Research Talk: Julia Ihls

LABMOSPHERES

The (Biodesign) Lab as a Transdisciplinary Knowledge Space at the Intersection of Design and the Natural Sciences

To address the complexity of our present moment—marked by climate crises and socio-ecological precarity—it is essential to move beyond traditional professional boundaries and siloed thinking. This is how a team of microbiologists and textile designers might come together to create a pavilion using fungal mycelium and 3D-printed knit structures. Or how electrical engineers and media artists might develop a bio-computer. Biodesign—a relatively young sub-discipline of design at the intersections of artistic practice and natural science—creates precisely this kind of space for transdisciplinary collaboration.

Yet beyond the constant communicative synchronization that such cross-disciplinary research requires, there is also the question of the knowledge spaces and related practices that make such engagements possible in the first place. What happens when the conceptual boundaries between “lab,” “studio,” and “exhibition space” become increasingly porous? And what kind of space is needed for design research and scientific research to encounter one another on equal footing and intermix?

In this talk, Julia Ihls offers insights into her work as head of the Bio Design Lab at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, as well as into her research project Labmospheres. On transdisciplinary epistemo-spaces at the Technical University of Munich.

21. November 2024, 18:30
Vordere Zollamtsstraße 7, FLUX 2