bio



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Studio Sonja Bäumel
Bilderdijkstraat 182/4
1053 LD Amsterdam
The Netherlands

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I am an Austrian artist, independent researcher and art educator based in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Vienna, Austria.

In my artistic research practice, I explore ‘the living’ and the evolving perception of what bodies are made of. In active collaborative endeavors, I investigate the influence that scientific knowledge has had on the way we perceive and interpret the human body, and how such historical, yet still predominant views, affect current (mainly Western) society and the cultural contexts in which we operate. Rooted in self-experimentation, my work explores possible ways of encountering invisible and intangible beings while questioning the perception of skin as the ultimate border for human and more-than-human bodies, embracing risk while directly engaging with living microbial entities, and venturing through landscapes, on a macro- and micro-level, to seek clarity as to where the environment starts and where it ends. My work thus renders in-between-spaces as vivid entanglements full of life, where the boundaries of trans-beings are dissolved, revealing as yet unexplored forms of intelligence and communication.

Most of my projects involve long-term collaborations and extensive fieldwork. I create process-driven, trans-disciplinary and imaginary, yet tangible microbial landscapes such as living paintings, sculptures, rituals, installations and performances intending to sense and thus better understand what the microbial paradigm shift means for the limits of the self and the relation between self-interest and collective behaviour.

At the moment, I am working as tutor and head of the Jewellery-Linking Bodies Department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, as well as lecturing and holding workshops at different national and international academies and universities.

I studied Fashion Design at the Fashion Institute in Vienna, and hold a Bachelor in Arts from the University of Arts in Linz, as well as a Master in Conceptual Design in Context from the Design Academy in Eindhoven. In 2012, I was awarded the Outstanding Artist Award for the Project Textile Anatomy by the BMUKK Federal Ministry of Education, Art and Culture in Vienna.

My work has been exhibited internationally at the Ars Electronica Center, the Anthology Film Archives New York, the MAK Museum of Applied Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei, the Museum of Natural History in Vienna, the ZKM Center for Art and Media or the Centre Pompidou Paris. My projects have also provided the basic impact for documentary films (e.g. BioArt - Kunst aus dem Labor, ORF/ARTE), to which I actively contributed. I was a co-founder of the Dunbar's Number collective (2011-2016), a member of the Pavillion35 (2012-2017) collective, based in Vienna, and of the WNDRLUST (2013-2018) collective, based in Amsterdam.

selected exhibitions / performances
Entangled Relations—Animated Bodies
MAK - Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, AT

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Threads of Life: Textiles in Medicine and the Arts
AIL - Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab, Vienna, AT

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Entangled Relations—Animated Bodies
XXIII Triennale Di Milano, IT

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VIENNA BIENNALE FOR CHANGE
MAK - Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, AT
THE WORLD IS IN YOU
Medical Museion at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, DK

