22 Visual Identities in Art & Design (VIAD) Research Centre The Visual Identities in Art and Design (VIAD) Research Centre continued to consolidate its position as a leading platform for interdisciplinary and socially engaged research in 2025 through the work of its two major research streams: BioArt + Design Africa (BA+DA) and Radical | Others (R | O). Across both streams, VIAD advanced critical inquiry, international collaboration, public engagement and experimental practice in ways closely aligned with the University of Johannesburg’s strategic focus on transformation, innovation and societal impact. BioArt + Design Africa (BA+DA) significantly expanded its international profile and interdisciplinary research activities during 2025. A major highlight was Fluid Boundaries: The Interplay of Water, Art, Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems, an 18-month transdisciplinary initiative involving collaborators from South Africa, Brazil and Switzerland. The project brought together artists, scientists and indigenous knowledge practitioners through laboratory residencies, workshops and public presentations, fostering decolonial approaches to knowledge production and generating a combined income of R1.2 million for VIAD through external and matching institutional funding. BA+DA also strengthened South–South and international collaborations through the Uncertain Entanglements network of art-science practitioners. The 2025 colloquium, jointly hosted with the Wits Innovation Centre, expanded discussions around materiality, indigenous knowledge systems, decolonial methodologies and educational innovation, including virtual participation with partners in Colombia. Practice-led research remained central to BA+DA’s activities through its Artist-in-Residence programme. Residencies by Oupa Sibeko and The Zebra Collective (Masimba Hwati and Michael Gould) explored memory, mythology, ecological rupture and embodied knowledge through performance, installation and sound-based practice. These projects culminated in public presentations and exhibition components that extended audience engagement beyond live events through filmed and audio iterations. The programme further enhanced its scholarly and public education profile through the appointment of internationally recognised researchers and practitioners, including Prof Oron Catts, Prof TJ Demos, Prof Eben Kirksey and Prof Michael Marder. Public lectures and seminars addressed themes such as bioart, multispecies design, ecological justice, environmental violence and the ethics of biotechnology, reinforcing BA+DA’s commitment to interdisciplinary dialogue between art, science and the humanities. A further innovation was the Intra-actions video series, a multidisciplinary platform documenting conversations between artists, scientists, scholars and technologists around collaborative research and creative production. The five-part series explored questions of ecological thinking, indigenous knowledge systems and interdisciplinary practice, with episodes scheduled for public release in 2026. BA+DA also laid important groundwork for future curriculum innovation through seminars and presentations aimed at undergraduate students, postgraduate researchers and academic staff across FADA. Topics included bioart ethics, semi-living systems, ecological collapse and the intersections between design and biotechnology, contributing to the development of future multi-sector curricula in bioart and biodesign. One of the year’s most visible public initiatives was the exhibition Re:Fuse-Ability, hosted at the FADA Gallery from July to September 2025. Curated by Brenton Maart and Prof Leora Farber, the exhibition brought together artists from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia and the United States to explore themes of waste, repair, decomposition and regeneration through installation, performance, sound and biomaterial experimentation. Accompanied The AlMultaqa Afro-Arab Harmonic Orchestra at the ‘The Imagined New (or, What Happens When History is a Catastrophe?) – Volume III’, VIAD April 2025
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjU1NDYx