Claire L. Evans, Mindy Seu, and Yasaman Sheri

In this conversation, Claire L. Evans, a writer and musician who examines biocomputing's emerging frontiers, engages with Mindy Seu, author of the book Cyberfeminism Index and curator of the exhibition Wetware, along with Yasaman Sheri, Principal Investigator of the Synthetic Ecologies Lab at the Serpentine Gallery in London, who navigates the convergence of organic and artificial domains. The talk will expand the definition of "wetware" beyond the biological elements of technology to encompass both the computational capabilities and tangible aspects of biotechnologies today and in the future. The discussion will venture into the territories of slime molds, fungal architectures, and innovative biological substrates for AI, exploring interconnected networks and synthetic sensing. Who owns vital datasets and who has access to them are crucial concerns they will address. New insights into the integration of artificial and biological systems, paving the way for enriched ecosystems and cross-species communication are at the heart of their talk. The conversation will be moderated by Isin Onol, Director of Curatorial Research at MA Curatorial Practice, School of Visual Arts.