paper theatre.
Through this online workshop, participants will download and build their own Paper Laboratory Puppet Theatre - and conduct easy bioart performances using materials found in their kitchen and bathroom. Willet will engage participants with a COVID Suit performance using her own paper laboratory from her kitchen/lab.
Participants are asked to photo or video document the results of their Stay-At-Home experiments and share them on social media at #incubatorartlab and email them to incubatorlabadmin@uwindsor.ca
Please also email us directly if you have any feedback or suggestions on the workshop for future iterations.
This project was developed in conjunction with the INCUBATOR Art Lab Team: Billie Mclaughlin, Ashley Hemmings, Domenica Mediati, Aleeza Tarqi, Kadila Adili, Nate Talbot, and Hadia Nadeem.
For more information:
Science Gallery Detroit
To download your Paper Theatre Template and Assembly Instruction please click on the links below:
Download Paper Theatre Assembly Instructions
Download Paper Theatre Template
Special Thanks to the IOTA Institute for commissioning the Covid Suit Project.
IOTA Institute
Check Out some results from ur team members:
Paper Laboratory Intervention by Hadia Nadeem
Jell-O Lab
For my Paper Theatre Intervention, I used fluorescent Jell-O to represent the chaotic harmony
of the bio art world. The Jell-O is placed on the opening and windows of the lab to give the
illusion of shattered glass which leads to the idea of a science experiment gone wrong.
Additionally, I placed a fluorescent Jell-O petri dish in which bacteria are growing on the outside
of my lab which embodies the interconnection of the microorganisms with the luminescence of
their environment.
Paper Laboratory Intervention by Domenica Mediati
My Paper Laboratory holds little fungal networks called Mycelium- the internet of the forest! As I
captured this intervention, I opened the curtains to let in light for a better image.
In doing this I noticed quite a magical relationship unfolding between the sun, the trees, and
the mycelium.
Paper Laboratory Intervention by Nate Talbot
For my lab intervention I wanted to make a piece about the lab as a domestic space, since it
was designed to look in part like a kitchen. I was inspired by shows like Chef's Table where
professional chefs arrange food in an aesthetically but not always appetizing way. This
evening's entreé: freeze dried mandarine and Chile orange peel with fragrant Kettle BBQ chip
crumble, crisp garlic and onion skin with gold leaf flakes, with a Turkish ginger and dehydrated
blackberry marinade. Bon appetite!
Paper Laboratory Intervention Video by Ashley Hemmings
Paper Laboratory Intervention Video by Billie McLaughlin
Image Credit
1) Jennifer Willet, COVID Suit: Stay-At-Home Paper Laboratory with Dr. Jennifer Willet, 2020.