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Trees of Life - Stories for a Damaged Planet
Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, DE
La Fabrique du vivant
Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
#TullnART Garten der Künstler
Rathaus/Minoritenkloster, Tulln, AT
MOMENTUM 9: ( alienation )
The Nordic Biennial Of Contemporary Art, Kunsthall, Moss, NOR
Fifty Percent Human
Zone2Source Orangerie Amstelpark, Amsterdam, NL
SeMABiennale
Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, KR
EARTHLAB
Red October Chocolate Factory, Moscow, RU
GLOBALE:Exo-Evolution
ZKM - Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, DE
BIOART
National Science Museum, Seoul, KR
Gare du Nord
Waag Society, Theatrum Anatomicum, Amsterdam, NL
Musrara Mix festival
The Naggar School of Art, Jerusalem, ISR
Project Genesis
Ars Electronica Center, Linz, AT
The sixth sense
Copernicus Science Center, Warsaw, PL
Natural to next natural
MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, TW
SKIN TO SKIN
Gewerbemuseum, Winterthur, CH
Scientific skin
MAK - Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, AT
design4health
Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
Tools for the Design Revolution
MQ - MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, AT
ULTRABODY
Castello Sforzesco, Milan, IT
i FABRIC.european talent
Textielmuseum, Tilburg, NL
INDUSTRIOUS | Artefacts, the evolution of crafts
Zuiderzeemuseum, Enkhuizen, NL
BIOART - Art from the laboratory
ORF/ARTE, Natural History Museum (NHM), Vienna, AT
(In)visible
RMNSC.Krakow Theatrical
 Reminiscence, Film screening, 
Krakow, POL
Wir sind Planeten
Documentary film, ServusTV
1st BIO:FICTION,SCIENCE,
ART&FILM FESTIVAL VIENNA
Film festival, Natural History Museum (NHM), Vienna, AT
Utrecht Manifest
Biennial for social design, Jongeriusvilla, Utrecht, NL
HIGH LIKE A DRAGONFLY
Semper Depot, Vienna, AT
selected lectures / workshops
ENTANGLED LANDSCAPES
Universität Duisburg-Essen, DE
Linking Bodies
Hiko Mizuno College, Tokyo, JPN
TOO MUCH ALIVE
Institut für Kunst- und Baugeschichte, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, DEU
Linking Bodies
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, DEU
Microbial Bodies
University of Applied Arts, Vienna, AT
Behavioral Matter - Composer avec le vivant
Symposium, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
Designing the Self
Keynote speaker, MAK FUTURE LAB, MAK - Museum für angewandte Kunst Vienna, AT
Arts and Life Sciences
Faculty of Humanities Leiden University, Leiden, NL
Crossroads of Arts & Sciences
Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL
Arts in Society
Faculty of Humanities Leiden University, Leiden, NL
What would a microbe say?
Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery Madison, Wisconsin, US
Empathy and Microbes
The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, London, UK
The Alien Within
Medical Museion, Copenhagen, DK
Artist talk
Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL
CONTROL - European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts
Stockholm University, Stockholm, SWE
Bioart Seoul
Sogang University, Seoul, KOR
Bio-workshop
in collaboration with Maurizio Montalti, Mediamatic, Amsterdam, NL
Bio-workshop Musrara
The Naggar School of Art, New Media Department, Jerusalem, ISR
International Summer Academy in Engineering for Women
University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Traunkirchen/Wels, AT
Living landscapes
MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, TW
BIO-Workshop
in collaboration with Pei-Ying Lin, Shih Chien University, Taipei, TW
BIO-LOGIC workshop
in collaboration with Maurizio Montalti, Mirko Daneluzzo and Tommaso Casucci, WASP, WAAG Society, Amsterdam, NL
(In)visible worlds
Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, EST
Metabodies
PROJEKT GENESIS, Ars Electronica Center, Linz, AT
Artist Talk
University of Applied Arts, Vienna, AT
(In)visible
Keynote speaker, design4health, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
Artist talk / Workshop
Art&Design Technology Institute, Suzhou, CHN
(In)visible
IMBA - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Vienna, AT
Bio Data Visualisation Workshop
in collaboration with Maurizio Montalti, Mediamatic, Amsterdam, NL
(in)visible film
ICSB 2011 Heidelberg, International Conference on Systems Biology, Heidelberg/Mannheim, DE
(in)visible film
1st Bio:Fiction Science, Art & Filmfestival Vienna, facts and fiction, Natural History Museum, Vienna, AT
(In)visible membrane
Design Indaba Conference, Cape Town, ZAF
position
Head of Department, Jewellery-Linking Bodies
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL
Tutor, Jewellery Department
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL
Tutor, Basicyear
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL
Tutor, New Frontiers
Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam, NL
Co-founder of WNDRLUST collective
Amsterdam, NL
Member of Pavillion35 collective
Vienna, AT
Co-founder of the Dunbar's Number collective
Vienna, AT
guest tutor
Zürcher Hochschule der Künste
MA Art Education, Kunstpädagogik / Introduction Workshop

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Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Mozarteum University Salzburg, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, University of Art and Industrial Design Linz.
Arts of Change - Change of Arts 2023 Interdisciplinary coaching program

