BioForge — DIYbio at MICROWAVE 2011
A public hands-on DIYbio genomic-exploration installation I led at the MICROWAVE International New Media Arts Festival in Hong Kong, on behalf of the UCLA Art|Sci Center. I called it BioForge.
What it is. A public hands-on DIYbio installation I led at the 2011 MICROWAVE International New Media Arts Festival (“Alchemy”) in Hong Kong, on behalf of the UCLA Art|Sci Center. The festival programmed it as the “DIYBio Genomic Exploration Workshop.” I called it BioForge. It ran at Hong Kong City Hall on 6 November 2011.
The name. BioForge was the name I had wanted for LA Biohackers when we were naming the community lab. It did not win — the crew went with LA Biohackers — so I kept BioForge and applied it informally to this MICROWAVE installation, which is the work it actually ended up belonging to.
The context. This was the same early community-biology period as co-founding LA Biohackers and the UCLA Art|Sci work: putting the materials and methods of biology in front of a general audience as something to do, not just watch. A new-media arts festival was an unusual venue for a hands-on DIYbio activity, and that was the point.
What I did. Led the installation, credited on the festival programme as “Led by UCLA Art|Sci Center: Romie Littrell.” The festival ran production and audience logistics.
BioForge is the name I gave this work, a hands-on DIYbio installation programmed by MICROWAVE at Hong Kong City Hall in November 2011.
Collaborators
- UCLA Art|Sci Center + Lab — presenting lab/center
- MICROWAVE International New Media Arts Festival, Hong Kong — festival host
Press and references
Related projects
- 2010–2014
LA Biohackers
Co-founded a non-institutional community group with the goal of an open community biolab in Los Angeles. Active 2010–2014, alongside fellowship and lectureship at the UCLA Art|Sci Center.
- c. 2010–2014
Blue Morph
Aesthetic, interaction, and technical design of the interactive platform on Blue Morph, Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski's bio-art installation, during my UCLA Art|Sci period.
- 2015
iGEM Foundation, Community Labs Track
Chaired the Community Labs Track at the iGEM Foundation for the 2015 competition cycle, on behalf of community-bio labs participating in the world's largest synthetic-biology student competition.