Aalto University organized on the 7th of June 2022 at 17:00 Helsinki time a Hybrid Lab multiplier event in collaboration with Leonardo/ISATS Laser Talks and the Aalto Networking Platform. The event was named “Beyond spontaneous generation” and took place online and in-person, in Helsinki at 17.00. It began with Laura Beloff presentation of Hybrid Lab Network results and was followed by the LASER talk.

In this Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) talk organized by Aalto University in collaboration with Hybrid Lab Network, the discussants addressed Beyond Spontaneous Generation.

The theory of spontaneous generation understood life as emerging spontaneously from nonliving matter. The idea of spontaneous generation has been re-interpreted throughout history until later scientific discoveries have proved this theory to be wrong.

What if the evolution chain, once pictured as a line, was instead a circle, now caught at the moment when reaching its point of origin? 

With the title Beyond Spontaneous Generation, this LASER Talk presented an investigation into the concepts of evolution and life through the lens of the relationship between bioart and science: biotechnology, biorobotics, explorations and speculations around possible futures.

The invited speakers were Ionat Zurr, Josh Bongard and Michael Levinl, moderated by

Laura Beloff, Associate Professor of Visual Culture and Artistic Practices at Aalto, and doctoral candidate Aurora Del Rio.

Presentations were followed by a discussion between the speakers and the audience (present or online).

PROGRAMME

Offline & Online
PROGRAMME
Offline & Online
17:15 – 17:30 Laura Belloff, Welcome, Introduction and presentation of the Hybrid Lab Network Project and its outputs (IO1 to IO4)
17:35  – 18:25 Ionat Zurr, Semi livings in Artificial Environments
18:30 – 19:20 Josh Bongard and Michael Levin, The Innate Creativity of AI, and of Life.

Only offline
19:30 – 20:30 reception

*times are in EEST

More information: https://www.aalto.fi/en/events/laser-talks-beyond-spontaneous-generation