Event 3: BioArt Talks @ CBIIS

I recently attended the event titled “We’re All Living in the Estroworld” by Mary Maggic. This event explored the ideas of hormones, the body, and art, and the intersection between them. Mary Maggic explained that the use of biohacking was a main component of her exhibit, meaning the ability to manipulate and change the biological basis in your body: hormones (Samuel).


Screenshot of the registration email for this event


Maggic began by talking about the heteronormative culture we are currently living in and the research they had done on open source estrogen. A main component of this is the fact that our relationship with hormones has now been overrun by pharmaceutical companies and their highly feminine marketing of estrogen (Maggic, “Open Source Estrogen”). In their exhibit, Magic’s goal was to not only hack the molecules themselves, but dissect the meaning and representations behind them that contribute to our perception of femininity, hormones, and our bodies. What was so interesting to me was their discussion of estrogen receptors as being labeled highly promiscuous in the scientific community, a label often attributed to female-identifying individuals who take ownership of their own bodies.



Screenshot from the event of “Highly Promiscuous” Estrogen Receptors


In addition, Maggic introduced us to their mobile “Estrofem!” labs and the way participants could engage actively in Maggic’s work, try out biohacking on their own, and make their own hormone cocktails (Maggic, “ESTROFEM Lab”). She expressed the beauty in the messiness that arises from such workshops as it allows for the establishment of new relationships with hormones and an appreciation of the process.



Screenshot for the event of Maggic’s “Estrofem!” Lab


I found this event to be incredibly informative and relevant to the current ongoing conversation surrounding gender and our ability to take back our bodies and understand the ways in which our hormones and our identity shape each other. Maggic dove deep into the idea that unfortunately, some bodied garner more empathy than others, and I found it to be very powerful and moving.



References:

Maggic, Mary. “ESTROFEM Lab.” Mary Maggic Official, https://maggic.ooo/Estrofem-Lab-1.

Maggic, Mary. “Open Source Estrogen.” Mary Maggic Official, https://maggic.ooo/OSE.

Samuel, Sigal. “How Biohackers Are Trying to Upgrade Their Brains, Their Bodies - and Human Nature.” Vox, 25 June 2019, https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/6/25/18682583/biohacking-transhumanism-human-augmentation-genetic-engineering-crispr.

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