Components of Identity - Special exhibition
"Bausteine des Ich" at the BIOTOPIA Lab
developed during the cooperation workshops with YouthNet and the Institute of Human Genetics of the TUM /Klinikum rechts der Isar
What are genes? Can my experiences change my DNA - for example, an environmental disaster, a war or a refugee experience? What might I have inherited from my ancestors? What role does food play in my own personal history? The special exhibition "Components of Identity" directs the focus to the biochemical and physiological bases of human identity. What do we have in common? What separates us from each other? And how can we impact this?
A group of 12 young people between the ages of 14 and 24, who were born in Munich, moved here or came as refugees to Munich, spent six months examining these questions - coached by YouthNet and scientists from the cooperation partners BIOTOPIA Lab and the Institute for Human Genetics of the TUM at Klinikum rechts der Isar. In charts and artworks, they processed what they have learned, their experiences and thoughts. The exhibition opens from March 31 to April 23, 2023 in the BIOTOPIA Lab.
+++ On view from 31 March to 23 April 2023 - during the current opening hours +++
Join in: DNA workshop
The workshop "DNA - The Code of Life" is offered regularly in the drop in activities of the BIOTOPIA Lab. Current program
No matter how different we look and think, the human genome is 99% the same for all of us! No matter where we come from, what skin, hair and eye color we have.
For YouthNet, BIOTOPIA Lab has expanded the workshop "The Code of Life" to include the topic of epigenetics and the question "Is trauma hereditary?" Accompanied by scientists and a doctor, the young people hat the chance to isolate the DNA of a banana and learned all about the components of life. Through the microscope, they were able to look at the cross-section of different organs in the BIOTOPIA Lab - and even at their own chromosomes in the TUM laboratory.
Eating habits change over the course of a lifetime. What we eat often depends on the place where we currently live - but at the same time on the culture or the family we come from. Together with a nutritionist, the young people discussed the link between food and identity.
Where do such familiar foods as bananas, peanuts, vanilla or cocoa actually come from? A guided tour through the greenhouses in the Botanical Garden of Munich provided some aha moments among the young people.
An intercultural network: YouthNet München
YouthNet is an interreligious and intercultural network for young people in the city of Munich and has been organizing programs and workshops for young people over a period of six months each year since 2017. Here, young people with Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Yezidi and other backgrounds meet. They were either born in Munich, moved here or came as refugees to Munich. Accompanied by professional trainers, the organizers and mentors, they exchange ideas in an open and culturally mixed community and work creatively on a topic. This strengthens the participants' teamwork skills and, not least, trains them in the tools of intercultural communication. For more information, visit www.youthnet-muenchen.com.
Naturkundemuseum Bayern
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