Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The Witch in the Lab Coat is a series of bioartistic and laboratory experiments that problematize the narratives and methodologies of standard scientific research practices; this is particularly salient where academic sciences alienate an embodied experience of knowledge through their several processes of depersonalization. The Witch in the Lab Coat is a PhD research project that incorporates biological art outputs with tissue culture and engineering, using an alternative body material: menstrual fluid. This taboo fluid, which is both under-researched and misunderstood in science and wider cultures, presents a rich, embodied, material basis for applying feminist critique to academic science fields such as biotechnology. This paper presents several final outputs from four years of biological art research and practice, which has taken place in various international facilities, towards a PhD. These outputs include: handcrafted laboratory aparatuses and other DIY objects; discussion of the scientifically relevant laboratory experiment results; and, personal experiences with implementing ‘re-personalization’ strategies towards greater autonomy in laboratory research with unconventional approaches and biomaterials.