ENTOMOPHAGY, THE CONSUMPTION OF INSECTS AS FOOD IS A CULTURAL TABOO. HOWEVER, IF WE COULD ENSURE THE WELFARE OF THE INSECT, AS WELL AS ITS SUBSEQUENT HUMANE SLAUGHTER AND HYGIENIC PROCESSING, SHOULDN’T WE CONSIDER IT A NUTRITIONALLY SUPERIOR SUBSTITUTE FOR ANIMALS IN A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE?
FORGET ABOUT THE PEOPLE, PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT! FORGET ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT, PROTECT THE PEOPLE!
It is depressing, but not surprising that humans are engineering the climate for the sake of their own survival.
IT IS ONLY RIGHT THAT WE BUILD CITIES THAT WORK NOT JUST FOR US BUT ALSO FOR THE WILDLIFE THAT WE SHARE IT WITH.
WE MUST MAKE THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE. OUR SKINS HEALTH IS CRITICAL FOR OUR LONG-TERM HEALTH AND SURVIVAL.
It is only by acknowledging that the physical materiality of the cloud is necessary in order for us to understand its surrounding discourse, how the industry works as well as how it is actually impacting the environment around us.
Where is the dividing line between dangerous waste and a lucrative asset?
Our bodies are a made up of a series of valuable minerals and materials that could, and should be recycled post-death to ensure a more sustainable and holistic approach to life, the planet and our long term survival.
MA MF LONELINESS IS NOT JUST A SILENT KILLER BUT A STAIN ON OUR SOCIETY.
Is a future that permits and allows virtual rape and sexual exploitation a sign of a decent, functioning and civilised society?
Despite the rich cultural heritage of cheesemaking, either the industry will have to adapt or cease to exist in a future post-dairy world.
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Now, more than at any time in our history, our species needs to work together. We face awesome environmental challenges: climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease and acidification of the oceans. Together, they are a reminder that we are at the most dangerous moment in the entire development of human history. We now have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live, but have not yet developed the ability to escape it. These are not my words but those of Professor Stephen Hawking, and they echo the opinions based on the most sophisticated data, analysis and statistical evidence ever collected by the international scientific community. I think it is safe to say that 2016/17 has been a disastrous year. A year in which ‘Post-truth’ became the Oxford Dictionary word of the year, where we witnessed three terrorist attacks in the UK in the space of three months and as this publication goes to print we see President Trump withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, in a blatant denial of the global dangers posed by climate change. Truth it seems, is now a matter of choice; facts become secondary to what we decide we want to believe rather than what we should believe. But how long can we continue on this path of ignoring evidence that clearly shows we need to act now?
This year, it is very clear that our students feel anxious and apprehensive about what the future holds. However, they stand united in the belief that it is exactly at times like these that they must highlight, critically engage with and tackle these pressing issues head on. Contrary to our current leaders, the MA Material Futures philosophy is that only through listening to experts, embracing new fields outside of our own and subverting what we believe to be the inevitable can we even begin to find more positive alternative futures. This year’s students have risen to the challenge, proactively contributing to biological, environmental, technological, political and social change. The sheer diversity of projects this year shows a willingness to expand the horizons of design and find new, often very personal approaches to dealing with this uncertain future, from virtual-reality rape to fast-fashion, entomophagy to space mining, our students explore the moral, social, environmental and ethical implications of how our actions today could drastically impact the way we live tomorrow. This is just the beginning for our graduates as they join an ever-expanding network of successful designers and practitioners from the Material Futures programme who are paving the way in proposing new, more sustainable alternatives to the challenges of our changing world. To all the practitioners, visiting lecturers, experts and technicians that have contributed to making this year’s projects a success, thank you.
KIEREN JONES, COURSE LEADER
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The intersection of craft, science and technology OUR AIM IS TO ACTIVELY RE-THINK THE FUTURE. Through collaboration, risk-taking and blurring the worlds of craft, science and technology we look beyond existing boundaries to anticipate our future needs, desires and challenges for the 21st century.
WE ENCOURAGE A WHOLLY MULTI-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO DESIGN. Materiality is the starting point of our design process; taking the things we can touch, feel, interact with and observe, we integrate high and low technological materials and processes to respond to the environment around us. Our students come from and continue to explore within a diverse range of disciplines, including fashion, architecture, industrial, communication, textile, critical, digital and speculative design.
RESEARCH IS INTRINSIC TO OUR DESIGN PROCESS. We practice research-driven design. We believe that it is only by observing and analysing how we live today that we can begin to consider and explore how we might live more sustainably tomorrow. Considering the current and future context of design decisions is key to our ethos, combining social, political, scientific and economic inquiry and insights to help inform future design scenarios, speculations and artefacts.
