How can we make our indoor climate healthier by developing new materials from living organisms?
The use of living things such as bacteria or plants in designing products or as art.
biodesign
Article
Now online: watch our first online symposium within the LABS: Future Interiors project with Studio Samira Boon and VU Amsterdam.
Event
How can we make our indoor climate healthier by developing new materials from living organisms? Join us for this online meetup on April 2nd.
Event
8-07-2019
Fabricademy 2019
Fabricademy is a transdisciplinary course that focuses on new technologies applied to the textile field. Applications are now open.
Event
An evening with Rosanne Hertzberger about bacteria in the human body and creating an low-oxygen environment.
Article
1-03-2019
Follow the BioHack Academy
Did you know that you can also follow the BioHack Academy online? All lessons are recorded and shown on the video channel.
Event
21-12-2018
The Beauty Kit presentation
On Friday, December 28th, at 4.30 pm Isabel Burr Raty will present her ongoing research project The Beauty Kit at M4gastatelier.
Event
19-12-2018
Biohacking workshops
Roland van Dierendonck of Waag will give a workshop biohacking at Tetem in Enschede and at Culturhus Borne.
Article
7-11-2018
BioPlastics workshop at Waag
Students of the Master Industrial Design (MID) programme at the KABK have followed a BioPlastics workshop in the Waag.
Article
22-10-2018
Three impressions of the BioHack Academy
Have a look at the projects of participants in the BioHack Academy, an international programme organised by Waag.
Event
18-10-2018
The Beauty Kit Female Farm
The Beauty Kit Female Farm is an eco-friendly cognitive-pleasure oriented farm that harvests female genital fluids to produce beauty bio-products.
Event
15-10-2018
The Beauty Kit Focus Group
In this participatory lecture performance by Isabel Burr Raty displays the beauty bio-products that she manufactures with genital female fluids.
Event
During this event we will examine our own bodies as sensors with the help of artist Kuang-Yi Ku.
Article
15-08-2018
Wood Wide Web
Journalists get inspired by the subjects that were brought up in the Dutch broadcast 'Zomergasten' by Marleen Stikker. What about that Wood Wide Web?
Event
4-06-2018
Virophilia exhibition
An exhibition by Pei-Ying Lin on the concept of 'virophilia': a love of viruses. At puntWG in Amsterdam West.
Event
17-04-2018
Cooking with viruses workshop
During this workshop we explore incorporating viruses into our cooking practices with 3Package Deal artist Pei-Ying Lin. What will our viral future look like?
Article
10-04-2018
The future of food and viruses
An interview with artist-in-residence Pei-Ying Lin on becoming friendlier with viruses and the using them as ingredient in the kitchen.
Event
This edition of the Critical Making workshop series focuses on extracting pigments from bacteria.
Event
"Trust Me, I'm an Artist” is an internationally renowned series of events debating the ethical issues that arise when art meets science. Can and should an artist exhibit fragments of wild DNA that have the potential to cause antibiotic resistance in infectious diseases in order to raise awareness of this sublime existential risk?
Event
Time, from the universal to the personal and from the cellular to the geological, even the astronomical. This exhibition explores different dimensions and scales of time, from the universal to the personal and from the cellular to the geological, even the astronomical.
Event
8-02-2018
Border Sessions: design with DNA
Pieter van Boheemen (Open Wetlab and BioHack Academy) will participate in the Border Sessions festival on Technology & Society on November 11th, 2015 in The Hague. This session is called "Well, why shouldn’t I design with DNA? Do-It-Yourself Synthetic Biology at your local community center".
Event
This is an exciting event within the Trust Me I’m an Artist project. Transmediale will host an ethics panel regarding the Cellular Propeller project by Howard Boland.
Event
7-02-2018
DIY Human Enhancement Clinic #1
What use are hormones, to us, to others, to other species? What if you extract them yourself instead of leaving that to the pharmaceutical industry? What can you make? Cocktails, connections, corrections?
Event
4-02-2018
DIY Bio-LOGIC 2-day workshop
A two day workshop where you create a design, print this using a hacked 3D printer and organic material, which is a fertile breeding ground for a slime mould - see how the mold grows and redefines the shape of your structure. What happens when living organisms grow on designed structures made of organic, super fertile material, shaped by you?
