Hybrid Practices: Art and Science in Artistic Research
Biology is one of the fields of science that has extreme importance in our lives. As a biological creature, I wish to find out more about my existence, to understand it scientifically, and to comment on it as an artist.
My presentation gives a concise overview of the work I did as an artist from 2012 to 2014 in preparing solo exhibitions entitled Hybrid Practices and Hybrid Practice—From General to Specific. I have integrated my exhibition work with a broader vision of hybrid art, working at the Institute of Cell and Microbiology, at the University of Tartu, Estonia, and at the Laboratory of Marine Ecology at Estonia’s Institute of Marine Biology. This phase resulted in artworks that pose a number of salient questions: How can we better preserve and protect nature and, by doing so, ourselves? How can we bring this information into art and the gallery context? What is the nature of the tiny organisms that play such and important role in our lives? How do the synthetic entities and natural organisms interact? Can they be connected, and is this ethically justified?
I introduce two projects from my recent artistic experience: saccaromyces cerevisiae and the Mission of Yeast and Portraits of Voyagers. In closing, I advance the idea that artists have a very important role in societal and scientific progress and promote the understanding that artists and scientists share responsibility for the future.
PhD Candidate, Department of Art and Design
Estonia Academy of Art
Piibe Piirma is an Estonian artist and curator. She has been a designer and artist since 2002 and has curated various media art exhibitions since 2006. Her current activities are closely related to her doctorate studies in art and design at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Piirma’s thesis examines the philosophical and theoretical backgrounds and practical art genres of interdisciplinary collaboration. Her personal art practice is also based on collaboration with various science labs. Her most recent solo exhibitions,Hybrid Practices and Hybrid Practice — from General to Specific, were held in Tallinn in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Piirma was also a co-organizer of the 2014 international conference Art & Science — Hybrid Art and Interdisciplinary Research. She curated the exhibition Rhizope.