2006

• MEART will be exhibited in the "Strange Attractors: Charm between art and science" exhibition in the Zendai Museum of Modern Art Shanghai, China.
  
  
• 4 of MEART drawings were sold to the MEIAC museum in Spain.
  
  
• We exhibited MEART (the first version) in the eyedrum gallery in Atlanta. Was a great show !
  
  
• We started our residency at the Neuro-engineering lab, Georgia Tech, Atlanta. In the Potter Lab. We are working on a prototype, new ideas regarding the type of embodiment we use, mapping of data and narratives & concepts for the next generation of the project. We hope to finish producing the new project sometime at end of the year. We are collaborating witha few people here, espcialy Ali Mazalek (head of the Synlab in Georgia tech) and Hyun-Jean Lee.

2005

• "MEART - The semi living artist"performed in the Bread Box Gallery (Artrage), Tuesday (20th December) @ 19:00 - 1 show only. It was planned to be the last performance of this incarnation of the semi living artist before Phil Gamblen & Guy Ben-Ary's residency in the US to develop the next generation of this project.
  
  
• Phil & Guy got an Australian Council grant to go to the US for a 3 month residency in the Neuro-engineering lab, Georgia Tech. The purpose of this residency is to collaborate with Dr. Steve Potter & Douglas Bakkum and initiate the process of developing the new Generation of MEART.
  
  
• Phil & Guy delivered 2 talks about their practice & MEART in particular. Talks were held in the New Media Art School of the Humboldt University and ART_SCIENCE.
  
  
• We exhbited Documentation fo MEART in the ART_SCIENCE space in the Mitte, Berlin. Julia Struass curated thsi show.
  
  
• The new version of MEART – “The Black Square” was exhibited in ART DIGITAL 2004, part of the 1st Moscow Biennale for Contemporary Arts. It was the first time that we exhibited this version of MEART.
  
  
• We gained access to the original “ Black Square” of Kashmir Malevich in The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. We spent there 2 hours and acquired footage of the work. This footage will be projected on the gallery wall (of MARS gallery) where MEART will be installed and will be used to as a stimulation source to inspire MEART’s drawing during the Moscow biennale.

2004

• Guy Ben-Ary was invited along with Boryana Rossa by the MARS Gallery to finalise the details of the upcoming exhibition "MEART - the semi living artist" and the black square. The MARS Gallery is one of the only contemporary art spaces in Moscow that exhibits art & technology related projects. It was good to meetthe Curator of Art Digital 2004, Antonio Geusaa and the directoer of the MARS GalleryNatalya Kossolapova.
  

  On the 27-10-04 Guy delivered a presentation at CineFantom - a forum that provides a venue for experiments with new film and video techniques, and encourages the search for new forms and visual languages in contemporary cinema. Recently it was expanded to include video art and art projects. We translated the MEART movie to Russian and screened the movie. Before the screening Guy gave a short presentation about MEART and the upcoming event in Moscow involving the Black Square and this was followed by discussion and questions about the project. The MEART forums on the web site of Cinefanton are still very active and there is much interest regarding this project.

• Monica Bello, the curator of ŒOrganismos: esto es vida (that was on show at La Casa Encendida in Madrid)informed us that she is taking the exhibition to Barcelona. MEART drawings and the MEART new DVD (By Matt Richards) are going to be exhibited in Plaza de Catalunya, Centro Cultural Caja Madrid, in Barcelona.
  

• MEART was invited to take place in the “Art Digital 2004: I Click, Therefore I Am” festival in the MARS Gallery, Moscow , Russia. This event will be associated with the first Russian Biennale. In this stage we will exhibit the debut phase - "The Black Square" where MEART is going to be inspired by Kazimir Malevich and his infamous painting "The Black Square". In this stage we will collaborate with Ultrafuturo group (BOryana Rossa& Oleg Mavromatti) russian and bulgaria artists that rae interested in the connection between futurist theories of the 20th century and current development of science and technology, as well as its impact on human society
  
  
• A review in the Weekend Australian(re the exhibition in Melbourne). For more media and press releases click here
  
  
• Doug Bakkum, from the potter lab visited us in SymbioticA and helped us developed the ACMI installation. He also gave a talk in the school of Anatomy & human Biology titld "Learning the language of neural networks using embodiment cultured neurons"
  
  
• We exhibited MEART drawings and the MEART new DVD (By Matt Richards) in a new exhibition ŒOrganismos: esto es vida curated by Mónica Bello that was on show at La Casa Encendida in Madrid.
  
  
• A paper by Emma McRaeA about MEART - "report on the practice of SymbioticA Research Group in their creation of MEART - the semi living artist".
  
  
• MEART was exhibited in the "2004: australian culture now" exhibition in ACMI, Melbourne. We integrated new position sensors that made the arm reflect much better the data that we recieved from the neural culture. Click here for images and a short text
  
  
• Guy Ben-Ary will presented MEART in the international conference - "Challenges for a Ubiquitous Identity" in the "Body & Nets" Panel.
  
  
• We exhibited MEART in Ciber@RT -Bilbao 2004: International Festival of New Technologies, Art + Communication - "Challenges for a Ubiquitous Identity". Click here for images and a short text
  
  
• Doug Bakkum, Steve Potter et al published a new paper "Removing the 'A' from AI: Embodied Cultured Networks". Talking about MEART as well as other issues concerning "Learning in Vitro"

2003

• Daniel Greenfeld, curator of the “ spaceworks gallery” at “The Tank” (a midtown contemporary art space in NYC), expressed his interest in exhibiting six MEART drawings in the official opening of the spaceworks gallery (17 th of July, 2003) in an exhibition entitled “For and because”
  
  
• Check here for details and images/videos from Artbots- The Robot Talent Show
  
  
• We further developed the piece and integrated the Dynamic Stimulation paradigm.
  
  
• Doug Bakkum, from potter's lab, has joined the project.
  
  
• The project received a "Distribution" grant from ArtsWA to go and exhibit the project in Artbots.
  
  
• MEART was invited by Douglas Repetto to be exhibited in the Artbots exhibition, Eyebeam gallery, NYC.

2002

• The second stage of Fish and Chips is called MEART. We decided to change its name as we won't be using fish neurons and silicon chips rather neurons from embryonic rat cortex grown over Multi Electrode Array (MEA).
  
  
• It was a exhibited in the Biofeel exhibition, PICA, 2002(part of BEAP)
  
  
• It is a geographically detached artist. The "brain" was growing in Atlanta (Potters lab) and the body was in the Gallery space.
  
  
• "Fish & Chips" attracted the attention of Dr. Steve Potter, a neuroscientist who is pioneering the field of biological networks.
  
  
• Dr. Potter came to SymbioticA in November 2001 for a short visit, and expressed his interest in collaborating with The SymbioticA Research Group to develop the next stages of "Fish & Chips". (Will be presented in the "Bio-Feel" exhibition in Pica (part of the Biannual of Electronic Arts Perth - BEAP)
  
  
• Dr. Potter gave a talk about his research - "The Neurally Controlled Animat: Giving cultured brain cells a body"

2001

• Fish & Chips was exhibited in ARS ElectronicA Ars Electronica Festival 2001 - Takeover. Oron Catts presented the project in the symposium. For Images from the installation here.
  
  
• We are progressing with our attempts to grow neurons on computer chips. We managed to grow them on Pyrex Wafers (click here for a sample movie)
  
  
• UWA kindly offered to sponsor the development of the first stage of Fish & Chips (which will be exhibited in ARS Electronica festival 2001