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Akademie der Bildenden Künste
Klasse für Schmuck und Gerät, Critics, Munich, DEU
Musrara the Naggar School of Art
New Media Department, Jerusalem, ISR
Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Jewellery Department, Amsterdam, NL
Shih Chien University
Industrial Design, Taipei, TW
Estonian Academy of Arts
Faculty of Architecture, Critics, Tallinn, EST
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Department of ID 2 , Critics, Vienna, AT
Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute
Suzhou, CHN
education
Teaching Qualification For Universities of Applied Sciences
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, NL
IM Master in Conceptual Design in Context, cum laude
Design Academy Eindhoven, NL
Bachelor of Arts, cum laude
University for Art and Industrial Design Linz, AT
Fashion Design Diploma, cum laude
Modeschule Hetzendorf, Vienna, AT
awards / grants / residencies
THE LIVING
is supported by National Science Foundation, US
What would a microbe say?
is supported by National Science Foundation, US
Fifty Percent Human
is supported by the ‘Creative Industries Fund NL‘, AFK - Amsterdam Fund for the Arts and Wageningen University, NL
Bio: Fiction Science, Art & Filmfestival
category: fiction, Vienna, AT (winner)
Future-and Biolab
Ars Electronica Residency / Grant, Linz, AT
Outstanding Artist Award Experimental Design
BMUKK Federal Ministry for Education, Art and Culture, Vienna, AT (first prize)
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS/Science)
(in)visible film part of Member Central, US
Outstanding Artist Award Interdisziplinarität
BMUKK Federal Ministry for Education, Art and Culture, Vienna, AT (shortlisted)
Bio: Fiction Science, Art & Filmfestival
Natural History Museum, Vienna, AT (shortlisted)
Imagine Science Film Festival
‘(in)visible film’, New York, US (shortlisted)
Startstipendium für Architektur und Design
Federal Ministry for Education, Art and Culture, Vienna, AT
Prize for the graduation project (In)visible membrane
Design Academy Eindhoven: Participation Design Conference Indaba Cape Town, ZAF (winner)
Prize from the city Vienna
Bachelor of Art, fashion collection Vienna, AT (winner)
commissioners

e.g.
MAK
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Wien, AT
Frankfurter Kunstverein
Museum für moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, DEU
Centre Pompidou
Paris, FRA
University of Tübingen
University, Tübingen, DEU
Alte Schmiede
Kunstverein Vienna, AT
ZKM
Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, DEU
Punkt Ø AS
The Nordic Biennial of Contemporary Art, Moss, NOR
Ars Electronica Center
Museum, Linz, AT
Wageningen University
University, Wageningen, NL
Textielmuseum Tilburg
Museum, Tilburg, NL
ORF
Österreichischer Rundfunk, AT
ARTE
Deutsch-Französischer Kultursender, DEU/FRA
BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
University, Vienna, AT
contributions book
Why Cultures Persist - Toward a Cultural Immunology
Author: Jesper Sørensen, Aarhus University Press, DK

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Doors to Hidden Worlds - The Power of Visualization in Science, Media, and Art
Science Visualization Lab of the University of Applied Arts Vienna by Alfred Vendl und Martina Fröschl. Published by De Gruyter. Expanded Selves: Searching for Encouters. We are swimming in biology, that’s why we don’t feel it. by Sonja Bäumel, pg 92-104

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Affect as Contamination, Embodiment in Bioart and Biotechnology
Author: Agnieszka Anna Wolodzko Bloomsbury Publishing_UK

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Antoni van Leeuwenhoek en de microwereld
Kunst en het microbioom, Over kleine diertjes, verwondering en meervoudigheid by Robert Zwijnenberg WBOOKS Zwolle / Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, pg.102-111

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De cobre, microbios y arte
Autores/as Andrés Marcoleta , André Barbet , Giorgio Boccardo Editorial: Ediciones Departamento de Artes Visuales, Facultad de Artes, Universidad de Chile, pg 37-38

