HKU Biodesign Challenge 2026

  • 03/06
  • 07/06
HKU Biodesign Challenge 2026
A poetic quest into the forest, a language beyond words and memories in cellulose. Working at the intersection of biotechnology, art and design, 16 HKU students come together from June 3-7 at Landhuis Oud Amelisweerd to present their pioneering visions of speculative futures. Under the supervision of HKU’s Biolab, students participating in the global Biodesign Challenge, have spent the last four months developing interdisciplinary methodologies to rethink our relationship to “nature”.

What does it mean to work together with other species? How can an artist co-create with a landscape or river as equals? What happens if a tree smells like a child? Working together with researchers, students explore how cross disciplinary strategies can provide new frameworks for a more holistic approach to sustainability. As the world simmers in political turmoil and ecological crisis, the work of these next-generation-makers offer us a rare glimpse of how other-than-human sensibilities can transform the way we live together.

Join us Thursday June 4th @ 15:00 for openings drinks at the historic Landhuis Oud Amelisweerd as we set off to explore the social, technological and ethical dimensions of the emerging field of bio art & design.

Free admission is available for those joining one of the two daily guided tours at 12:00 or 15:00, or with museum card and HKU student card.

Participating students: Simon Piché-Castonguay, Annemarie van Drent, Jip Dwarshuis, Marit Hofman, Arwen Morsink, Wes Kalverkamp, Mees Muijs, Chiara Rosan, Noa Schout, Daan van der Sman, Markus Spieksma, Eline van der Steen, Adam Tenorio, Anne Roos van Veen, Britt Veltman and Tom de Vries.

Address: Landhuis Oud Amelisweerd, Koningslaan 9, Bunnik
Exhibition dates: 3 t/m 7 juni 2026
Opening hours: 11:00-17:00
Header image: Jeremy Leung, from an earlier edition of the Biodesign Challenge