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photo by Roo ReynoldsThank you Russell Davies for inviting me to talk on Interesting last week and writing on your blog that I will be doing 'some bio-hacking of some sort'. On stage. How else would I ever have ended up doing a performative demonstration on how to dna-hack yoghurt in front of 400 people?
Here's brief write-up of Interesting and some pictures. I have posted my slides after the break, although they might not make much sense without me and my purple gloves.
Synthetic biology is a biotechnology that will make most of us wonder why we ever got so excited about the internet. In the future. Ever since I started being curious about synthetic biology, almost two years ago, I've been trying to get my head around it and my hands on it. And over the past two weeks, I got offered an amazing opportunity to do so. Jim Haseloff at the University of Cambridge invited me to participate in the igem crash course, a two-week intense immersion in the world of synthetic biology. I also got offered the chance to present some of the RCA synbio projects and lead an arduino workshop. Big thank you to the Jim, Jim, Gos & James for this amazing opportunity and general good times. And now, back to the present ...
Back in November of last year, Russell Davies initiated Lyddle End 2050, a 'speculative modelling' project. Lyddle End 2050 geniously combines model railways, the future and thinking with your hands; and I was an instant fan. In many ways, the project reminds me of Stuart's projects and Julian's thoughts on Design Fiction. Mostly though, it was just good fun. Click 'read more' to see my contribution.
26th of March saw the final presentations of the Synthetic Biology project for the first year's students at Design Interactions, RCA. A bit of a new kid on the block, the brief was run at the department for the first time. Fiona Raby and I wrote the brief and taught on the four week project and we all had our brains tickled by bacteria...
Along the way, there was amazing input from James Chappell (Imperial College), Stuart Candy (a futurist from Hawai) and some graduates from Design Interactions and Architecture DS4. Their input made the process of turning a complex topic like synthetic biology into compelling stories and scenarios much more interesting, yet perhaps not easier. Although four weeks gives hardly enough time to produce finished designs, the project surely was a successful exercise in how design can engage with synthetic biology.
The project coincided with a few days of teaching at Liam's and Kate's studio at the Architectural Association. Both made me realise how much I enjoy teaching and led to a workshop I'm now developing with Revital, under the working title 'Design Fictions'.
London life slowly starts taking its new shape, although it still goes by many titles. Critical design, service design, design research, interaction design, descriptions vary and so does the job. I'm currently combining freelance work with initiating my own projects and collaborations. As a freelancer, I work on service design, interaction design and other design projects. It feels as if I'm applying my way of working and thinking at the RCA to the things I was doing before. It's nice to work on real stuff and I can't wait to dive into a bigger project somewhere.
The self initiated work comes with more freedom to explore the themes and directions that I'm curious and passionate about. There's some little and very enjoyable collaborations with the synthetic biology department at Imperial College, there's a secret project that's incredible good fun and I recently returned from Stavanger, where I participated in a biotech art workshop with Oron Catts and Jens Hauser. The workshop has been an amazing experience; getting hands on with some of the technologies I've been researching and speculating about, reflecting on my projects from a different perspective, overall offering plenty starting points for new work ...
I'm in Montreal, participating in an extremely exciting workshop called Design Engaged, (big thanks to the brilliant people organising it, who made this possible for me).
After that, I'll be in New York for a few days, giving a lecture to Natalie's class at NYU and enjoying the city. Let me know if you're around and we can hook up?
(photo by Pietel)
'My City = My Body' was part of Touching The City at London Festival of Architecture on Saturday 12th of July. Coming Tuesday, I will be presenting it at the next Protein Forum.
"My City = My Body" is the title of my graduation project, currently on show in the Royal College of Art. It explores how future technologies, specifically biotechnology, might influence our everyday interactions with and in the city. See the full project here.
SHOWTIME!
Thursday 26 June: 11am – 8pm
Friday 27 June: 11am – 8pm
Saturday 28 June: 11am – 8pm
Sunday 29 June: 11am – 8pm
Monday 30 June: 11am – 8pm
Tuesday 1 July: 11am – 4pm
Wednesday 2 July: 11am – 8pm
Thursday 3 July: 11am – 8pm
CLOSED to the public on Friday 4 July
Saturday 5 July: 11am – 2pm
Come and visit the Design Interactions graduation show at the Royal College of Art (SW7 2EU).
Many weeks without an update, that could be either because nothing happened or because too much is happening. In a way, it's a strange combination of both. I'm still having a lot of fun with my graduation project "My City = My Body", in which I try to explore possible implications of biotechnologies in an urban society. It sounds huge. It is huge. It therefore consists of three smaller projects: a project about local tapwater and enjoying pharmaceutical pollution, a project about a new superhero who embodies the dreams and anxieties around biotechnologies and a project exploring synthetic biology.
For that last project, I'm in touch with Vincent Rouilly, tutor at the synthetic biology course in Imperial College. He's kind and patient enough to explain to me the basics of synthetic biology, to show me around a lab and hook me up with students. Since he's also really interested in the work we're doing at the RCA, I'm organising a small exhibition of a few students' and alumni's work at an upcoming conference on synthetic biology . Like the Lancaster experience, it promises to be an interesting confrontation of our projects and their research.
