Splicing Boundaries: The Experiences of Bioart Exhibition Visitors

Abstract

Bioart can cross the line between the scientific domain and that of arts and may touch the boundary between the living and the nonliving. This study addresses how visitors to a bioart exhibition experienced the hybrid aspects of this form of art. Semi-structured interviews were held with 119 visitors to the synth-ethic exhibition in Vienna, Austria, in May and June 2011. Analysis shows that for a majority of visitors the use of bacteria and lower organisms does not pose an ethical problem, whereas integration of higher animals or even humans into the artwork is not readily accepted.

Conceptualizing playfulness for reflection processes in responsible research and innovation contexts: a narrative literature review

“…First, we have not included numerous promising RRI reflection approaches that use playful elements without mentioning it as such (e.g. Guston and Sarewitz 2002;Cox, Kazubowski-Houston, and Nisker 2009;Bandelli and Konijn 2011;Horst and Michael 2011;Wieringa et al 2011;Davies et al 2012;Kerbe and Schmidt 2013;Felt et al 2014). Instead, the articles from which we did extract our playfulness design elements studied relatively small-scaled (±30 person), homogeneous interactive learning and reflection about 'established' science, technology or other content, with youngsters and adults.…”

“…An important dimension of RRI processes is the anticipation of possible and desirable future impacts (Guston and Sarewitz 2002;Owen, Macnaghten, and Stilgoe 2012). Various interesting formats already exist such as application and techno-moral scenario development (Stemerding 2015), theatrical performances (Cox, Kazubowski-Houston, and Nisker 2009), art (Kerbe and Schmidt 2013) and the card-based public engagement tools on nanotechnology (Felt et al 2014). Often, it is difficult for people, on the one hand, to envision unknown futures and, on the other hand, to leave the comfort of the usual (Rowe and Watermeyer 2013).…”

“…Several scholars have studied seemingly playful RRI reflection environments, tools and processes (e.g. Cox, Kazubowski-Houston, and Nisker 2009;Horst and Michael 2011;Wieringa et al 2011;Davies et al 2012;Kerbe and Schmidt 2013;Felt et al 2014). These studies show promising benefits to the usefulness of outcomes and participant experiences, but explicit reporting on the conceptualization of playfulness in their designs of tools or processes seems absent.…”

Amplifying Ambiguities: Art on the Fringes of Biotechnology

“…Had the scope of the PhD project allowed it, surveys of the audience responses to the Semipermeable and GYO exhibitions, for instance through short semi-structured interviews such as those conducted during the synth-ethic exhibition in Vienna (Kerbe & Schmidt 2015), qualitative questionnaires or similar, as well as observations of their physical reactions in the space over a longer period of time, could have given grounds for further analysis of how the exhibitions were actually perceived by visitors.…”

Reflection as a Deliberative and Distributed Practice: Assessing Neuro-Enhancement Technologies via Mutual Learning Exercises (MLEs)

“…Building on the experiences of others [28, 29],8 we explicitly explored how genres of the imagination (such as novels, plays, movies, poems and art-works) can be employed as imaginative laboratories of deliberative reflection, as windows into science and as podiums where future scenarios involving emerging technologies may be explored and assessed in a more or less experimental fashion.…”