Drawing Across x Along x Between x University Borders by DRAWinU

CONFERENCE, UNIVERSITY OF PORTO. October 16, 17, 18th, 2024 :: Drawing Across :: Along :: Between University Borders considers the epistemological and transformative potential of drawing research to connect divergent areas in the university today. The conference focuses on drawing-based collaborations between art, science and society to tackle artistic, educational and societal challenges. We invite artists, scientists, educators, students, university policymakers and persons interested in inter-transdisciplinary practices across academia, research, and society to contribute and join the discussion in three possible directions: ACROSS - In what ways are drawing practitioners challenging the disciplinary strictures that often constrain thinking and acting across divergent areas in the university? ALONG - How can drawing activities be an ally of STEM education in the university, and how can STEM practices be an ally of drawing education? BETWEEN - How can drawing-based practices and STEM disciplines collaborate to address the urgency of societal challenges?

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Drawing the Genome [WORKSHOP]

Maria Manuela Lopes, i3S/IPP

"Drawing the Genome" is an innovative workshop that merges art and science through the act of drawing the human genome. Inspired by the author’s art/science drawing-based practice and Morgan O'Hara's project "Handwriting the Constitution" (O'Hara, 2017), this workshop aims to explore the shared and unique aspects of our genetic makeup. Participants will engage in drawing genetic sequences of the author’s transcribed genome, fostering a deeper understanding of genetics while celebrating the diversity and unity of humanity, the complexity of a single molecule, and the repetitive and rhythmic nature of this drawing practice.

As the author’s DNA is materialized through drawing, discussions on STEM (social sciences and biology/genetics) and art practice (drawing) will contribute to the elimination of concepts such as racism, rendering them obsolete through the scientific understanding of a single human race. "Drawing the Genome" situates itself at the intersection of art, science, and social engagement. Drawing from Tim Ingold's concept of lines and meshworks, the workshop highlights the genome as a terrain to be explored through drawing (Ingold, 2007), emphasizing the interconnectedness of all life forms and the complex relationships within the human genetic code. Gilles Deleuze's ideas on difference and repetition resonate with the repetitive yet unique sequences of the genome and the drawing strategies suggested (Deleuze, 1994; Deleuze & Guattari, 1987). The workshop encourages participants to engage with the biological calligraphy both as a personal and collective narrative, exploring themes of identity, memory, and belonging. Simultaneously, the activity of repetitive action and attention to copying will influence the process and aesthetics of drawing. Anchored in Karen Barad's agential realism (Barad, 2007), drawing, in this project, enacted as private practice and public workshops, is framed as a performative interaction that reconfigures the boundaries between the observer and the observed – in a metonymic process of drawing the communal parts of the author’s genome, effectively meaning drawing oneself.

If identity and social exclusion concepts are subjects of study in numerous academic departments (Philosophy, Anthropology, History, Politics, Health Sciences) and represent urgent societal challenges, this collaborative drawing practice is presented as empowered to harness divergent thoughts of people from different backgrounds. It promotes group reflection, dialogical practice, and attention to detail through the repetitive practice of copying and transcribing in subjective proposals, bringing doubts to the surface. Preliminary results or previous similar iterations organized by the author proved to be triggers for deep discussions and powerfull method for promoting STEM education through artistic practice and vice versa. Anticipated results suggest that the process of copying through a drawing practice of a transcribed genome makes visible and legible the marvelous complexity of life at the cellular level as well as the inscriptive nature of drawing and the power of a participative drawing practice.

Keywords: Art, Science, Genome, Drawing, Difference/Repetition

Biography
Maria Manuela Lopes is a Visual Artist with inter/transdisciplinary practice and Senior Lecturer of Visual Arts at ESE-Polytechnic of Porto and researcher at i3S, ID+; InED ESE-PP. PhD in New Media Fine Arts University of Brighton and MA Goldsmiths College London. She has participated and coordinated several artistic research projects such as Hybrid Lab Network. Currently she is a researcher of MID - Mirror Identity Drawings (ESAD CR/ UNESCO Chair); Drawing Across University Borders (I2ADS, i3S); Human Diversity Along The Magalhães Circumnavigation Space: genetics, history and culture (IPATIMUP/UP). She is Deputy Director of artistic residencies: Ectopia and Cultivamos Cultura. Belongs to the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Music “Aquiles Delle Vigne”, organizes international festivals, multidisciplinary art/academy events.

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DRAWinU - Drawing Across x Along x Between x University Borders - 2024