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Art of Anthropocene
Changes of Ecology, Life and Body by Hyesook Jeon. Ewha Institute for the Humanities, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea, pg 168 - 171
E-Co-Affectivity
Exploring Pathos at Life’s Material Interfaces, Marjolein Oele, State University of New York Press, pg 128

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Being Material
Explorations of the many ways of being material in the digital age. The MIT press, Edited by Marie-Pier Boucher, Stefan Helmreich, Leila W Kinney, Skylar Tibbits, Rebecca Uchill and Evan Ziporyn, pg 84
Slime Mould in Arts and Architecture
Edited by Andrew Adamatzky, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, River Publishers Series in Biomedical Engineering, BioLogic - Living Structures and Swarm Bodies by Maurizio Montalti, Alessio Erioli, Andrea Graziano, Tommaso Casucci, Mirko Daneluzzo, Sonja Bäumel, Massimo Moretti, Pieter van Boheemen pg 189-203
La Fabrique Du Vivante
Sous la direction de M.-A.Brayer et O.Zeitoun, Exhibition Catalogue, Editions du Centre Pompidou, Paris, pg 136-137
Arte Transgenica
by Mario Savini, Pisa University Press, pg 28-29

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Experiencing the Unconventional, Science in Art
Edited by Theresa Schubert and Andrew Adamatzky, World Scientific, pg 279-299

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BioArt, Altered Realities
by Willim Myers, Thames&Hudson
Practicing Pragmatist Aesthetics, Critical Perspectives on the Arts
Edited by Wojciech Malecki, Microontologies of Soma by Monika Bakke, Brill, pg 155-158
Thresholds 42, human
Edited by Tyler Stevermer, Journal of the MIT Department of Architecture, Refashioning the microbial body by Mariel Villeré, pg 60-69

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Ultrabody: 208 Works Between Art and Design
Publisher Edizioni Corraini, pg 240
contributions essay
MIKROBEN, MOLEKÜLE, MATERIELLE KÖRPERLICHKEIT. FEMINISTISCHES UND POSTHUMANES WISSEN IN DER KUNST VON ANICKA YI UND SONJA BÄUMEL
FKW // ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR GESCHLECHTERFORSCHUNG UND VISUELLE KULTUR NR. 72 // FEBRUAR 2023-02-24 by Irene Schütze, pg 031-044

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Fifty Percent Human – how art brings us in touch with our microbial cohabitants.
Microbial Biotechnology, UK, pg 1-4

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Fifty Percent Human
Exhibition leaflet, Introduction by Sanne Bloemik pg 2, Fifty Percent Human by Sonja Bäumel and Birgit Nemec pg 3-18, Text contributions: Living in the Big Mesh by Alice Smits, pg 19
selected printed press
Triennale Mailand
Parnass, Kunstmagazin, Vienna, AT, 09.2022
Det udvidede selv
Weekendavisen, Danish Newspaper, Text by science journalist Lone Frank, Copenhagen, DK, 10.2021
Kunst & Wissenschaft
KUNSTMAGAZIN PARNASS, Biologische Systeme als künstlerische Ausdrucksmittel - die Verbindung von Gegenwartskunst und modernen Biowissenschaften. Text by Silvie Aigner und Paula Watzl, AT, 02.2020
Bakterien und Käfer an der Macht
by Dierk Wolters, Frankfurter Neue Presse, DEU, 09.10.2019

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Body&Soul
Special Issue: Skin Matters: Thinking Through the Body’s Surfaces edited by Marc Lawrence, Volume 24, Number 1-2, CAN, 03.-05.2018

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From gut to gallery
by Nadine Botha, Damn Magazine, 08.2017

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SeMA Biennale
Mediacity Seoul catalogue, Seoul, KOR

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Clothed in Bacteria
by Martina Efeyini, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, USA, 04.2016
Gevaarlijk schoon
by Jop de Vrieze, Sir Edmund, De Volkskrant, NL, 04.10.
Maagiline muutus
by Veronika Valk, SIRP, EE, 05.09.

