WhiteFeather will lead a two-part workshop on Bacterial Biopigments as part of Studio XX’s 2018-2019 programming on Invisible Labour.

Thursday, June 14^th from 6pm to 9pm

& Saturday, June 16^th, from 1pm to 4pm

10 participants maximum

$20 | To register email ateliers@studioxx.org

Location: Speculative Life BioLab, Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at Concordia University, Montreal

“Invisible labour, both formal and informal, is work that is not seen, valued, paid, or all of the above. Invisible labour is work that is overlooked, ignored, devalued, minimized, or “naturalized” even though it is fundamental for the efficient operation of projects, institutions, households, and entire political entities and organizations. The notion of invisibility can refer to practices and tasks, but also to the workers themselves, who are either completely out of view, or who are physically visible but are nonetheless rendered invisible by employers, consumers, colleagues, friends or family members.”

This workshop series relates to the theme, Invisible Labour, quite literally, as microorganisms perform processes invisible to the naked eye. This is a relevant topic for investigation as it relates to bioart practice, within the context of nonhuman agency and its implications in how we think about, credit and complete works of art. Can this work be called collaboration (with the microorganisms) if free will isn’t present, and can microorganisms exercise what we understand as free will? How should microorganisms be credited for their role in designing works of art? When a human has decided that a
creative process with microorganisms has finished, is it ethical to then destroy the microorganisms?

For more information, visit the Studio XX website, here.

Visit the Speculative Life BioLab website, here.

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