Open Source Estrogen

By Mary Tsang & Byron Rich
Co-presented by Coalesce BioArt Lab, University at Buffalo

Squeaky Wheel is excited to announce a workshop by Coalesce BioArt Lab artists in residence Mary Tsang and Byron Rich.

Our world is an alien landscape filled with toxicities. Petrochemical, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries all contribute to the permeation of endocrine disrupting molecules into our environment, queering both our bodies and the bodies of non-human species. This can be seen as a form of slow violence that is pervasive yet difficult to perceive. Without reinforcing a politics of purity, how can we as citizens effectively respond?

In the Open Source Estrogen workshop, participants work in teams to construct a DIY solid phase extraction system, then perform detection using yeast-based biosensors for estrogenic compounds. Water samples will be collected from the following locales: the Buffalo water front, Scajaquada Creek, the Erie Canal and the Niagara River.

Byron Rich is an assistant professor at Alleghany College and Mary Maggic Tsang who is currently working on her MFA at MIT have joined forces to trouble the toxins around us. They use chemical processes to identify endocrine disrupters in our waterways and in return they have proposed an educational workshop that will then allow the audience to take part in this research.

Coalesce: Center for Biological Arts is a hybrid studio laboratory facility dedicated to enabling hands-on creative engagement with the tools and technologies of the life sciences.

Free for Squeaky Wheel members and UB students | Non-Members $10

Please register by March 31st.

While our website is under construction, please register via phone (716) 884-7172 or contact alex@squeaky.org