NFF Fellows: Matthew C. Wilson

The era of natural science – studying and mapping the natural world and its inhabitants – has quietly given way to generative technoscience, giving rise to new environments and (living or otherwise) species. Over the past few decades, biology, computing, chemistry and engineering have increasingly merged, giving rise to new fields such as bioengineering, synthetic biology, artificial cells and biocomputing. The convergence of this biotechnology with AI and automation is driving an acceleration across all kinds of developments. These developments are already leaving the laboratory and finding their way into start-ups, and will go on to shape the world of tomorrow. 

The research project Synthetic Bioscope approaches these new possible worlds through fictional scenarios featuring speculative "specimens": biological or biology-like entities based on current research. The texts reflect the artist's research into contemporary scientific developments and invite the imagination toward a future encounter and its implications. The visuals accompanying these scenarios range from moving-image experiments and algorithmic imaging to filmed "research notes" (footage of laboratories and the technical equipment used to carry out the research). Numerous conversations with scientists from around the world formed the basis for the specimens, the scenarios and the visuals.