Event
4-02-2018
Bioart, Biodesign : Journée d’études
Lucas Evers of Waag's Open Wetlab will speak at a BioArt & BioDesign meeting in Paris, France on 6 March 2014.
Event
The Future of Art & Science Collaborations is a series of double lectures by eminent international researchers and practitioners from the field where art and science interact.
Event
12-01-2018
Open Call Bio Art & Design Award 2018
Artists and designers interested in the life sciences are invited to propose new projects for the Bio Art & Design Award 2018.
Event
Science-Fictions consists of a workshop and a symposium at DesignLab Enschede with invited artists, scientists and philosophers to encounter and discuss new creations of biotechnologies.
Article
20-10-2017
Gene.coop at the Dutch Design Week 2017
During the Dutch Design Week 2017 you can visit the Embassy of Health to discover gene.coop. Gene.coop is a cooperative in which your DNA is stored and only made available to third parties under conditions determined by you.
Article
MAD summerschool, sounds like a crazy summerschool but it actually stands for ‘Man and Design’ i.e. a design summerschool.
Article
22-05-2017
Winners Bio Art & Design Award 2017
De biokunstenaars Xandra van der Eijk met ‘Seasynthesis’, Cheng Guo met ‘Anon. - An intervention in the Anthropocene’ en Jiwon Woo (USA) met ‘Mother's Hand Taste (Son-mat)’ zijn op vrijdag 19 mei uitgeroepen tot de winnaars van de Bio Art & Design Award 2017 (BAD Award).
Event
24-03-2017
Accursed Creator: The art of bio-hacking
Een avond met internationale kunstenaars Agi Haines (eerder artist-in-residence bij Waag), Steve Kurtz en René ten Bos, Denker des Vaderlands. Gezamenlijk bespreken zij de mogelijkheden en uitdagingen die zich aandienen nu de mens in staat is op celniveau het leven te herscheppen.
Event
31-01-2017
Tissues as fluids - Oron Catts @ MU
Thursday February 9, 2017 Oron Catts will give a lecture about tissues at MU artspace. The lecture is part of the public program underpinning the bioart and –design exhibition Fluid Matter, Liquid and Life in Motion, that presents an exploration of fluidity inside and between bodies, cells and substances.
Article
8-12-2016
Bio art at Fluid Matter exhibition
At MU gallery in Eindhoven, the 7th edition of the Bio Art & Design Award shows works of the winning teams and several other works of bio art and bio design under the title Fluid Matter.
Event
21-11-2016
Fluid Matter exhibition
Fluid Matter presents the winning projects of the Bio Art and Design Award 2016 alongside several recent artworks that share a dimension of fluidity
Article
6-10-2016
Pet Shop Food Bar in Amsterdam
We opened the Pet Shop Food Bar at the Waterlooplein in Amsterdam in November 2016. We investigated for one month how our micro-pets can contribute to the future of our food.
Event
19-08-2016
Ectogenesis: Plant-Human Monsters
In Ectogenesis: Plant-Human Monsters, biologist and artist Špela Petrič (artist-in-residence at Waag) researches the possibility to create a hybrid organism between human and plant, using hormones as carriers of transgressing information. The artist developed her exhibition at the Open Wetlab of Waag. On 28 August (15-18.00 hrs), the opening of the exhibition will take place, including an interactive session.
Event
5-08-2016
Pet Shop Microlympics started
Waag and Motherboard will host the Microlympic Games: the most and least exciting sports event in the world, where microbes play the key role.
Article
23-05-2016
Winners Bio Art & Design Award 2016
The bio artists Lilian van Daal and Roos Meerman, Cecilia Jonsson and Pei-Ying Lin were announced on 20 May as the winners of the Bio Art & Design Award 2016 (BAD Award).
Article
15-05-2016
Sculptures made of skin
Heirloom is a project by artist Gina Czarnecki. The Heirloom project involves growing “skin portraits” of Czarnecki’s daughters.
Article
3-05-2016
XTH Sense: biocreative interaction
The XTH Sense has launched on Kickstarter just recently. What can you do with this wearable? The XTH Sense harnesses the power of your body to let you interact with connected devices, musical and video software, games and virtual reality in a highly personalized and engaging way.
