Feasting the Lab

In January 2018, bio artist Jennifer Willet opened the doors of the INCUBATOR Lab, a new bioart laboratory in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Windsor, and the first bioart lab in Canada.

INCUBATOR art lab at the Intersection of Art, Science and Ecology is a physical and theoretical hub, a new art/science laboratory at The University of Windsor. Founded in 2009, it functions both as an apparatus in which environmental conditions can be controlled towards the assisted growth of life, but also as a site supporting the development of new ideas and artistic practices.

Physically and metaphorically INCUBATOR serves as a site for innovative productive and performative imaginings of biotechnology as a technology of the body – a complex ecology – that implicates each of us intellectually and biologically in the continued propagation of the life sciences.

To celebrate the lab hosted a cabaret called ‘Feasting the Lab’ before the facility was certified to house chemical and biological hazards. For one night only, they did everything in the lab that would normally be prohibited in a scientific laboratory.

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INCUBATOR art lab serves many functions:

• as a studio/lab to facilitate ongoing bioart research and production for INCUBATOR art lab members at The University of Windsor
• as an educational facility hosting community workshops and the undergraduate Bioart: Contemporary Art and the Life Sciences class annually, and graduate level instruction through the University of Windsor’s MFA program.
• as an exhibition venue, where biological artworks that cannot leave the lab can be viewed on an appointment basis
• as an art installation challenging contemporary laboratory aesthetics
• as a multimedia performing arts venue where audiences can view live events that integrate BSL2 biotechnologies into multimedia storytelling and performance genres.

INCUBATOR art lab is a certified BSL–2 lab. INCUBATOR combines the latest in scientific equipment and technology with DIY and domestic tools and strategies. The lab boasts a see-through glass facade to set the stage for accessibility, transparency and performance. An overhead camera above our lab bench allows for digital recording and transmittance of events beyond the walls of the lab.