Paper short abstract:

'Shifting perspectives' is a short film opening an interdisciplinary dialogue across dance, visual arts and synthetic biology. The film addresses how collaborating with microorganisms can transform our cultural assumptions, and reshape our future in a more-than-human world.

Paper long abstract:

'Shifting perspectives' is a short experimental film inspired by a conversation between two leaders in the field of synthetic biology (Sarah Richardson and Tom Knight) and their divergent approaches to working with microbial life (Grow, 2019). The film was developed by anthropologist and choreographer Sarah Pini in collaboration with Jestin George, biotechnologist and visual artist, and Melissa Ramos, visual artist and filmmaker, during a Responsive Residency at Critical Path, Sydney, in April and May 2020. Aim of this work is to open a multivocal interdisciplinary dialogue across dance, visual arts and synthetic biology, the redesigning of biological systems, which could offer an alternative option, a living, growing, biological technology. Such an alternative would be capable of disrupting many fossil-fuels based industries and reshaping technology as we know it. As we try to move towards a future based on a bio-economy, how do we align with the possibilities of designing with life? And can we make space for the non-human life we aim to become so heavily reliant upon? Grounded on a feminist post-humanist approach that recognizes a continuity between all living creatures, including plants, animals, microorganisms and humans (Haraway, 1991), this project addresses how synthetic biologists engage differently with these organisms. By shifting our perspectives, this work suggests how collaborating with microorganisms can challenge and transform our cultural assumptions, and reshape our future in a more-than-human world.

Watch the film here: https://youtu.be/0Z00y1aV-8g