Event
7-04-2016
Open Science
Xiamyra Daal will present our biotechnology activities of our Open Wetlab at the meeting 'Open Science. Iedereen doet mee' at SPUI25 in Amsterdam. This meeting is Dutch spoken.
Project
12-01-2016
3Package Deal Bio Art & Design
Waag gives biotech artists and designers the opportunity to use our facilities and to present their work within our public programme.
Event
24-11-2015
Body of Matter
Body of Matter presents the work of ten artists that advance our ideas about the body. They explore its materiality, stimulation, quantification using technology, integration with alien matter, and, finally, its obsolescence by simulation.
Event
3-11-2015
Future Series #5: What if
Lucas Evers (Open Wetlab) will be one of the guests in the programme Future Series at Pakhuis de Zwijger on 24 November, that looks back on the theme of the Dutch Design Week of 2015: ‘What if’.
Event
30-10-2015
InScience: Bio•Fiction special
Lucas Evers of our Open Wetlab will speak at a BIO·FICTION special on 7 November of the InScience festival in Nijmegen.
Article
27-10-2015
Pet shop at Dutch Design Week
Our first micro-organisms concept store opened its doors during the DDW in Eindhoven and it was a huge success. The 275,000 visitors of the exhibition were curious to see our adorable micropets, learn about them and the ways in which they can take care of these little companions. Pet lovers were buying these little cuties for more than a week, showing their special interest in Slime Molds and Photobacterium Phosphoreum, which were completely sold out.
Article
16-10-2015
Our programme during Dutch Design Week
In 2015, we were part of the international Dutch Design Week again in Eindhoven. And for this occassion, we also replaced a part of our public activities to our Pet shop at the Klokgebouw, where it was all happening during the event.
Event
15-10-2015
DNA debate Cellout.me
Lucas Evers (head of Waag's Open Wetlab) moderates a DNA debate on 18 October 2015, as a result of the art installation Cellout.me by Jeroen van Loon. The artist is selling his DNA in his installation via the Internet for a year. What are the consequences of this, now and in the future? What is he actually selling? And what is it worth?
Event
During the Museum night 2015 in Amsterdam, Waag opens the Late night pet shop in the Theatrum Anatomicum of the Waag. Get your microben now!
Event
2-10-2015
Pet shop @ DDW 2015
De Petshop is part of the Dutch Design Week 2015! Put the 14th edition of the Dutch Design Week in your diary! DDW 2015 takes place from 17 until 25 October.
Article
Recently, the nominees and winners of the Royal Academy Awards 2015 in The Hague (KABK) were announced. The Academy Award Bachelor went to Eline van der Ploeg (Graphic Design), with a strong typographic work titled “Living Systems”. She developed her idea during the BioHack Academy of Waag. An explanation of the work can be found here.
Article
28-05-2015
Winners Bio Art & Design Award 2015
Three projects, each worth 25.000 euros, have been selected as winners of the Bio Art & Design Award 2015 by an international jury on Friday May 22nd. A Dutch bioscientist is involved in the execution of each BAD Award winning project.
Event
19-05-2015
5th Bio Art & Design Award Final
Vrijdag 22 mei vindt de finale van Bio Art & Design Award (BAD Award) 2015 plaats bij Stroom in Den Haag. De BAD Award (voorheen Designers & Artist 4 Genomics Award) is een unieke competitie met als doel jonge nationale en internationale kunstenaars en designers te laten experimenten met bioart en design in samenwerking met een vooraanstaand Nederlands research team.
Article
31-03-2015
Presentations on bio art, bio design
In March 2014, Leonardo/Olats and Decalab were organising a conference on Bio art - bio design. At this occasion, Lucas Evers of Waag's Open Wetlab presented our activities.
Article
17-03-2015
Cookbook for the other dinner
In 2013, Chloé Rutzerveld organized, in collaboration with Waag's Open Wetlab, a very special dinner at the Theatrum Anatomicum of the Waag. Now, a richly illustrated cookbook has been published.
Project
30-12-2014
Trust Me, I'm an Artist
Developing ethical frameworks for artists, cultural institutions and audiences engaged in the challenges of creating and experiencing new art forms in biotechnology and biomedicine in Europe.
