We began as part of the body

xCoAx 2018 was the 6th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, held at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. xCoAx is an exploration of the intersection where computational tools and media meet art and culture, in the form of a multi-disciplinary enquiry on aesthetics, computation, communication and the elusive X factor that connects them all. xCoAx is an occasion for international audiences to meet and exchange ideas, in search of interdisciplinary synergies among computer scientists, artists, media practitioners, and theoreticians at the threshold of digital arts and culture. We began as part of the body is an installation that was exhibited in the xCoAx conference exhibition at the C. Arte, Museo del Plaje, Madrid, Spain 11-13 July 2018. We began as part of the body, is an installation, made up of a series of creative research artworks, including sound piece, 3D printed skins and 360 photographic images, that immerse the viewer in the scientific and emotive issues raised by the use of human tissue for genetic research. The artworks were created during an ASCUS micro-residency in Professor Sara Brown’s skin genetics lab in 2017. The project makes complex genetic research, that can be difficult to grasp and understand, more accessible. It attempts to challenge audiences to think critically about science, the value and implications of genetic research, and the impact this has on our understanding of what it means to be human.