Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Experimentelle Biophysik

Lyndsey Walsh

Lyndsey Walsh is an American artist, designer, writer, researcher, and cultural worker based in Berlin, DE. While easily disgruntled by labels, Lyndsey primarily categorizes her visual creative practice within the realms of biological art and bio-design. She holds a Bachelor’s in Individualized Studies from New York University and a Master’s in Biological Arts with Distinction from SymbioticA Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts at the University of Western Australia. She has exhibited her work internationally and has publications with Nautilus Magazine, CLOT Magazine, The Goethe Institute, and more. Lyndsey is enthralled by the creatures emerging from the spaces in between, crossing over the imaginary, the becoming, and reality. Her work explores the cultural and social quagmire of disease, identity, the body, human and non-human relationships, and speculative narratives on thefuture. She is the Social Media Manager and one of the organizational members of the Dutch arts organization Unbore Collective. Currently, Lyndsey is a visiting scholar and researcher with the Department of Experimental Biophysics at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin in collaboration with the UniSysCat Cluster of Excellence in Germany and Adjunct Professor at ITMO University’s Art & Science Centre in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is also expected to undertake an upcoming artist residency with the Art & Science Centre at ITMO University.

(R) EVOLUTION

Optogenetics are a set of biological techniques that propose a future where many neurological diseases in humans could one day be treated with light. It also proposes the ability to have control over light-responsive algae for the production of bio-fuel, food, and other biological materials and products. However, these techniques open the door for many bioethical issues and concerns about genetic modifications and control over cellular behaviors in both humans and non-humans. Inspired by the ecofeminist philosophy of Donna Haraway’s “Making Kin”, (R) EVOLUTION is an artistic attempt to rearticulate these relationships about visual perception between algae and humans through performance-based techniques of dance and game play. 

(R)EVOLUTION has been inspired by the hit 90s arcade game Dance Dance Revolution, which turns game players into performing dancers through their responses to programmed choreography. (R)EVOLUTION adopts the game’s premise to question the extent to which another organism can be controlled through sensory perception by turning the C. reinhardtii into dancing performers that respond to programmed light choreography. 

The project probes the extent in which light can be harnessed as a biotechnology to direct biological behaviors and mechanisms, and how that would impact the future of technologies that could emerge.

Instagram: @artexvivo