Article
15-12-2014
Book Trust me, I'm an artist
This book investigates new ethical issues arising through art and science collaboration and considers the roles and responsibilities of the artists, scientists and institutions involved. The projects decribed raise interesting questions for science ethics committees and help to reveal the mechanisms that drive this usually hidden process, enabling readers to understand the driving forces behind ethical decisions and the role of artists working in scientific settings more deeply.
Article
Pigeons, human stem cells, fungi, cut-flowers – about anything that lives can serve as working material for bio art and design. In Matter of Life, Mu and guest curator William Myers present nine much-discussed research projects at the intersection of life sciences, art and design.
Event
18-11-2014
Matter of Life
Pigeons, human stem cells, fungi, cut-flowers – about anything that lives can serve as working material for bio art and design. In Matter of Life, Mu and guest curator William Myers present nine much-discussed research projects at the intersection of life sciences, art and design.
Article
3-11-2014
Paper and ink made of bacteria
Making paper and ink with the aid of bacteria? Sure! The participants of the 12th Do It Together Bio workshop at the Waag were not scared away by the strange smells of the bacteria. On the contrary. In no-time most of them were stirring away in jars filled with cellulose and pigment producing bacteria. It was such a lot that the smell of it lingered for a couple of days!
Article
16-10-2014
Ivorish: jewelry from our own teeth
In the Summer of 2014 we were confronted with a newsitem mentioning that Satao, Kenya’s largest elephant, fell into the hands of poachers. Again, a natural monument of our planet was lost. Every year again thousands of elephants are killed for their tusks. Many people adore ivory for its unique qualities. Ignorant of the meaning and source of the material they do not realize that the trade in ivory is very cruel, redundant and will prove to be limited.
Article
10-08-2014
The In Vitro Meat Cookbook published
Exactly a year after the world's first in vitro hamburger was presented, the The In Vitro Meat Cookbook was published by BIS Publishers. Using the format of the cookbook as a storytelling medium, the In Vitro Meat Cookbook is a visually stunning exploration of the new “food cultures” lab-grown meat might create. This book approaches lab-grown meat not just from a design and engineering perspective, but also from a societal and ethical one.
Article
27-06-2014
'Host' project at our biolab
Our Open Wetlab regularly has guests working at their projects in our lab. Recently, Matilde Losi from TU/e worked at her 'Host' project here.
Article
19-05-2014
Winners Bio Art & Design Award 2014
Intervening in evolution by creating the perfect pigeon, food production from toxic waste and new habitats on the border of fresh and salt water in which the four cultures of people, plants, fish and shellfish come together. These three projects, each good for € 25,000, were proclaimed to be the winners of the Bio Art & Design Awards by the five-member international jury at NWO in The Hague.
Event
On 16 May 2014 the three winners of the Bio Art & Design Award 2014 will be announced.
Article
13-04-2014
A synthetic alternative
Thousands of elephants are slaughtered every year for their tusks. Ivory is still very popular, the pain the animal has suffered and the deaths that followed are not reflected in the decorative figurines that adorn homes and shrines. People do not realize what they have in their hands. But what if we could give a new meaning to the formation and origin of ivory?
Article
14-02-2014
BioArt: From Frankenstein With Love
In ‘Hybrids, Chimeras and other Monsters’ the goal was to step away from the yuk-factor, and to take a closer look at BioArt from artists like Guy Ben-Ary.
Article
20-01-2014
Living tissues and living issues
In February 2014, Waag's Wetlab brings a new series of three lectures by Joanna Jeśman at the Waag titled 'Living tissues and living issues', as a continuation of the series The Future of Art & Science Collaborations we started last year in October.
Article
24-12-2013
Video: The Other Dinner
The Other Dinner was an experimental and interactive dinner that investigated our meat culture. We prepared and ate parts of the pig, cow, chicken or sheep that are normally intended for export or animal feed. Check out this video-report for a glimpse of the event.
Article
20-12-2013
Bio Art & Design Award 2014
The successful Designers & Artists For Genomics Award (DA4GA), the unique competition that encourages young artists internationally to discover and further develop the world of bio art and bio design, will be continuing under a new name: Bio Art & Design Award.
Event
21-11-2013
DIY Bio-LOGIC: public event
Experience 25 January 2014 what happens when living organisms grow on structures made of organic materials, intelligent slime molds colonize digitally printed designs.
