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Explore the intersection of design and technology in shaping the future of nature. This exhibition delves into the possibilities of technological interventions in living systems and challenges our perception of what is natural. Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on the ethical and social dimensions of these emerging technologies.
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design for the ‘new’ natural Renewable Futures, RIXC, Riga9.10.15 Susana Soares _ Designer _ Researcher _ Lecturer
Have we entered in the Anthropocene? Cities are considered the most visible and enduring legacies of the human led technological influence on our planet.
House finches urban areas, The Royal Society journal 2010
Virgin Births Hammerhead Shark, Omaha Zoo, 2001
The‘New’ natural As technology is shaping nature, the impact it has on living systems becomes more expressive
Is technology changing our nature? Life expectancy increased by 11 years just in the last 4 decades
Mitochondrial DNA Legalisation of mitochondrial transfer technique, UK, 2015
Synthetic DNA Craig Venter Team, May 2010
The Synthetic Kingdom, a proposal for a new branch of the tree of life to accommodate our “new nature.”Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg 2009
Blurring boundaries 'We overlook only too often the fact that a living being may also be regarded as raw material, as something plastic, something that may be shaped and altered.' HG Wells, 1895 Bonsai cells, Susana Soares, 2009
The boundaries between natural and artificial became permeable, enabling new promising perspectives and inventive practices Alba, GFP bunny, Eduardo Kac, 2000
New hybrids emerging and fascinating perspectives to the concept of hybrid In-Potentia, Guy Ben-Ary and Dr. Kirsten Hudson, 2013
Human organs on chips Donald Ingber and Dan Dongeun Huh at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute 2015
What role could design and designers play within the technological redesign of nature towards a sustainable future? Vegetarian Tooth, Susana Soares, 2009
design is being employed to speculate on future technological implications to provoke debate, facilitate engagement, and discuss possibilities Bio play, Susana Soares for Material Beliefs Dana centre _ january 2008
Symbiosis Symbiotic relationships with natural systems
Bee’s – bio medical detection Susana Soares 2007
Living radio - microbial fuel cell Anab Jain and Alex Taylor, Microsoft Research, Cambridge, 2006-2008
Biologically made instead of machined The Living by David Benjamin , 2013 and Algae cellunoi living wall 2013 by Marcos Cruz
Post nature a technological driven perspective, highly engineered and tailored
Urpflanze – Plant archetypes for extreme weather conditions Susana Soares 2014
Selfmade human cheese Synthetic Aesthetics, Christina Agapakis and Sissel Tolaas, 2014
Animalia – coral reef Michail Vanis, 2013
Does design real potential lays on the ability to depict social and ethical dimensions of comprehending unfamiliar technologies?
“speculative design has the opportunity to imagine and explore possibilities that contributes to the development of technologic fluency, construct societal awareness, motivating and enabling political action” DiSalvo and Lukens Towards a Critical Technological Fluency, 2009
‘…it's evident that the designers are intent on asking serious social and ethical questions about what we do with new scientific knowledge. Such work will no doubt be welcomed by science communicators, policy makers and others who must grapple with the ethical complexity in our ever-changing world.’ Louis Buckley, New Scientist editor on Impact exhibition
Acknowledgments "BEE'S” 2007 to 2009 Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Prof. Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby (Royal College of Art, Design Interactions Department) Dr. Mathilde Briens (Inscentinel - UK) Monica Santos (Filmmaker) David Perkins (Roots & Shoots - London Beekeeper Association) Des. Sónia Durães and Glass Master Mateus (Crisform) Sr.João Gomes (Vilabo) Bernardete Fernandes Clarie Ducruet Margarida Martins MATERIAL BELIEFS UCL Stem cells research: Dr. Chris Watson, Dr. Julie Daniels and Mrs. Anna Harris Tobie Kerridge (Designer) Andy Robinson (Coordinator) Insects au Gratin Collaborators: Dr. Ken Spears – food scientist Andrew Forkes – designer Penelope Kupfer – illustrator/designer Acknowledgments: Pestival Wellcome Trust "AM I ATTRACTIVE?" Part of Why me? project at Rothamsted Research Dr. James Logan and James Cook (Rothamsted Research, UK) PESTIVAL – Bridget Nicholls Andrew Forkes – Designer Mónica Santos – Filmmaker Chris Merridan – Electronic engineer
Thank you www.susanasoares.com susana.soares@network.rca.ac.uk so.susana@gmail.com
“But isn't it art?It is definitely not art. It might borrow heavily from art in terms of methods and approaches but that's it. We expect art to be shocking and extreme. Critical Design needs to be closer to the everyday, that's where its power to disturb comes from. Too weird and it will be dismissed as art, too normal and it will be effortlessly assimilated. If it is regarded as art it is easier to deal with, but if it remains as design it is more disturbing, it suggests that the everyday as we know it could be different, that things could change.” Dunne and Raby Critical Design FAQ, 2009
Wildlife is thriving around Chernobyl since humans left New Scientist Oct. Image: Sergey Gashchak, 2015