Team-taught by CC professors Sara Hanson (Molecular Biology), Ryan Platt (Theatre/Dance), and artist Kathryn Hamilton, the course engages students in a journey to explore the possibilities for creative thinking that might emerge by swapping, mixing, and sometimes just ignoring disciplinary practices. What if we reframed a science experiment as a studio problem, or thought about what happens in a lab as if it were performance? Practicing ‘kitchen sink’ biology, students will learn the fundamentals of molecular biology to grow bacterial cultures sourced from their homes and using easily-found equipment and supplies. The cultures become living maps of students’ personal environments that then become elements in art and performance works that students will create in order to tell stories about biological processes and how the often-invisible microscopic co-inhabitants of our world shape our lives. Course readings and discussions will explore the ways in which art and science influence each other, and throughout the course, students will be challenged to consider critically how social, political, and cultural conditions dictate the trajectory of scientific research, as well as how the languages of science shape social norms and expectations. No previous experience in an arts or discipline is required to take this course. “Students in the course are eligible to receive a Scientific Analysis (SA) or Creative Process (CP) General Education credit.”