Article
On 14 December 2013 a special dinner was organized at the Waag: The Other Dinner, an experimental and interactive dinner that investigated the meat culture of the past, the present and the future.
Article
14-10-2013
Surprising Biodesign and Project Genesis
Recently, I visited two exhibitions on the design of life. First I went to 'Project Genesis' during the Ars Electronica festival in Linz, and after that I visited the exposition 'Biodesign' at the Dutch Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. The cross pollinations between design, art and bio technology are exhibited more often these days, and I was curious if these two could surprise me.
Article
20-09-2013
Living artworks in bio-art exhibition
Until 15 December 2013, the exhibition of the winners of the Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Award was on display in Leiden. Just the day after the opening, the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant already published a nice review of the special exhibition.
Article
Genetically modified embryos of Zebrafish injected with GMO algae are playing an important role in the artwork Errorarium by Adam Zaretsky.
Article
12-08-2013
Living cell interactive installation
Three years ago the project called 'Cell explorer' was amongst the finalists of the first edition of the DA4GA (2010/2011). Unfortunately they didn't win but did succeed in finding partners (the UMCG and RUG) that supported them to realize the project.
Event
8-07-2013
Opening DA4GA exhibition
DA4GA stands for Designers & Artists for Genomics Award. This unique Dutch contest brings art, design and life sciences together. Teams of scientists and artists are working with living material in their projects. This year, three projects were awarded: Living Mirror, Fish Bone Chapel and Ergo Sum.
Article
6-06-2013
More space for makers
On 21 June 2013 we launched the Makers Guild at the Waag in Amsterdam.
Article
6-06-2013
Errorarium van Adam Zaretsky
Bio artist Adam Zaretsky constantly finds himself on the edge of the legally permissible. His Errorarium, for example, is home to zebra fish embryos injected with algae. The aim is that these embryos grow up to be completely self-sustaining fish and that they can make food from sunlight just as plants do.
Article
5-04-2013
BioPrinting at Do it Together Bio
At Do it Together Bio #4 on 3 April 2013 we worked with Aliibrio ficheri, bacteria that are bioluminescence, made 3D prints with living material and we built a bioprinter from old HP printers after the model by BioCurious at Instructables. During the workshop artist Allison Kudla told about her work and Branislav Misovic and Jelle Boomstra shared their experiences with 3D printing of living tissue.
Article
Quantified Self (QS) stands, in short, for measuring yourself. Using tools to translate your behaviour in data. On Monday March 4th Waag hosted the Amsterdam meetup.
Event
25-02-2013
Symposium: BioSolar Cells
During the exhibition Yes Naturally, on 19 March 2013 the symposium BioSolar Cells will be held. Marleen Stikker is one of the guests.
Article
25-02-2013
Yes Naturally
Yes Naturally is an art exhibition at the GEM Museum for Contemporary Art, Fotomuseum and Gemeentemuseum Den Haag raising the fundamental question: What is natural? And who or what decides? International artists present new viewpoints, challenge old patterns and encourage sustainable behavior.
Article
14-02-2013
Exhibition Still Unidentified Objects
In the exhibition Still Unidentified Objects Transnatural explores new, still ‘unidentified’ forms of collaboration between man, machine and nature. The exhibition looks at fresh ideas & design ending up in new results by joint forces and combined smartness with benefits for all parties involved (rather than just for humans).
Article
In the presence of the public artist Charlotte Jarvis donated blood, urine and skin tissue, to be used by Mummery’s group of stem cell research at the Hubrecht Institute. The living cells found in those substances will be medical metamorphosed into induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS) and after that into totally different sorts of bodily tissue of the artist: brain cells, blood vessel cells and hart cells, thereby creating a half-life portrait or semi-living portrait of the artist in a life support system yet to be designed.
Event
14-01-2013
Do It Together Bio #3: Aqua Vita
In the third edition of Do It Together Bio you are invited to explore the data potential of urine. In a workshop, participants will consider the energy potential of urine and what this might reveal about processes within the body. The workshop will be led by Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret, former winners of DA4GA.
Event
Donating human tissue to create a doppelganger. A performance, lecture and debate by artist Charlotte Jarvis and Christine Mummery, winners of DA4GA 2012. Witness the first part of a second self coming to life.
