As we all know, space is dead. It's almost completely empty. Ecology, on the other hand, is about life. Despite this contradiction, ecology and space have a shared history, and most likely a shared future as well. Austrian artist Ralo Mayer has spent a lot of time pursuing research into the enclosed ecosystem project in the Arizona desert. It took place in the early 90s and was known as Biosphere 2. In the process, he also researched a number of related topics. The gigantic greenhouse was meant to be a testing bed for future space colonies, it also included self taught scientists among the crew. Ralo's work exists in a space between bizarre facts and fantastical fiction. It focuses on the biosphere, the Trump administration, E.T. and ecology surpassing nature and culture to mesh with countless actors.

Ralo Mayer is an artist with an installation in Vienna, a filmmaker, and a researcher. His work delineates ecologies of contemporary history, exploring the relation of nature and society as a collapsing dichotomy. Space shuttles, artificial ecosystems, post-Fordism with the everyday life of digital cultures, interweave into meshes of past futures and today’s science fiction which translates into: installations, movies, text, and cross media ensemble. His practice is a processual approach born out of knowledge production which employs dramatic tools such as scripts, roles, and props.
From 2003–2008 Ralo was a cofounding member of the self organized Manoa Free University, where he started his continuing research series on performance of models. Starting in 2007, he has been working on transmedia translations of The Ninth Biosphereian which is about Biosphere 2. The framework of his current artistic research project, "Space Un·Settlements," is researching experiments and designs for future life in space.
Currently, Ralo Mayer is an artist with the federal Austrian residency program.

Language: English
Admission: Free
Let's meet at the lecture. Georg Tremmel

BioClub's weekly meetup is for people interested in DIY bio, biohacking, open science, and bio art.