Julia_Berman DESMA 9 Event 2 Post: "We're All Living in the Estroworld"

Email confirmation of online event. Personal photo. 

For my second event, I attended Mary Maggic’s presentation entitled “We’re All Living in the Estroworld.” It was fascinating to explore the hormone estrogen’s effect on medicine, technology, and art. Mary Maggic began by discussing the role of gender and sexuality in society, and discussed how the “queerness” of society has increased in the recent years. It is interesting to consider how biological hormones contribute to the exquisite art of gender and sexuality expression. With this development, it is essential that society become more accepting of and offer more resources to the LGBTQ+ community. This is an interesting example of not only the intersection between art, science, and technology, but the intersection between art, science, and gender expression/sexuality as well. Maggic then went on to discuss the experiences of extracting estrogen from common sources (i.e., household items). It was intriguing to see an artistic visualization of a medical and biological hormone, estrogen. I have always heard of estrogen disruptors being present in household items from my family and friends, and was often told to avoid them. In the Estrofem! Lab, Mary Maggic extracts estrogen from common household items, bringing an ubiquitous biological molecule to life through art and science.

Estrofem lab - photo credit: Anna Breit, 2021. Reference: photo from https://maggic.ooo/About

Extraction technique for estrogen - helping to visualize an ubiquitous biological hormone through art and science. Reference: photo from https://maggic.ooo/About

Maggic also explained how she had grown various fungi on agar plates, and placed the extracted estrogen on them, at which point the fungi began to consume the estrogen and other materials in the agar plates. In my ecology and evolutionary biology courses, I learned that humans are closely related to fungi, even more so than plants. I wonder if the consumption of estrogen and starchy agar by fungi serves as an evolutionary metaphor for humans. This raises a fundamental question: how do human bodies process the estrogen we receive from common sources (i.e., household items)?

Photo of Estrofem! Lab. Reference: photo from https://maggic.ooo/About

Works Cited

Breit, Anna, and Mary Maggic. “Estrofem Lab - Photo Credit: Anna Breit, 2021.” Mary Maggic 

Official, Anna Breit/Mary Maggic, 2022, 2022https://maggic.ooo/Estrofem-Lab-1. Accessed 12 May 2022. 

Cleveland Clinic. “Estrogen & The Heart: Risks, Benefits & Side Effects.” Cleveland Clinic, 

Cleveland Clinic, 29 Apr. 2019, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/16979-estrogen--hormones. 

Email Confirmation of Online Event "We're All Living in the Estroworld". 12 May 2022. 

Hood, Ernie. “Are EDCs blurring issues of gender?.” Environmental health perspectives vol. 

113,10 (2005): A670-7. doi:10.1289/ehp.113-a670

Maggic, Mary. “ESTROFEM Lab.” Mary Maggic Official, Mary Maggic, 2022, 

https://maggic.ooo/Estrofem-Lab-1. 

Maggic, Mary. “Extraction technique for estrogen - helping to visualize an ubiquitous biological 

hormone through art and science.” Mary Maggic Official, Mary Maggic, 2022, https://maggic.ooo/Estrofem-Lab-1. Accessed 12 May 2022. 

Maggic, Mary. “Photo of Estrofem! Lab.” Mary Maggic Official, Mary Maggic, 2022, 

https://maggic.ooo/Estrofem-Lab-1. Accessed 12 May 2022. 

Maggic, Mary, et al., directors. We're All Living in the Estroworld, Mary Maggic, Kathy High, and Brenda Miller/Live Zoom Video with BioArt Talks @CBIS, 22 Apr. 2022, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87670950068?pwd=ajN3RzZzTGYwRHlYYUZYVkV6Y3A0UT09. Accessed 22 April 2022. 

Vesna, Victoria, et al. “Bodies Inc.” Bodies© Incorporated: Main, Viewpoint Data Labs, 

Netscape, Alias/Wavefront, Silicon Graphics, MetaTools, The David Bermant Foundation, SIGGRAPH, Contemporary Arts Center of New Victoria Vesna, President and CEO/Orleans, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, San Francisco Art Institute, Cactus R&D, RAIN, UC Santa Barbara., http://www.bodiesinc.ucla.edu/frames1.html. 

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine+Technology+Art,Introductory Lecture.” Medicine+Technology+Art 

Lectures: Module 4: Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course. Medicine+Technology+Art Lectures for Module 4 in the Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 22 Apr. 2022, Los Angeles, California, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-4-view?module_item_id=485251. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine+Technology+Art, Lecture 1.” Medicine+Technology+Art 

Lectures: Module 4: Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course. Medicine+Technology+Art Lectures for Module 4 in the Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 22 Apr. 2022, Los Angeles, California, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-4-view?module_item_id=485251. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine+Technology+Art, Lecture 2.” Medicine+Technology+Art 

Lectures: Module 4: Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course. Medicine+Technology+Art Lectures for Module 4 in the Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 22 Apr. 2022, Los Angeles, California, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-4-view?module_item_id=485251. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine+Technology+Art, Lecture 3.” Medicine+Technology+Art 

Lectures: Module 4: Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course. Medicine+Technology+Art Lectures for Module 4 in the Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 22 Apr. 2022, Los Angeles, California, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-4-view?module_item_id=485251. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine+Technology+Art, Lecture 4.” Medicine+Technology+Art 

Lectures: Module 4: Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course. Medicine+Technology+Art Lectures for Module 4 in the Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 22 Apr. 2022, Los Angeles, California, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-4-view?module_item_id=485251. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Link to Works Cited (with proper formatting): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ghWn0NW-jlqMYzzV1oxTpbhGP348iLy0p-buPi1pA3M/edit