Article
21-12-2012
Talking Plants & Morning Urine
The documentary Talking Plants & Morning Urine follows three young designers after winning the Designers and Artists 4 Genomics Award (DA4GA).
Article
Bulletproof skin, Exploring Boundaries by Piercing Barriers, a beautiful book of art & writing about project 2.6g 329m/s.
Article
11-12-2012
Versatile living art awarded
The antlers on the wall on either side of the hall come from all over the world. The same thing goes for the audience - young men and women with fast glasses or flashy lipstick are sitting beside men in suit or a casual sweater. There is tension in the air. We are in the ‘Pesthuis’ at Naturalis for the announcement of the winners of the third edition of the Designers & Artists for Genomics Award, which rewards leading bio-art initiatives.
Article
10-12-2012
Mutamorphosis
Mutamorphosis is an eclectic conference with over a hundred speakers with a background in art, science and activism. Last week a second edition was held in Prague, after the first successful meeting in 2007, of which all information can be found online. Themes are crisis, uncertainty, complexity and cognition; the format exists of panels of three of four speakers with a discussion.
Article
On 6 December 2012, the Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Awards were handed out. This unique Dutch contest brings art, design and life sciences together.
Article
29-10-2012
Do It Together Bio in our Open Wetlab
We’re making a fresh start with our Open Wetlab on November 16th. We'll be working with do-it-yourself biologists on bottom-up innovation: new machines, techniques and protocols – often cheaper than regular lab equipment, like a low-cost malaria tester. Anyone with an interest in biology and life sciences can get started in our lab.
Event
29-10-2012
Award Ceremony DA4GA 2012
This September we launched the 3rd edition of the Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Award. Thursday December 6th the 13 finalists present their proposal to the public and our jury announces the three winning projects.
Event
10-09-2012
OFF PICNIC
PICNIC Festival 2012 opens its doors a day earlier this year for an OFF PICNIC program on Sunday 16 September that is open to the public. E.g. Transnatural, DUS architects, the MuseumApp, FIBER, Cities and Waag are featured in the program and welcome you to join this pre-festival.
Article
27-08-2012
What is 'postnatural'?
Last Friday the premiere of ‘PostNatural Organisms of the European Union’ took place in Amsterdam at Waag.
Event
While there may be a limit to what is achievable there is no limit to what we strive for. In respect of this Transnatural festival 2012 goes in search of technology that can support, as opposed to desecrate, the natural world and ecological wealth. The art, design and technology festival will be launched on September 7, 2012 in Science Center NEMO in Amsterdam and consists of an exhibition, a two-day conference, and a weekend full of performances and music.
Event
From now until mid-September 2012 the arcade machine ('Errorarium') of Adam Zaretsky in which plants are grown can be found in the 'Wintertuin' of Hortus botanicus Leiden. This machine contains the model plant for DNA testing: Thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). Several selections of this kind can be stimulated by visitors with light and sound in order to let their chlorophyll come to work.
Event
The Center for PostNatural History and Waag present: PostNatural Organisms of the European Union. A 21st Century Wunderkammer in the tradition of anatomist Frederik Ruysch back in the Waag, featuring altered life forms.
Article
The opening of the new Designers & Artists 4 Genomics exhibition is a fact! In the crowded Life Science room in Naturalis, the winning teams of designers/artists and scientists were put in the spotlight.
Event
The Designers & Artists 4 Genomics exhibition shows fore award-winning art projects that will amaze our visitors and prompt lots of questions. The artists use living materials obtained from genomics institutes that are studying the genes of humans, animals, plants and micro-organisms.
Project
8-03-2012
Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Award
The Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Award (DA4GA) highlighted and explored the exciting and novel possibilities between design, artistic practice and Life Sciences.
Project
8-03-2012
Studiolab - Utopian Practices
The goal of the project Studiolab - Utopian Practices was to reinforce the inter and transdisciplinary cooperation between the arts and science, to innovate the public debate on bio technology.
Project
8-03-2012
Viva la Vivo / VASTAL
In 2009, bio artist Adam Zaretsky and Waag researched and discussed Life Sciences during his residency with a wide audience, but also with artists, designers and scientists.