Interestingly, the title of this initial talk resonates a historical context of a science in search for a name - i.e. Tikhov's "astrobotany" and "exobiology" which was first used by Lederberg(1960) to describe "extraterrestrial origin biology" as opposed to earths own esobiology. These terms received criticism in view of the fact that the science has yet to demonstrate that such a matter exists (George Gaylord Simpson, 1964).

The first part of this session called for a controversial discussion provoked by foAM's paper Speculations on the Evolution of Human plant Interactions which deals with plants as models for future sustainability by looking at their social and political network.  Controversially, foAM argues plants as conscious entities in a network construction as well as employing tribal cultures as a potential way of gaining understanding plants.  

c-lab's presentation introduced a new paper for The Martian Rose which aims to  contextualise the project by discussing its background and aims.  Central to the discussion this generated was the process of collaboration and role of the artists in labs.  One participant in the discussion called the work as a metaphor for artists in labs. 

The discussion generated several interesting debate that were immaculately held together by the moderator, Ghislaine Boddington and well provoked by foAM.  

In his presentation Between Thought and Matter: the Final Frontier, Michael Punt posed a very interesting question: How can ideas survive the gravitational pull of materialist interpretation? Using two scenarios of film footage he showed  how a "point-of-view" camera placement can be "felt" as well as instrumentally sensed. He proposes that as with explorations and ventures into extreme environments, we will also need similar sophistication to explore the space between thought and matter to escape the gravitational pull of materialistic monorealism. 

Paul Thomas', Boundaryless Nanomorphologies, discusses the spatial boundaries of nanotechnology. His research looks at the humanistic boundaries at a nano level and ways of comprehending effects on this scale.  In his work Midas, this is explored using data recorded with an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to show the interaction between skin cells and gold.  The work was shown at the Unsafe Distance exhibition. 

Contrary to many collaboration scenarios, James Gimzewski contacted Victoria Vesna with scientific findings that he thought could have artistic interests.  Their work Blue Morph started with a recording of the cellular transformations occurring during metamorphosis using laser.  The rhythm moves through various stages and with increasing intensity.  Simultaneously, Gimsweski collected a series of photos of the butterflies transforming which produces a blue colour.  The work juxtapositions the two recording of violent surges broken by silence and stillness.  

Their talk was amusingly peppered with an element of jet lag.

Stelarc gave a seminal talk about his works and history, past, present and future, focusing on the third ear project which has the extraordinary status of actually being part of him at the moment.

Stelarc revealed his left arm during the talk which has undergone surgery to enable him to grow a skin sculpture in the shape of an ear and extruding from his own arm.

The work involves several different attempts over the past few years which emulated in a working body sculpture now presented.

Interestingly Stelarc has had a wide variety of collaboration through his history - ranging from cybernetic to molecular, however the work remains clearly focused on artistic processes rather than scientific.  In many ways this enhances the work as it removes itself from the power body of science and generates its own space. 

Claudia X. Valdes and Phillip Thurtle's talk From Spiderman to Alba: Transgenics in a Post-nuclear World suggested that superhero and transgenics offer a form of exploration of a post-nuclear world quoting examples from Eduardo Kac's work and Stelarc's Extra Ear.

Jennifer Willet and Shawn Bailey talk, BIOTEKNICA  - A Mutation Model for Teratological Art analyses grotesque organisms similiar to organisms of "The Fly", "Rosemary's baby" and "Alien Resurrection" and produced models on the Teratoma - an instance of spontaneous cloning.   

The following evening after Adam Zaretsky's talk  we stand waiting by the Mayor of Prague's private residence, behind us are two Canadians discussing his work and the need for humour in art/science intersections. 

Zaretsky is of course all this...an artist, an improvisationist/stand-up comedian with a twisted mind for anything that can be twisted (and most things can be...).  His talk On Mutaphobia summarises recent variations/mutations of phobia in relation to culture and biotechnologies using series of language constructions (mutabilities).  In good fashion with his argument he ends his presentation by throwing gamma radiated seeds at the audience!  (Halloween next year?)

Louis Bec's keynotes speech forms the introduction to the three day conference whose objective is to question the major mutations that weigh on the future of our world.  He uses the metaphor of extremophiles to confront various aspects of human activities that urges questions of survival and meaningfulness.

"We are all extremophiles who possess the memory of the origin of life."

Our accountability as being part of the environment and our awareness of its fragility and its current state which is undergoing multiple amputations.  He also mentions Gilles Clements’ 'Third Landscape Manifesto’, which advances ideas of risks involved in environmental worries addressed through fear, marketing and other profit inspired commerce or politics.

"We are predatory extremophiles"

Through our imperialistic acquisition of riches (territories, cultures, energies and raw material)

"We are creative extremophiles"

We have an obsession with discovering and surveying unknown territories - either the infinitesimal or the other space.

 "We are thinking extremophiles"

By equipping ourselves with efficient cognitive tools we are not only moving to the point of exploring the brain itself as a new space but also on the knowledge that the survival of the planet depends on better cognitive tools of predicting the future.

We had just arrived from one Prague's dumpling joints into a rather chock-a-block opening.

The I, Resident exhibition in Prague showed the highlights of artists using new technologies based on artistic residencies organized by Pepinieres europeennes pour jeunes artistes - an internatlional network that connects more than 100 artistic centres all over Europe and Canada. 

Travel seven miles in one step -  the Seven Mile Boots, interactive audio footwear, facilitates travel in the virtual and real world simultaneously.  

Antony Hall's Enki, which features information from a live electrical fish to alter the audience state of consciousness, was shown on one of the video displays.  Although the work may be seen to carry references to Hitch Hikers Guide's babelfish, the work comes from a more long term interest in aquarium environments and their effects on humans.  

Internet by Stepan Klenik, produces a visual relatioship with the shear scale of websites on the internet. The work features 20 billion poppy seeds contained in 1 cubic meter each representing a website....

An observation, when we got to the cube people would rub the surface to produce statics making the poppy seeds stick to the hand. 

One highlight of the evening was controlling the human robot using a mobile phone to interact with the rest of the gallery!