Art & Science Interactions in Society/Art & Ethics – Lecture and Workshop – Lucas Evers

Art & Ethics – workshop proposal, Taipei National University of Arts
Lucas Evers, Waag – Technology & Society

There is a still growing interest of artists to work with living materials, with living organisms, with living systems. These works are 1) always performative by nature of the living and acting component and 2) always hold the responsibility of taking care of the living element. That responsibility brings about moral and ethical elements within the artwork, in cases closely related to the ethical elements that are evaluated by ethics expert panels in scientific research. The juxtaposition of the art-ethical practice and the scientific-ethical practice is what the project Trust Me, I’m an Artist is based on: the artwork is presented as if it were a scientific research proposal and evaluated by an ethics expert panel in the presence of an audience, revealing the ethical dilemma’s and complexities of art working with life and revealing the working of responsibility structures within scientific and societal institutions and the individuals involved.

For the Art & Ethics workshop on November 5 at Taipei National University of Arts, participants to selected an artwork that they felt contains moral / ethical components to be briefly presented within the workshop participants group, where after the ethical components were discussed. A possible curatorial context and framework wherein a selection of the artworks will be exhibited was proposed by participant groups.

The workshop was based on the DIY version of Trust Me, I’m an Artist.