In August of 2022, Dr Angelo Vermeulen | inspired our Plantlab crew with examples from his international transdisciplinary practice at the nexus of biology, space research systems research, community development and art.
PlantLab is a cross-disciplinary research project, pop-up innovation lab and public art installation. It is designed to support collaboration across boundaries and regenerate the CBD in Whangarei, Te Tai Tokerau (Northland), NZ Post COVID-19.
During the conversation the PlantLab research group heard about the global SEAD network (of which Dr Maggie Buxton is now a member) and started dreaming of possibilities for collaboration. For more info about PlantLab contact Dr Maggie Buxton via AwhiWorld.
Angelo is an artist, biologist and space systems researcher. In 2009 he co-founded SEAD (Space Ecologies Art and Design), an international transdisciplinary collective of artists, scientists, engineers, and activists. Its goal is to reshape the future through critical inquiry and hands-on experimentation. Biomodd is one of their most well-known art projects and consists of a worldwide series of interactive art installations in which computers coexist with internal living ecosystems. For the last ten years, he has been collaborating with the European Space Agencys MELiSSA program on biological life support for space. In 2013 he became crew commander of the first NASA-funded HI-SEAS Mars simulation in Hawai’i.
Currently, he works at Delft University of Technology, developing bio-inspired concepts for interstellar exploration. He advises several European space companies, and together with the LDE Center for Sustainability, he connects space technology and horticulture to foster innovation in global food production. He is also preparing a series of art/science experiments on board the International Space Station.
Vermeulen has been (guest) faculty at universities across Europe, the US, and Southeast Asia. He is a Senior TED Fellow and was selected in 2017 as one of the Top 5 Tech Pioneers from Belgium by the newspaper De Tijd. His TED Talk about his space-related work has garnered over a million views.