ABRA exhibition 'Radical Speculations: Artificial Biology and Robotics meet Art and Architecture'

Radical Speculations: Artificial Biology and Robotics meet Art and Architecture

An exhibition at Dipoli Gallery, 13.09-18.11.22

Opening 16:00 13.09.22

The world is getting increasingly complex as new developments, systems and even aesthetics are frequently introduced. While design and creative processes are evolving, new tools and methods, which are often adopted from science and technology, are taken into use in art, design and architecture. These diverse developments are also impacting manufacturing, industries, urban habitats, design approaches and the arts in the expanded field. We believe that a disciplinary, tool- and solution-oriented approach towards the current and future global challenges will not be enough. 

The ABRA project is dealing with complex problems, focusing on a fundamental shift in approaching grand challenges through novel combinations of currently disconnected fields of knowledge and ways of working. The project is provoking and beautiful at the same time.

The project is part of an ongoing international research Erasmus+ project, aiming for novel, transdisciplinary ways of working and educating within a novel composition of fields: artificial biology, robotics, art and architecture. This project cultivates transdisciplinary knowledge and capacity building in higher education. 

This exhibition presents first results from the hands-on workshops with students and faculty tackling the skills gaps and mismatches within our disciplines and beyond. In this entanglement, new questions, new ideas, and new solutions are generated. The presented experiments and prototypes demonstrate novel ways of working, focusing on how artificial intelligence can revolutionize artistic and architectural practice, how robots can creatively transform research and industry to propose new ways of viewing and addressing the complex global challenges.

The ongoing project challenges the ambitious strategic agenda of Aalto University through radical ways of approaching art, architecture and design, asking questions in relation to sustainability, and proposing strategies beyond the ordinary. 

What is our future like co-living with complex, robotic and automated systems? What kinds of politics do these developments present - who is included and excluded? How are our aesthetics and thought processes impacted by the different approaches?

Exhibition at Dipoli gallery, opening 16:00 Tuesday 13.09.22

Exhibition open 13.09-18.11.22

Organised by Laura Beloff, Associate Professor & Head of Doctoral Education in DAM, Vice-Head of DAM (Department of Art & Media), ARTS and Pia Fricker, Professor of Practice and Vice Head of the Department of Architecture, ARTS

For further information contact Curator, Edel O Reilly - [email protected]

ABRA team:

Laura Beloff - Aalto 

Pia Fricker - Aalto 

Kaan Unlu - Aalto 

Elizabeth Jochum - AAU

Anca Horvath - AAU

Timothy Robert Merritt - AAU

Matthias Rehm - AAU

Markus Löchtefeld - AAU

Lorena Cebolla Sanahuja - Trento

Martin Michael Hanczyc - Trento

Karina Vissonova - ADES

Judit Boros - ADES

Workshop participants (Aalto, Trento, Aalborg, ADES):

Laura Beloff

Pia Fricker

Kaan Ünlü

Hege Tapio

Aska Mayer

Marija Šumarac

Cynthia Blanchette

Katri Naukkarinen

Aurora Del Rio

Lorena Cebolla Sanahuja

Elisa Pettinà

Christopher Porterfield

Martin Michael Hanczyc

Anca Horvath

Elizabeth Jochum

Timothy Robert Merritt

Matthias Rehm

Markus Löchtefeld

Maros Pekarik

Carlos Gomez Cubero 

Sólja Holm Mortensen

Johanna Lauritzen

Daniel Szalai

Edit Blaumann

Renáta Dezső

Karina Vissonova

Judit Boros

Aalto FabLab:

Solomon Embrafrash

Yu-Han Tseng

Marcus Korhonen

Aalto workshops:

Janne Ojala

Tapio Koskinen

Aalto Biofilia:

Victoria Kang

ABRA - Aalto Exhibition Team:

Edel O’Reilly, Curator

Pia Fricker, Professor of Practice and Vice Head of the Department of Architecture, ARTS

Laura Beloff, Professor (Associate professor) & Head of Doctoral Education in DAM , Vice-Head of DAM (Department of Art & Media), ARTS

Eva Tordera Nuño - Graphic design 

Myriam Gras - Photography, video

Kaan Unlu - Photography, video, logistics

Aurora Del Rio - Photography, video