Would you trust an artist to alter your baby’s microbiome?
Join this free lunchtime debate on the ground floor of the new Mærsk tower, University of Copenhagen, and help an ethics committee decide whether artist and evolutionary biologist François-Joseph Lapointe should be allowed to develop a ‘Microbiome Rebirth Incubator’.
Mærsk Tårnet (the foyer), Wednesday October 11th, 12.15-13.30
THE PROCEDURE
• The artist presents his proposal
• The ethics panel quiz the artist
• The artist leaves, and the audience helps debate the proposal
• The artist returns to hear the verdict
THE ARTWORK
Microbiome Rebirth Incubator is the latest technology designed to reset your original microbiota as if you were just out of your mother’s womb. By immersing yourself in a pool of amniotic fluid, vaginal secretions, human faeces, and breast milk, you will feel rejuvenated, rechristened and born again. Ethical limitations may apply, based on religion, ethnicity and gender of the user.
The artwork is developed by François-Joseph Lapointe, biologist and bioartist; with Marianne Cloutier, art historian and mother; and Maïté Ribère, certified midwife and PhD in microbiome research.
THE ETHICS PANEL
• Mikael Bitsch, Clinician and Associate Professor
• Nana Cecilie Halmsted Kongsholm, Philosopher and Ethicist
• Jacob Lillemose, Curator and Critic
The event is free of charge and in English.
This event was produced under the framework of Trust me, I’m an Artist, supported by funding from EU Creative Europe and by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research.