The Finnish Art Society has presented Bioart Society an Edvard Richter Recognition Award for the book Art as We Don’t Know It. The Art Society awards one Edvard Richter Prize each year for meritorious art writing; this year, the Literature Board also recognized four art books or texts with an additional recognition award.
According to the Literary Board, “Art as We Don’t Know It is an important book on the state of lesser-known - but internationally recognized - bioart. Edited by Erich Berger, director of the Bioart Society, artist and researcher Kasperi Mäki-Reinikka, artist Kira O’Reilly, and researcher Helena Sederholm, the showy book is a hybrid that brings together peer-reviewed articles and artists’ descriptions of bioart processes.”
In 2020, the literary board of the Finnish Art Society comprised of critic, FL Asko Mäkelä (chairman), visual artist, KuT Johanna Lecklin, and critic, PhD Sini Mononen.
Published in February, Art as We Don’t Know It provides a comprehensive overview of the field of bioart: in addition to articles, peer-reviewed research and interviews, it introduces dozens of artists and their projects. The book is published by Aalto ARTS Books and it was created in collaboration with Biofilia – Base for biological arts at Aalto University. Its foreword is by curator and art historian Mónica Bello.
The book features contributions by Bartaku, Laura Beloff, Ida Bencke, Crystal Bennes, Erich Berger, Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr, Heather Davis, Elaine Gan & Terike Haapoja, Andy Gracie, Rian Ciela Visscher Hammond, Paula Humberg, Antero Kare, Denisa Kera, Mari Keski-Korsu, Adriana Knouf, Jurij Krpan, Teemu Lehmusruusu, lifepatch, Pia Lindman, Lauri Linna, Kristiina Ljokkoi & Tomi Slotte Dufva, Marta de Menezes & Luís Graça, Kasperi Mäki-Reinikka, Anu Osva, Margherita Pevere, Marietta Radomska & Cecilia Åsberg, Kira O'Reilly, Johanna Rotko, Markus Schmidt & Nediljko Budisa, Helena Sederholm, Christina Stadlbauer, Ulla Taipale, Antti Tenetz, Ian Ingram & Theun Karelse, Leena Valkeapää, and Paul Vanouse. The design is by Safa Hovinen.
Art as We Don’t Know It is available at Aalto University Shop in hardcover and as free downloadable pdf: https://shop.aalto.fi/p/1194-art-as-we-dont-know-it.