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Total Recall, The Evolution of memory
Ars Electronica catalogue, Linz, AT

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Algenhumor
by Michael Hausenblas, Rondo, Standard, AT, 24.08.
Our design critic has seen the future, and - if we are lucky - it's full of friendly bacteria.
by Hettie Judah, Art Review, UK, 01.-02.2012

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Organic Data Visualisation: Mapping Amsterdam's cultural life with a slime-mold.
Visible Data, financing culture 2011-2012

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Mikrobiologie & Kunst
labor&more

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Good dirt. What's so great about washing anyway?
by Hettie Judah, The Word Magazine, The skin issue, Brussels, BEL 03.-04.2010

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selected online press
Neue Ausstellungen im MAK
Kunstmagazin Parnass, Caroline Schluge, 02.02.2023

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Österreich-Beitrag lässt Amöben tanzen
ORF.at, Nicole Scheyerer aus Mailand, 17.07.

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Sonja Bäumel bei Milano Triennale
Ö1-Kulturjournal, Do, 23.06., 17:24 Uhr
Trees of Life-Stories for a Damaged Planet
We make money not art, 29.01.

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Kunst und Klima-geht das zusammen?
ARD, Hauptsache Kultur, HR Fernsehen, 10.10.
Wissenschaft trifft Kunst
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 08.10.

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La Fabrique du vivant
Centre Pompidou, Paris-Art, 18.02.

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Zwischen Atelier und Labor
SWR2 Radio, Ausstellung "Zwischen Atelier und Labor" in der Villa Rot in Burgrieden by Frank Wiesner, 22.06.
ALIENATION Momentum 9th Nordic Biennial of Contemporary Art
by Supritha Patil, ARTE FUSE, 07.07.
Nordic Contemporary Art Biennale Momentum 9 discusses Aliens, Bacteria and the Future
by Fleur Helluin, KALTBLUT Magazine, 22.06.
Momentum9 - Nordische Kunstbiennale
by Werner Bloch, Ö1 Kultur im Mittagsjournal 26.06.
Der Mensch ist sich ein Alien
by Gerald Heidegger, ORF, 24.06.

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Wien ist anders, und wir sind anders, als wir denken.
by Astrid Kuffner, MADAMEWIEN Portrait, 20.05.

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Investigating the invisible diversity of the human body
by Lula Criado, CLOT Magazine, 08.01.

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Op de Nieuwmarkt in Amsterdam ligt een naakte vrouw van bacteriën op je te wachten
by Leander Roet, Vice, 24.07.

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Musrara Mix festival
by Reut Barnea, Calcalist, 02.06.

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We are only 10 percent human and 90 percent bacteria.
by Agnese Čivle, Arterritory, 31.07.

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Q&A: Sonja Bäumel
by Irene Boshoff, Design Indaba, 19.11.

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2nd Design4Health Conference 2013
by David Pao, Sheffield Hallam University, 02 - 05.07.

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Metabodies
by Michael Knoll, ARS Electronica Blog, 29.07.

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Bodies&Bacteria
Design Indaba, 03.08.

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Bacteria “R” Us
by Rachel Armstrong, Next Nature, 13.03.

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Microcartography
by Christina Agapakis, Scientific American, 27.01.

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BioArt - Kunst aus dem Labor
Documentary ORF/ARTE Artgenossen,ORF 2, Kulturmontag, 31.10.

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Do-it-yourself biology and Biohackers: Facts und Fiction
Bio:fiction Vienna – lecture and panel discussion.

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(in)visible membrane
Design Indaba, 24.05.

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(In)visible Membrane by Sonja Bäumel
by Marcus Fairs, Dezeen magazine, 22.10.

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colophon

site: Maurits de Bruijn
graphic design: Chen Jhen

legal notice

All images are protected by copyright law. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written prior consent from Sonja Bäumel.

contact

email
info@sonjabaeumel.at

for press inquiries
press@sonjabaeumel.at

mailing address
Studio Sonja Bäumel
Bilderdijkstraat 182/4
1053 LD Amsterdam
The Netherlands

online letter

To receive regular updates
regarding new work or
exhibitions, please
subscribe to the online letter.