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.

Pipet exercise at Aalto BiofiliA Lab during the First lab session in BiofiliA lab lead by Ionat Zurr and Oron Catts. Date 12th Dec, 2012 Photos: Susanna Kekkonen

My guest at Resonance will be Ulla Taipale, a curator and creative producer whose main role in the art world is to act as a bridge with the scientific community, enhancing and facilitating collaborations between artists, creators and scientists.

Ulla is one of the founders of Capsula which since 2005 has been organizing workshops, talks and events related to art, science and nature. She also initiated the Capsula Curated Expeditions which periodically invite artists to embark on artistic exploration and research linked to natural phenomena.

Today, however, we are going to talk about Ulla’s latest endeavor: her work as a Project Manager of Biofilia – Base for Biological Arts. This brand new a biological art unit interweaving artistic and bio-scientific explorations opened at Aalto University, Finland in January of this year and i’ve been looking forward to hearing more about Biofilia ever since.

Aalto Biofilia is unique in the world as it has the only fully equipped biological lab that is operated by an art school and based in an electrical engineering building. It offers unparalled reseach capacity for the growing field of biological art. The programme consist of research projects and a series of courses, lectures and hands-on workshops in the laboratory and natural environments exploring the interfaces between biosciences and art.

Biofilia was set up as a collaboration between the University of Western Australia, Perth, and Aalto University. Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr from SymbioticA -The Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts are consulting and contributing to the development of this new learning and research environment.

First lab session in BiofiliA lab lead by Ionat Zurr and Oron Catts. Assistants are students of Art&Life Manipulation Course – with special guests Corrie Van Sice and Christopher Salter. Date 12th Dec, 2012 Photos: Susanna Kekkonen

First lab session in BiofiliA lab lead by Ionat Zurr and Oron Catts. Assistants are students of Art&Life Manipulation Course – with special guests Corrie Van Sice and Christopher Salter. . Date 12th Dec, 2012 Photos: Susanna Kekkonen

Ionat Zurr with students at Aalto BiofiliA Lab, Otaniemi Campus, Espoo, Finland. Date 12th Dec, 2012 Photos: Susanna Kekkonen

Melliferopolis -Honeybees in Urban Environments. Helsinki. Ravintola Savoy. Photo: Susanna Kekkonen

The show will be aired today Thursday 28 March at 17:30. The repeat is next Tuesday at 6.30 am (yes, a.m!) If you don’t live in London, you can catch the online stream or wait till we upload the episodes on soundcloud.

I should add that if you’re curious about Biofilia and the projects developed there, you might want to follow the live streaming of the lecture that artist, researcher Dr. Ionat Zurr from Symbiotica will be giving about Semi Living Muscle actuators as evocative “matter”
on the 11th of April at 11:00 (Helsinki time.)

Previously: Interview with Ulla Taipale, Herbologies/Foraging Networks at Pixelache Helsinki, Herbologies/Foraging Networks.