On Monday October 30th, 2023, 13:30-15:30 pm at room TP3, Dr. François-Joseph Lapointe, Département de sciences biologiques, Université de Montréal, will be presenting “Performing with microbes” as a guest-lecturer of the Department of Audio & Visual Arts within the framework of the course THE302 Philosophy & Media Aesthetics.
More about the presentation:
We inhabit the microbial world. Microbes live on us, around us, and inside of us. Every single surface of our bodies is populated by millions of microbes. We eat microbes, swallow microbes, digest microbes, and defecate microbes. Whereas the human genome defines what we are as a species, the human microbiome now redefines the concept of self. As a scientist, I study the human microbiome to detect novel types of interactions among bacterial communities. As a performance artist, I use my body as a canvas, tracking the evolution of my microbial identity. In this talk, I will present my experimental projects with the microbiome as a way of questioning the aesthetics of the self.
More about the guest-lecturer:
François-Joseph Lapointe is an artscientist from Montréal (Canada) with a PhD in evolutionary biology (1992) and a PhD in dance and performance studies (2012). As part of his research in biology, he is interested in phylogenetics, systematics, population genetics, and the human microbiome. As part of his interdisciplinary artistic practice, he draws inspiration from models of molecular biology and genetics. He is the author of 140 scientific publications and more than 300 international conferences. For his most recent project, he is currently sequencing his metagenome (and that of others) to produce microbiome selfies. His artistic work has been exhibited in the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Chile, and the UK.
Visitor program coordination: Assoc. Prof. Dalila Honorato and Spec. Fac. Marily Argyrokastriti.
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