My name is Eimear Kinsella. I am Textile Design Graduate from NCAD, Ireland. I have a very keen interest in working with and learning from your DIY-Bio team in Prague.
I have been awarded a Travel and research bursary for the summer 2015 through a trust fund called Thomas Damann Funding. My proposed project was to use the funding to travel to meet with DIY-Bio hackers across Europe to find out what they are up to and to make a small piece of art in collaboration with each separate experience. I want to build a portfolio of collaboration, but also use art and visuals to inform people and engage their curiosities in DIY- Bio.
My interests are on the science/art interface and particularly science in relation to the body and illness. I am primarily a painter, in my final semester of a four- year textile fine art degree. My work through painting and tactile design questions the human body and the “what ifs?’ of evolution due to bioscience and intelligently designed adaption. My work aims to succeed as a coherent informer to the public. As I am not a science or medical student myself, it is important for me to be informed by and learn from current leading academics.
I have met with Cathal Garvey (Head of DIY-Bio, Formulabs) and Professor Saun McCann (Head of Stem Cell research) in Ireland and these connections have informed my work greatly and proven how effective the collaboration from different aspects and backgrounds can be in creative works. Many of the most thought provoking and informative art collaborations are those undertaken with academics from contrasting backgrounds.
The goal is to create a collection of work that will be exhibited together across Ireland or abroad illustrating some of the things I learned on my journey and hopefully to engage the publics interest.
I am eager to take my work to the next level and display more in depth, ‘mind- blowing’ information. This body will greatly increase my portfolio and allow me to portray myself as an artist who is processing and deciphering information through the creative arts.
I was hoping to meet with those working in your bio-labs at some stage in early July 2015. Just to chat and to learn a few things about what they are doing and how you are doing it.
Please let me know if you can meet with me at some stage for a day or two to chat me through what you guys are up to .
As I said, I am being government funded for this trip so accommodation isn't an issue.
I have attached my Resume and a PDF portfolio of my work with this email. Please let me know,
I really looking forward to hearing from you and hopefully working with you,
Yours sincerely,
Eimear Kinsella