TED Community » Angelo Vermeulen
About Me
Angelo Vermeulen is a visual artist, biologist, space researcher, community organizer, and author. His original PhD training in ecology, environmental pollution and teratology plays a crucial role in his art.
Vermeulen creates art installations that are often open, experimental setups that incorporate ecological processes and living organisms. His projects include 'Blue Shift', a Darwinian art project in collaboration with evolutionary biologist Prof. Luc De Meester, and 'Seeker', an evolving co-created spaceship sculpture. 'Biomodd' is Vermeulen's most well-known and longest running project. It is a worldwide series of cross-cultural, symbiotic installations in which ecology, game culture, and social interaction converge.
In 2009 he launched 'Space Ecologies Art and Design (SEAD)', a platform for artistic research on architectures and politics of space colonization. He collaborates with the MELiSSA research program of the European Space Agency (ESA), and is also a member of the ESA Topical Team Arts and Science (ETTAS). In 2011 his space-related work lead him to start a new PhD at Delft University of Technology. In 2012 he was appointed Crew Commander of the NASA-funded HI-SEAS Mars simulation in Hawaii.
He co-authored the book 'Baudelaire in Cyberspace: Dialogues on Art, Science and Digital Culture' with art philosopher Antoon Van den Braembussche, and gives talks about his work around the world. He is a Lecturer at LUCA School of Arts in Ghent, Belgium, and received several fellowships: 2010 TED Fellow, 2013/2014 TED Senior Felllow, and 2012 Michael Kalil Endowment for Smart Design Fellow at Parsons, New York. In 2012 he received the Witteveen+Bos Art+Technology Award. His art works have been exhibited in the US, Europe, Southeast Asia and New Zealand.
- Location:
- Belgium, Sint-Niklaas
- Current organization:
- Sint-Lucas Visual Arts, Ghent, Belgium
- Current role:
- Advisor
- Gender:
- Male
- Areas of expertise:
- Art, science, Ecology, Biology, technology, Computer hardware, Interactive Media, Games, Civil Rights History, privacy & surveillance
- I am:
- Activist, Artist, Brainstormer, Concerned citizen, Connector, Filmmaker, Idea generator, Scientist, Technologist, World traveler
- Languages:
- English, Dutch, French, German
- My website links:
- Facebook, Twitter
- Universities:
- University of the Philippines Open University, Ohio University, Catholic University of Leuven
- TED conferences attended:
- TED2013, TED2010
More About Me
I'm passionate about
Art, science, ecology, biological life support, space exploration, spaceship design, robotics, cyberpunk, virtual worlds, computer games, philosophy, community building and cross-cultural dialogue.
An idea worth spreading
Self-reproducing spaceships
Talk to me about
Art, science, ecology, biological life support, space exploration, spaceship design, robotics, cyberpunk, virtual worlds, computer games, philosophy, community building and cross-cultural dialogue.
My TED Story
"My artwork attracted the attention of the European Space Agency (ESA) in particular a very specific research program called MELiSSA, short for Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative. MELiSSA is actually an ecosystem under development that should allow future space settlement. Based on the concept of an artificial ecosystem, it is the European model for a regenerative life support system for astronauts. It allows the production of oxygen, water and food, and the recycling of organic wastes and carbon dioxide. Such regenerative life support systems will enable future long-term manned space missions such as a lunar base or a mission to Mars by ensuring crew survival. The system is already test running in Barcelona, but it's still too big to be launched. My art - hybrid, semi-enclosed systems of biology and technology - is almost like an illustration of some of these ideas." http://blog.ted.com/2012/05/11/life-on-mars-fellows-friday-with-angelo-vermeulen/
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