Artist-in-Lab in Montreal

In June 2026, Jatun Risba attended an Artist-in-Lab programme at the Université de Montréal, undertaking training in molecular sequencing techniques and bioinformatics analysis within the Laboratory of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, under the supervision of Professor François-Joseph Lapointe.

The training programme provided theoretical and practical grounding in molecular methods for microbial DNA extraction and sequencing, next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and platforms, bioinformatic processing and analysis of microbiome datasets, statistical and network analysis of microbial communities, and the visualization and conceptual interpretation of microbiome data within interdisciplinary Art & Science research. The residency has broadened Risba's research into urine and urinotherapy, opening up new perspectives and milieus that will inform the further development of their work with body fluids and neuroregeneration. It has also laid the groundwork for a collaborative project with François-Joseph Lapointe, to be realized as a next stage of the work undertaken together during the Artist-in-Lab residency.

Alongside the lab training, Risba was invited by Dumaine Létourneau to give an artist talk at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal), sharing their artistic and research-based practice with performance art students.

The one-month training program in Montreal was supported by the Slovene Ministry of Culture's scholarship programme for specialized professions in culture.