Bioart Society hosts the second of three labs within the deCYPher project in Ghent with the project partners at the Centre for Synthetic Biology (Ghent University), ML6 and Wageningen University & Research. This three-day lab invites cultural practitioners into the scientific institutions and facilities that are part of the deCYPher project, to learn more about the project and processes, and explore how artists can play a role in molding these. The purpose is to ‘test’ how artists and their practices can be located in these spaces. As an interdisciplinary investigation, the invited artists and scientists involved in the project come together to workshop the practicalities and potentials through a series of talks, tours, discussions, excursions, and hands-on activities.

The participants include the project's artists in residence who were selected via an open call in Autumn 2025. They will be accompanied by invited practitioners as an opportunity to generate and open up a wider dialogue around the deCYPher project.

This worklab take places in the facilities of deCYPher partners at the Centre for Synthetic Biology (CSB) at Ghent University and AI consulting company ML6. Also joining the lab will be partners from the Department of Bioscience at Wageningen University & Research and the Biomanufacturing & Digital Twin lab at Wageningen University. Bioart Society's role in deCYPher is to work with the partners and artists to stimulate deeper reflection on the convergence of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and synthetic biology through workshops and worklabs, public events, artist residencies, and a final exhibition.

Invited participants included: Matthijs De Block, Bartaku, Zoë Breed, Kristof De Clercq, Roberta Gigante, Christina Stadlbauer, Laura Elidedt, HSURAE, Lina Lopes, Aaro Murphy, Špela Petrič, Hannah Star Rogers, Inès Sarazin, and Işıl Yücel.

Organisational partners participating included: Marjan De Mey, Cara Deal, Miguel De Block, Carla Gil Piñeira, Martin Schwersensky, Katja Cankar, Yvonne Billimore, Eliisa Suvanto, Sandra Youssef, Uliana Reutina, Markus Schmidt, and Alexandra Müller.