Marta de Menezes is a Portuguese artist (Lisbon, 1975) with a degree in fine arts from the University of Lisbon, a MSt in history of art and visual culture from the University of Oxford, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Leiden. She has been exploring the intersection between art and biology, working in research laboratories demonstrating that new biological technologies can be used as a new art medium. In 1999 de Menezes created her first biological artwo...read more
Marta de Menezes is a Portuguese artist (Lisbon, 1975) with a degree in fine arts from the University of Lisbon, a MSt in history of art and visual culture from the University of Oxford, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Leiden. She has been exploring the intersection between art and biology, working in research laboratories demonstrating that new biological technologies can be used as a new art medium. In 1999 de Menezes created her first biological artwork (Nature?) by modifying the wing patterns of live butterflies. Since then, she has used diverse biological techniques including functional MRI of the brain to create portraits through which the mind can be visualised (Functional portraits, 2002); fluorescent DNA probes to create micro-sculptures in human cell nuclei (nucleArt, 2002); sculptures made of proteins (Proteic portrait, 2002-2007), DNA (Innercloud, 2003; The family, 2004) or incorporating live neurons (Tree of knowledge, 2005) or bacteria (Decon, 2007). Her work has been presented internationally in exhibitions, articles and lectures. She is currently the artistic director of Ectopia, an experimental art laboratory – in Lisbon, and director of Cultivamos Cultura in the South of Portugal.
Luis Graça has an MD from the University of Lisbon, Portugal; and a PhD in transplant immunology from the University of Oxford, UK. He developed his post-doctoral research first in Oxford and later at the Institute for Child Health Research, in Perth, Australia. He is currently Associate Professor at the Lisbon Medical School, directing a research group in cellular immunology at Instituto de Medicina Molecular. His most significant scientific contributions have been related with the development of strategies to teach the immune system not to reject transplanted organs, also known as immune tolerance. Currently he is extending his findings to the fields of allergy and autoimmunity (where the immune system attacks its own body). Luis Graça is author of 52 research publications, three patents, and is the co-founder of Acellera Therapeutics. Apart from his scientific research another interest of his is in the intersection between art and science. In this field Luis Graça has collaborated with several artists, including his long-term relationship with Marta de Menezes, and he is now scientific advisor for Ectopia and Cultivamos Cultura – two Portuguese institutions involved in fostering art-science collaborations. He has three publications in this field, describing the scientist’s view of art-science interactions.
