WELCOME TO DESMA 160

Special Topics in Design | Media Arts: Biotechnology and Design

Bio-designers use cells, DNA molecules, proteins, and living tissues to highlight ethical, social, and aesthetic issues that influence contemporary life. Introduction to how bio-design blurs distinctions between science and design through combination of design and scientific processes, creating wide public debate. Introduction to new sciences that influence food we eat, clothes we wear, and environment in which we reside. Students challenged to think outside the box, explore divergent and convergent thinking, and seek out knowledge and inspiration from ideas that drive nano- and bio-technology. Peer collaboration encouraged to develop speculative design projects that address issues covered.
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Please contact Prof. Victoria Vesna if you are interested in joining this class.


BLOGS

Mushroom Building

Last week I gained a new understanding into what the mushroom networks called mycelium really meant as not only communication hubs for plant life but also as products for design and building. The similarities between our own World Wide Web give this amazing biological production enough credibility but then coupled with it's uses for construction our possibilities are endless. This week I would like to discuss some of the things that have already been built by the mycelium and see where these structures might exist in our current real-world models.

Microplastic Dangers...

    This morning I saw an article in Scientific American about micro plastics and was interested to explore them further and their potential affect on our health (1). This article was based on a study in a remote area in France about how micro plastics fall from and travel through our atmosphere. It found that even in these remote regions, micro and nono-plastics are polluting the air. It found that these particles had “blown in on the wind from at least 100 kilometers away and likely much farther”.

Nanocellulose

One of the topics that really interested me that was mentioned in this weeks lectures was nanocellulose, or nano-structured cellulose produced by bacteria. Some of the special properties of nanocellulose are strength, tendency for film formation, produced from natural resources, and are, as far as we know, safe to produce and use. There are three classes of these nanomaterials: CNF (cellulose nanofibrils), CNC (cellulose nanocrystals), and BC (bacterial cellulose).

Week 3

In class, we briefly looked at Neri Oxman’s new project called, Totems, which is a series of 3d printed sculptures that are filled with melanin. I was intrigued by this project because it seemed to spark some controversy because of the use of melanin and also because I was curious to find out the purpose of using melanin in particular for the insides of the sculptures.

Week 3 - Embracing the Death

      As we are now living in a world overwhelmed by social networks, we seldom pay attention to the eco-network run by mycelium embedded under the ground. Mycelium’s innate ability to recycle nutrients between organisms keeps the ecosystem connected without people noticing. We have been exposed under the challenge of environmental ethics to anthropocentrism (i.e., human-centeredness) ever since Aristotle (E.

Week 3: shrooms

This week, after exploring the world of fungi and micro-organisms, I felt especially inspired by the wide variety of mushrooms and fungi, including those that break down plastic. But besides the mushrooms we ate in class and the mycelium material we made using kombucha, I was curious about psychedelic mushrooms, their history, and current placing in modern culture.

Week 3: The Infinity Mushroom

This week in class, I felt especially inspired by a TED Talk we watched about designer Jae Rhim Lee. Lee is an artist from South Korea working to promote "acceptance of and a personal engagement with death and decomposition" (TED) by breeding a special strain of fungi to decompose the human body, with the goal of redefining modern funerary practice to be more environmentally friendly.

Week 3: Plastic

Professor Sarah Dudas decided to challenge herself by documenting every plastic she touches. Just within one day, she managed to compile 129 images, which meant she touched 129 plastic objects within 24 hours. While she was giving her talk, I became curious about how many plastic objects I had. Just by scanning the surface of my table, I counted at least 38 plastic objects; the majority of it I do not use on a daily basis.

Mushroom, Taste, and Culture

Eating over eights types of mushrooms in class on Wednesday really made me crave for more of that umami taste, a pleasant savory taste which was proposed by Kikunae Ikeda, a chemist at Tokyo University (Amy 2013). The umami taste often comes from long-time cooking which releases the amino-acids. Mushrooms, petit pois, sweetcorn, and sweet cherry tomatoes are all umami. Fermentation processes, producing cheese and wine, produce the umami flavor as well (Amy 2013).

Week 3: Mycelia, Fungi, and Neural Networks

The gentle web of tendrils look like neural networks in the human brain. This was my first impression of mycelium, aside from their similarity to mold inside a jar of long-expired fruit jam. Aside from the negative connotations of something rotten, mycelia struck me as something beautiful and elegant, alive and transformative in their existence and growth.

WEEK 3- How do trees talk to each other?

During week three, I was fascinated with the world of Fungus and their special network systems and different ways to communicate with each other. Scientist found that all of the trees in forests are connected to each other with underground fungal networks. Trees provide enough liquid sugars to support fungal network. Beside transfer of nutrients and water, trees use this network to communicate any insect attack or disease.

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