Panel Statement n.a.

Panel: Art(ist)s in Space

• Angelo Vermeulen is a visual artist, biologist, space researcher, community organizer, and author. His original PhD training in ecology, environmental pollution and teratology plays a crucial role in his art. Vermeulen creates art installations that are often open, experimental setups that incorporate ecological processes and living organisms. His projects include ‘Blue Shift’, a Darwinian art project in collaboration with evolutionary biologist Prof. Luc De Meester, and ‘Seeker’, an evolving co-created spaceship sculpture. ‘Biomodd’ is Vermeulen’s most well-known and longest running project. It is a worldwide series of cross-cultural, symbiotic installations in which ecology, game culture, and social interaction converge.  In 2009 he launched ‘Space Ecologies Art and Design (SEAD)’, a platform for artistic research on architectures and politics of space colonization. He collaborates with the MELiSSA research program of the European Space Agency (ESA), and is also a member of the ESA Topical Team Arts and Science (ETTAS). In 2011 his space-related work led him to start a new PhD at Delft University of Technology. In 2012 he was appointed Crew Commander of the NASA-funded HI-SEAS Mars simulation in Hawaii. Angelo co-authored the book ‘Baudelaire in Cyberspace: Dialogues on Art, Science and Digital Culture’ with art philosopher Antoon Van den Braembussche, and gives talks about his work around the world. He is a Lecturer at LUCA School of Arts in Ghent, Belgium, and received several fellowships: 2010 TED Fellow, 2013-2014 TED Senior Fellow, and 2012 Michael Kalil Endowment for Smart Design Fellow at Parsons, New York. In 2012 he received the Witteveen+BosArt+Technology Award. His art works have been exhibited in the US, Europe, Southeast Asia and New Zealand.