Review: BIOTOOPIA - Art, Science and Technology Hybrid Conference on Worksup platform

On 26-28 August a number of artists, natural scientists, philosophers and posthumanists met at the international hybrid conference BIOTOOPIA* which took place in a small fishing village Viinistu in the Northern European republic of Estonia. The programme is in English.

Biotoopia was a hybrid conference – its physical presence event took place in the art museum in Viinistu, a coastal village in North Estonia, but on 26-27 August the main parts of the programme were also be accessible via online conference platform Worksup.

You may review the online conference until 31.07.2022. The instructions how to enter the Worksup platform will be sent to you via email after buying the ticket.

Biotoopia is captivated by the mutual influence and information exchange between living creatures, as well as the manifestations of intellect within natural associations, but it is also concerned about the human beings’ feeble response to protecting biodiversity on the whole planet. During the Anthropocene centuries, humans have interfered with nature’s self-regulation and set developments in motion that may prove fatal to the entire biosphere. Now, in the beginning of the 21st century, we are trying to halt bad scenarios and formulate new kinds of relationships between humans and nature. To give these changes a push, Biotoopia is searching for fresh forms of cooperation between the arts, sciences and biosphere, to prepare the ground for the germination of new thought patterns. Biotoopia is powered by the indoor gardener’s smart helper Click & Grow.

The first Biotoopia focused on ecosystems and biodiversity – the interactions, communications and appearances of intellect within ecological communities.

The international speakers of Biotoopia 2021 were philosopher and plant intelligence investigator Vicente Raja (Spain), cultural theorist Ewa Domanska (Poland), artist Timur Si-Qin (US/Germany), biologist, writer Andreas Weber (Germany) , artists Nathalie Beekman (Netherlands) and T.S. Anna (Latvian) who were in dialog with local experts.

In addition to talks and discussion panels, the conference also boasts an art, nature and music programme inspired by the topics of the conference; all participants are also welcome to attend different workshops and visitors in Viinistu have access to the catering area (suitable for vegetarians, vegans incl. G, L free options) for three days. Curator of the Biotoopia programme is famous Estonian artist Peeter Laurits.

The main sponsor of the conference is Click & Grow, our sponsors are Ecosh Life, ePPC and Wizon. Our volunteers were wearing sustainable clothes by Muulin. The supporters are The Republic of Estonia Ministry of Culture, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Enterprise Estonia via European Union Regional Development Fund and Viinistu Art Harbour.

The conference programme is available on Biotoopia’s home page www.biotoopia.ee.

• We borrowed the name from the 1995 exhibition curated by Sirje Helme, Eha Komissarov and Ando Keskküla, the thematic developments of which we will continue.