Lifepatch - Art, Science, and Beyond

Guest speaker in this talk session held in connection with “YCAM Open Lab 2019: Understanding Living Culture” is Nur Akbar Arofatullah, co-founder of the Lifepatch initiative based in Indonesia.

Lifepatch engages in cross-disciplinary activities in the art/science/technology field, and has been creating artworks together with various experts following methods of typical academic research across such academic disciplines as sciences, social studies, ethnography, history, etc. Outlined in this talk event are the vision of Lifepatch, past and present endeavors, and production processes that are part of the work of Lifepatch.

Lifepatch—citizen initiative in art, science and technology

Lifepatch is a cross-disciplinary community formed in 2012. Based in Indonesia and launched by citizens involved is the arts, science, and technology, Lifepatch brings together practitioners to examine, explore, and develop socially engaged projects related to technology, natural resources, and human resources in the local area. The collective also creates installations for art festivals, including the Jakarta Biennale and Biennale Jogja. Lifepatch believes that citizens' initiatives should allow diversity in practice and encourage the creativity of members through collaborative activities. As such, the collective operates with a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) and Do-It-With-Others (DIWO) ethos in its practice in order to stimulate new systems and styles of living and working that develop out of the creative process of individuals and communities, and the interaction between individuals in community projects.

Lifepatch's members aspire to fulfill their mission of bettering the development of human resources and local natural resources, building bridges between domestic and international collaboration, and providing open access to research sources and project results. For this reason, Lifepatch's activities were initially implemented online.

Lifepatch is also conscious of the importance of space as a hub to work, conduct activities, and interact cooperatively with individuals and communities. Such a place becomes a space for mutual learning, discussion, and meeting, and also serves as a physical home for the collective. From this base, Lifepatch organizes workshops experimenting with fermentation technology, programming, and hardware hacking. In addition to running its own studio, the collective works with the Hackteria network, such as hosting HackteriaLab 2014, a multidisciplinary, open-source meeting in Yogyakarta focused on BioArt, ecology' and technology.

• http://lifepatch.org/