BioArt Lab
The BioArt Lab conducts interdisciplinary research in the field of Art & Science.
Fields of research
Bio-machinery complexes
The main focus of this research is the development of biotechnological devices and bio-machinery complexes using the sensory apparatus of multicellular organisms.

The creation of bio-machinery complexes involves the incorporation of a variety of sensory systems of multicellular organisms into mechanical designs: mechano- and thermo-sensitive, chemo- and photosensitive, as well as electro- and magnetoreceptive organs.
The creation of such systems involves the application of bio- and genetic engineering, bioprinting, cell biology and embryology, as well as technologies such as invasive and non-invasive cyborgisation of biological objects, neurointerfaces, biophysics and neurophysiology, AI and machine learning, prototyping of electronic systems, and robotics.
Unconventional computing
The second area of research involves experiments on the creation of non-traditional computational systems based on plants, fungi and myxomycetes. To that end, fuzzy logic-based multi-agent computational complexes are developed with the use of methods of electrophysiology, plant physiology, biophysics and mathematical analysis.
Our staff

Ippolit Markelov

PhD, the head of BioArt Lab

Maria Moschenskaya

interdisciplinary artist, Art & Science researcher

Veronika Prizova

interdisciplinary artist, Art & Science researcher

Alexandra Burnusuz

biologist, Art & Science researcher

Mikhail Shalepo

engineer, optics specialist

Ruslan Bobko

engineer, robotics specialist

Participation in exhibitions
Slovenia, 2022
Project: Plantoverse
Online program
Russia, 2022
Project: Plantoverse
Russia, 2022
Project: Plantoverse
Russia, 2022
Project: Plantoverse
Russia and the Netherlands, 2021
Project: Plant Intelligence
Slovenia, 2021
Project: Plant Intelligence/Inteligenca rastlin
Global Community Bio Summit 6.0, MIT Media Lab, Community Biotechnology Initiative, 2023
Project: Plantoverse
Participation in conferences / lectures / symposia
ITMO University, 2022
Part of lecture series Source of Innovation, Skolkovo, 2022
"Plantoverse. Art & Science study of the human phenomenon "plant blindness" and the optical properties of plant epidermis," 2022
Open educational program in BioArt as part of the Hybrid Workshops program
ITMO University, 2022
Online course: Inside Art & Science
ITMO University, 2022
Poster presentation: Plant Vision: Optical Properties of Plant Leaf Epidermis
Open Science Rocks festival, ITMO University, 2022
Sirius Federal Territory, 2021
ITMO University, 2021
Network School in Science Art and Philosophy of Tech. A joint program by GES-2 House of Culture and ITMO Art & Science Center.
Lecture program "Biology Week," Student Scientific Society at the Faculty of Biology, St. Petersburg State University, 2021
Lightning Talk "Bioart piece as an educational project. Plantoverse: the Plant Blindness phenomenon and plant optics study"
Global Community Bio Summit 6.0 hosted by the MIT Media Lab, Community Biotechnology Initiative, 2023
Publications
Grants awarded