AL GRANO
2010 to 2016
Residencies, lectures, publications
Begun in 2010, AL GRANO is a multi-year and multi-sited, research-based project in which I use a small grain of corn to inspect monumental debates about genetically modified organisms. A series of autonomous projects are nested in AL GRANO. Each project addresses a specific aspect of a phenomenon that creates imbalance, disruption, and crisis in a myriad of interconnected registers: political, economic, social, and ecological.
I have developed, discussed, published, and screened the project in numerous settings since 2010. Below, I list some of the residencies, lectures, symposiums, and publications in which I have researched and discussed the work.
RESIDENCY
July 1st to 30th, 2016
ETH Residency, Zurich, Switzerland
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Institute of Integrative Biology
The one-month residency took the form of research on science, new technologies and culture. I was introduced to the functioning of transgenes in genetically modified (GM) maize and explored the site of the laboratory, as well as a range of scientific topics, methods and technologies that can be applied to media-art productions related to my AL GRANO project.
The residency was facilitated by the "Artists-in-Labs Program" at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts ICS, in Zurich, Switzerland in collaboration with ETH: Institute of Integrative Biology IBZ, Zurich (http://www.ibz.ethz.ch). I worked with biologist Dr. Angelika Hilbeck and her research team Dr. Miluse Trtikova and PHD Candidate Felipe André Lohn, with whom I share concern about biosafety and the agro-food system.
TALK
July 12th, 2016
LASER - Zurich
Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous
Salotto Café, Zurich, Switzerland
I joined Dr. Angelika Hilbeck for a public lecture at LASER (Zurich) titled: “GMOs: Threats, impacts and sustainable futures.” I presented my project "AL GRANO" dealing with GM corn debates between the USA and Mexico, center of domestication and biodiversity for that crop.
The Leonardo Art, Science, Evening Rendezvous (LASER) in Zurich features talks by renowned artists and scientists. LASER Zurich offer an international platform for the discussion of paradigmatic shifts within the scientific research, the implementation of new technologies, and the ongoing development of artistic research.
PUBLICATION
Leonardo – MIT Press
Chunking and Recoding in the AL GRANO Project, Leonardo, Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/LEON_a_01336#.WQih2WTytN0
RESIDENCY FELLOWSHIP
March 8 to 22, 2016
MacDowell Colony NEA Fellow
Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A.
MacDowell Colony National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowship supported the development of two projects; AL GRANO was one of them.
"The mission of The MacDowell Colony is to nurture the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which they can produce enduring works of the imagination."
http://portablemacdowell.org/#artists/pat-badani
RESIDENCY
January 16 to 29, 2016
Vermont Studios
Johnson, Vermont, U.S.A.
Residency to develop two projects, AL GRANO was one of them. "VSC has grown to become the largest international artists' and writers' residency program in the United States. Our mission is to provide studio residencies in an inclusive, international community, honoring creative work as the communication of spirit through form."
LECTURE AND PUBLICATION
August 14 to 19, 2015
ISEA2015 :: Disruptions
21st International Symposium on Electronic Art,
Vancouver, Canada
"Radical Reordering in the AL GRANO© Project," lecture and essay publication in proceedings.
http://isea2015.org/proceeding/submissions/ISEA2015_submission_36.pdf
LECTURE
April 03, 2015
RiDE :: Risk/Dare/Experiment Episodes
Pratt Institute, New York
My lecture titled "Creative Recoding: Big Ideas and Bit-Sized Morsels in the AL GRANO Project" unpacked my working methodology in the creation of large, multi-year projects based on the segmentation and grouping of ideas, materials, and media objects into 'chunks'.
"RiDE episodes feature invited artists, designers, writers, and creative practitioners from many different fields. The episodes bring various processes related to artistic, intellectual, and design practices into a visible arena while illustrating the unforeseen outcomes of experimentation—ventures that open up new paths, new insights, and risks that inspire adventurous ideas and actions."
LECTURE
May 5 to 10, 2014
13Festival International de la Imagen
Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia
La investigación temática del proyecto AL GRANO se centra sobre el maíz, divinidad mesoamericana milenaria y sus avatares transgénicos contemporáneos. Para Pat Badani el maíz tiene la capacidad de disgregar a los pueblos, comunidades y naciones, y por otra parte el debate ha provocado movimientos de recuperación de tradiciones de conservación y cuidado de ecosistemas y comunidades sustentables. En suma, un material concentrado y rico para pensar mundos nuevos en gestación.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_KNYTpqqeI
LECTURE
June 7 to 15, 2013
ISEA2013, 19th International Symposium on
Electronic Art :: Resistance is Futile
"Eco-Activism Panel" University of Sydney,
Australia, June 11, 2013.
Discussion of the Augmented Reality project “AL GRANO: Sugar Daddy,” an art/science project at the crossroads of interactive installation, databases, mobile augmented reality, agro-biotechnology, sustainability, and food safety. The project is accessed via an Augmented Reality App. Tags are portals to vision-based augmented reality layers leading to digital content in context with the real-world objects. The AR browser reveals information that could not be seen by merely looking at the object.
LECTURE
October 10 to 12, 2013
e-fagia - Symposium on Decolonial Aesthetics from the Americas
University of Toronto, Hart House
Toronto, Canada
"Grains and Seeds: Seeding Relationships"
Discussion on my artistic research and writing about AL GRANO, an art project that deals with the current debates on transgenic corn, the demise of indigenous populations in Mexico, and the nefarious impact on human health and the ecology.
LECTURE AND PUBLICATION
September 14 to 21, 2011
ISEA2011, 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art
Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey
"A maze about maize: An Amerindian divinity and its transgenic avatars"
The paper discusses a project that explores biodiversity at the intersection of ancient and contemporary sciences and technologies of maize. Presented as a multimodal project incorporating electronic media, the project is designed as a maze about maize, because nothing is clear-cut or simple when it comes to the pros and cons of agro-practices today. The complex foundational issues and convoluted stakes derive from history, ethnology, sociology, biopolitics, law and intellectual property, agronomy, ecology, science, and technology of maize.
In conference screening: “AL GRANO-Corn Regime” split-screen documentary film short
http://isea2011.sabanciuniv.edu/paper/"-maze-about-maize-mesoamerican-divinity-and-its-transgenic-avatars"
LECTURE
November 4th & 5th
BALANCE::UNBALANCE 2011
Hexagram Center for Research/Creation
in Media Arts and Technology
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
The paper “Sustainable agriculture / Sustainable culture” discusses a transdisipinary project-in-progress that examines the politics of food and GM technology using as lens: maize cultivation, technology, trade and border crossings at the intersection of ancient and contemporary sciences and technologies. The focus is on the livelihood struggles of maize growers in Mexico – center of origin, domestication and biodiversity of maize – and the balance/unbalance created by environmentally sustainable and exploitative agro-practices today.
In conference screening of “AL GRANO: Corn Regime” split-screen documentary film short.
