The new episode of #A.I.L – artists in laboratories, the weekly radio programme about art and science i present on ResonanceFM is aired tonight.

My guest is Lisa Ma, a speculative designer who explores the fringes of society. These fringe groups –which are otherwise ignored by the broad public– range from the ladies who are mad about cats to conspirationists or to communities campaigning to stop the extension of Heathrow Airport. Lisa discusses with these people at length and then attempts create what she calls ‘platforms of unusual engagement’ with them.

One of her latest projects drove her to a joystick factory in a suburb of Shenzhen. She spent several weeks with the factory workers, sleeping in dorms, sharing their meals in the canteen, watching tv with them, making friends. Because most of these young factory workers come from a farming background and because videogame controllers might become obsolete soon, she proposed to the factory owners that they’d allow the joystick makers to work part-time in a nearby farm growing strawberries. She called the experiment Farmification – using farming to keep the factory community together when work dwindles.

I’ve interviewed Lisa about this project for the blog last year but this time, we’ll be hearing about the fate of the factory workers one year on (clue: it doesn’t involve many joysticks), obsolete technologies and eating pigeons as a contraceptive measure.

The show will be aired today Thursday 24th December at 19:30. The repeat is next Tuesday at the scandalous 6.30 am. If you don’t live in London, you can catch the online stream or wait till we upload the episodes on soundcloud.

Bonus! Lisa and her banana nails talking about Farmification at DLD Women.