Professor Oron Catts - Artist, Curator, Director, Institute of Advanced Studies, UWA - exhibited MoMA, Centre Pompidou, Mori Art Museum, NGV, GoMA, Ars Electronica, National Art Museum of China

Associate Professor Oron Catts is an interdisciplinary researcher, artist, and curator whose pioneering work with the Tissue Culture and Art Project which he established in 1996 is considered a leading biological art project.

He is The Director of The University of Western Australia’s Institute of Advanced Studies, the co-founder and head of SymbioticA (established in 2000), a biological art research entity. Catts was a Research Fellow in Harvard Medical School, a visiting Scholar at the Department of Art and Art History Stanford University, a Professor at Large in Contestable Design at the Royal College of Arts, London. Catts curated a dozen exhibitions, publish widely and exhibited in Centre Pompidou, MoMA, Mori Art Museum, NGV, GoMA, Ars Electronica, National Art Museum of China and more.

Associate Professor Stuart Hodgetts - Director, Spinal Cord Repair Laboratory, School of Human Sciences, UWA & Perron Institute for Neurological & Translational Science

Research A/Prof Hodgetts is Director of the Spinal Cord Repair Laboratory at the School of Human Sciences at UWA and Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science. With over 20 years of expertise in cell based transplantation therapies he has been devoted to this research since joining UWA in 1998, originally conducting research in neuromuscular diseases such as muscular dystrophy. Since 2004 he has focussed on the repair of the injured spinal cord using a variety of different stem cell, gene therapy, in vivo reprogramming, tissue engineering, neuroprotective and non-invasive strategies (such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and the use of infra-red/near infra-red light). In 2011, he was awarded an Inaugural Mid-Career Fellowship by the Neurotrauma Research Program of Western Australia. His Spinal Cord Repair Laboratory acts as a core facility for other neuroscience researchers designed to promote neuro-regeneration into the setting of SCI toward preclinical studies. He is an Academic co-coordinator for several undergraduate units at UWA, including Neuroscience, with supervision of over 30 Honours, 9 Masters and 20 PhD students. He was the WA Representative for Australasian Neuroscience Society (2014-2017), and is co-chair for the ANS 2024 meeting in Perth in December. He is currently Chair of the Animal Users Group (UWA). With previous NHMRC and current ARC funding, he has secured funds totalling nearly $6 million as Chief Investigator since 2001. He also works closely with national and international bio-artists (e.g. “cellF”), as well as being an avid collaborator, adviser and scientific consultant for the internationally renowned “SymbioticA” since 1998.

Bio-art related publications: 1) Duff, T., Muhling, J., Godinho, M.G., Hodgetts, S.I. (2011). “How to Make Viral Tattoos” Leonardo 44 (2): 164–165 IF=0.24 Citations: 72) Hodgetts, S. (2015) “Syncitium in Motion: Exploring Movement in the Skeletal Muscle Cell Shared by Scientific and Artistic Nuclei” Leonardo, Vol. Special Edition (“Agency in Motion”) LEONARDO, Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 272–273, IF=0.24 Citations: 23) Moore, G. Ben-Ary, S. Hodgetts, A. Morris, N. Thompson, A. Fitch, D. Bakkum (2016). ‘CellF: The World’s First Neuron-Driven Synthesiser’. International Journal of Performing Arts and Digital Media, 12 (1):31-43 IF–0.64 Citations: 14

INVITED TALKS – KEYNOTE/PLENARY SPEAKER:• Hodgetts, S. “Science and Art Collaborations” LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial Conference – Online. 15th April 2021*• Hodgetts, S. Invited panel member. BIO-FICTION Science Art Film Festival (https://xrwa.com.au/bio-fiction-science-art-film-festival-screening-panel/). State Art Library of Western Australia. Dec 5th 2020• Hodgetts, S. and Zurr, I. (2012) "The Unnatural Relations between Artistic Research and Ethics Committees" - Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching Ltd (ANZCCART), Perth, Western Australia, 24th July 2012• Stuart Hodgetts. “Bladerunning” The Body, Art & Bioethics Conference. Symbiotica, University of Western Australia, 6th Aug, 2010• Stuart Hodgetts, Tagny Duff, and Meredith Walsh. “A Change of Tissue or an Ethical Change?” The 6th European Meeting of the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts. Riga and Liepaja, Latvia. (SLSAeu) 15-20th June, 2010

EXHIBITIONS• “Revivification” Guy Ben Ary, Nathan Thompson, Stuart Hodgetts, Alvin Lucier – 2025 – Art Gallery of Western Australia• “cellF” (The World’s First Neural Synthesiser). Guy Ben Ary, Nathan Thompson, Andrew Fiutch, Douglas Bakkum, Stuart Hodgetts, Michael Edel. Touring worldwide: Berlin January 2018, Berlin September 2017 (ARS Electronica Special Mention Award for Hybrid Art), MO FO 2017, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) Hobart, January 16-23rd, 2017, Sydney, 2016, Perth, October 4th, 2015 (http://guybenary.com/work/cellf/)• “cellF” (The World’s First Neural Synthesiser). Guy Ben Ary, Nathan Thompson, Andrew Fiutch, Douglas Bakkum, Stuart Hodgetts, Michael Edel. MO FO 2017, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) Hobart, January 16-23rd, 2017• “cellF” Guy Ben Ary, Nathan Thompson, Andrew Fiutch, Douglas Bakkum, Stuart Hodgetts, Michael Edel. Sydney, 2016• “cellF” Guy Ben Ary, Nathan Thompson, Andrew Fiutch, Douglas Bakkum, Stuart Hodgetts, Michael Edel. Perth, October 4th, 2015• ISEA19th Symposium on Electronic Arts “In Potentia” Guy Ben Ary, Kirstin Hudson, Stuart Hodgetts. Sydney, June 7-16th, 2013• SOFT CONTROL: Art, Science and the Technological Unconscious - “In Potentia” Guy Ben Ary, Kirstin Hudson, Stuart Hodgetts. KIBLA Multimedia Centre, Maribor, Slovenia: Nov 2012 • AV Festival 2006- “Lifelike”. Scientific Consultant and Co-Workshop Leader for Tissue Engineering Workshop, with Oron Catts (Symbiotica). University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, UK, March 7-8th, 2006• ISEA12th Symposium on Electronic Arts: “Lifeboat”. Scientific Consultant and performer in collaboration between Riksutstillinger (http://www.riksutstillinger.no/), Symbiotica (http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/), and Sonic Objects. Oslo, Norway August 2004.