BioARTech Laboratory

Are there boundaries to bioart? What kinds of knowledge is excluded from scientific research? How can this kind of information be transformed into arts-based methods (ABM and arts-based research/ ABR)?

A new BioARTech Laboratory at the Faculty of Art and Design of the University of Finland is focusing on developing new knowledge about bioart. This laboratory seeks to develop activities that combine bioart, fashion and textile art, creative research (ABM and ABR), biotechnology and science. The technologies used will include biotechnological methods, biomaterials, smart textiles and new materialism. Biotaidetta tarkasteleva laboratorio (Pietarinen et al. 2022): https://tahiti.journal.fi/article/view/121885

 

Key aims of the BioARTech laboratory are the exploration of biomimicry, which means to mimic good ideas from nature and transport them into design or innovation. Another key aim of the laboratory is to explore the notion of biophilia, a term that has been established by E.O. Wilson in 1984 and refers to the humans’ positive responsiveness to nature, which is based on shared genetics between humans and nature. Nature´s Own Intellectual Creations (Härkönen et al. 2023): 11_NJ7-Harkonen.pdf (nuartjournal.com)

Artist-researchers Heidi Pietarinen and Amna Qureshi from the University of Lapland have conducted in-depth work on the innovative BioARTech laboratory environment and utilisation of available resources for a bioart project called Life Between Art and (Reindeer) Blood. In this study, a living design medium refers to material production that incorporates simple living organisms such as reindeer blood, material-driven design and co-designing, with an entity having its own agency. Life Between Art and (Reindeer) Blood (Pietarinen & Qureshi 2023): ruukku-journal.fi

Future Bio Arctic Design, kemia

Future Bio Arctic Design, tekstiili

Future Bio-Arctic Design - luonnonmukainen älytekstiili

Future Bio-Arctic Design - luonnonmukainen älytekstiili (Subtitles in English)

Key researchers of the BioARTech Laboratory are Heidi Pietarinen, Satu Miettinen and Amna Qureshi from the University of Lapland (Finland) and Melanie Sarantou from Kyushu University (Japan).

Heidi Pietarinen is a Professor in the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland, Finland. She holds a PhD degree in textile art and design. Her research has emphasis on knowledge and methods of textile art, bioart and creative research (art-based research and methods, material-driven research). Her current researches include projects such as High Altitude Bioprospecting (HAB) and Life Between Art and (Reindeer) Blood. These has resulted in international exhibitions, discussions and teaching around the arctic raw materials, nature of microbes, the language of bioprospecting and our relationship with our non-human research collaborators. Ultimately art exhibitions Atmospheric Encounters (2021-23) were developed and shown in Italy, United Kingdom, Finland and USA. Entanglements South-North (2022-2023) in Czech Republic, Namibia, Belgium and United Kingdom. Pietarinen is also a member of Bioart Society (Finland).

Satu Miettinen is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland in Finland. She has been in this position since 2018. She is also a Professor of Service Design at the same university, a position she has held since 2016. Miettinen is studying the relationships between forest, natural environment, play and performance. Her work is inspired by visits to the close-by forest that are her living laboratory. She is also inspired by a variety of natural environments when she and her colleagues are constructing embodied performances with nature utilizing improvisatory methods.

Melanie Sarantou is professor of Social Design at Kyushu University in Japan and Adjunct Professor at the University of Lapland in Finland, investigating the role of arts and narrative practices in social design. She explores fashion as an artform through a variety of methods to upcycle, reuse and remake found fashion garments and objects. Her textile design is inspired by three-dimensional forms, geometrical shapes and the natural environments of the far North and South. Her work includes three-dimensional quilted and felted textiles, and natural and organic materials that are shaped by a combination of human and non-human artistic expression that can be found, for example, in the agency of plant roots and their growth. The artist-researcher also seeks to understand how her textile and fashion art is received by human and non-human audiences.

Amna Qureshi is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Art and Design, University of Lapland, Finland. Her research explores the intersections of cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge, design thinking, visual literacy, and arts-based methodologies. She is particularly interested in how bioart and material design practices can foster more-than-human perspectives, emphasizing multispecies collaboration, ecological entanglements, and sustainable innovation. Amna’s work moves across academic and community contexts, aiming to promote inclusion, welfare, policymaking, and creative service development, especially among young communities in the Arctic. Her research also engages with emerging conversations around the digitalization of cultural heritage and sustainable interaction design, blending critical inquiry with experimental and collaborative practices.

Heidi Pietarinen

Professor
Fashion, Textile Art and Material Studies
Tel. +358 40 484 4401

firstname. surname (at) ulapland.fi

Satu Miettinen

Dean, Professor
Service Design
Tel. +358 40 484 4367

firstname. surname (at) ulapland.fi

Melanie Sarantou

Adjunct Professor,
Fashion, Social Design, ABR

firstname. surname (at) ulapland.fi

Amna Qureshi

Postdoctoral Researcher,
Tel. +358 40 563 7116

firstname. surname (at) ulapland.fi