THE PROGRAMME Material Futures is a two-year Masters course at UAL Central Saint Martins, dedicated to exploring how we will live in the future. The course is divided into two units across two years. Year one provides an intensive and reactive learning experience. Students are exposed to a broad variety of new ideas and technical processes through a combination of workshops, lectures, expert collaborations and individual project briefs. Providing a bombardment of new ideas, processes and skills, our teaching encourages students to deconstruct their previous experience and expertise and instead adopt an open, experimental and multi-disciplinary approach to design. We value working with industrial partners and usually incorporate at least one live project during the year. Year two study encourages students to reflect on their experiences gained in year one and consider their own design agenda and desired role within the creative industries. By synthesizing the new processes and methodologies introduced to them in first year, with their previous skills and experience, students formulate a single project proposal. All master projects are directed by a single research question, driven by the student’s personal definition of Material Futures in the context of a more sustainable future. Collaboration is key and all students engage external support from established practitioners and experts to help validate and strengthen their final projects. Both year groups enjoy a vibrant and diverse Design Perspectives lecture programme featuring inspiring speakers from the worlds of science, design, critical theory, craft and technology. Find out more about joining us here: www.arts.ac.uk/csm/courses/postgraduate/ma-material-futures/
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News, Projects and Workshops
GO ODBY E NEL LY BEN HAYOUN It is with great sadness that we say farewell to Nelly Ben Hayoun who was Senior Lecturer and First Year Leader since 2013. Nelly is a worldrenowned designer of experiences and has been called the “Willy Wonker” of design. She inspired her first year students and encouraged them to push the boundaries of what design could be. In 2016 she was awarded the University of the Arts Teaching Award, nominated by the students. Nelly has left to pursue her own work at Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios and also to launch her University of the Underground in Holland. We wish her the best of luck with everything in the future!
that involved hijacking a fin-tech conference. Austin has a special focus on researching alternative monetary systems and has published numerous research papers on this subject. He is passionate about education and has already got stuck into his role but has still managed to find the time to welcome his daughter, Eleanor, into the world. Congratulations Austin on your new arrival from us all at MAMF.
MIL AN FURNI T URE FAIR 201 7 Each year we take our final graduating students to exhibit at the Milan Furniture Fair. This year, in the heart of the Lambrate design district, we produced our largest exhibition to date, 1,700 square feet at Ventura 14. This year saw in excess of 100,000 visitors and almost 2,000 design journalists, many of whom featured our student’s work in their various publications, sites and blogs. We were also nominated as one of the top 10 exhibitors out of the many hundreds of events and shows in Milan and gained significant exposure and publicity.
MAT ERIAL E XPEDI T ION 2016 We believe in making, which is why, on a cold October morning, we left London behind for the wild hills of Cherry Wood, South Gloucestershire. Over the two-day expedition, we introduced the students to the ancient crafts of shelter making, foraging and literally catching their own food.
T HE INT ERN AT ION AL BIODESIGN CHAL L ENGE Following on from the success of their Biodesign project, students Nina Cutler and Olivia Bargman were selected to represent Central Saint Martins at this year’s international Biodesign Challenge at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York. We wish them every success in this highly regarded international competition and hope they come home with something in addition to a Quantum Worm. The Biodesign Challenge will take place at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York on the 22-23rd June 2017.
WELCOME CHLOE GRIFFI T H We would also like to welcome Chloe Griffith into the MAMF fold. She joins us as the Material Futures Academic Coordinator. Chloe spreads her time between MAMF and Central Saint Martin’s Design against Crime department. Chloe’s background is in fine art and she continues to paint in her spare time. Chloe has already proved herself an invaluable part of the team keeping us sane, positive and dry during our first year workshop at Pontins, Camber Sands. A considerable improvement to our previous overnight trip where we slept on nothing but the Forest floor!
WELCOME AUST IN HOUL DSWOR T H Designer Austin Houldswoth joins MAMF this year as First Year tutor taking over the running of the first year from Nelly. Austin completed an MA in Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art and runs his own studio creating projects such as ‘2million & 1AD’ a prototype 4 tonne fossilisation machine and ‘Crime Pays,’ an alternative currency system
We are delighted to announce that we will be working with the Wes Lunn Design and Education Trust in 2017/18 to offer another scholarship to a student from the UK or the EU who wishes to study Material Futures. These fully funded places enable students to undertake our Masters course for two years and cover all fees. With the increase in tuition fees making access to higher education increasingly difficult we believe this scholarship could not have come at a more pertinent and important time.
MATERIAL FUTURES NEW SCHOLARSHIPS T HE WES LUNN SCHOL ARSHIP PRO GR AMME - A NE W SCHOL ARSHIP FOR MAT ERIAL FU T URES ST UDENTS
CONGR AT UL AT IONS CAROL E COL L E T Carole Collet, our Professor in Design for Sustainable Futures has now also become the LVMH Director of Sustainable Innovation at Central Saint Martins. The role allows her to work across the whole college to research, design and implement programmes that promote innovative sustainable practice. We are delighted that she has been awarded this position, which is a perfect match for Carole who has dedicated her entire career to developing a new and longer term vision for a more sustainable future. Carole’s key research area is exploring the intersection of biology and design in order to develop speculative and disruptive sustainable design proposals always operating within a long-term framework targeting the year 2050 and beyond.
BIODESIGN AND T HE ANT HROPOCENE
201 7 PR ACT I T IONER IN RESIDENCE WORL D FACTOR Y | ME T IS AR TS We are pleased to announce that Metis Arts, the creatives behind the immersive experience ‘World Factory’ have agreed to become our annual Practitioner in Residence. World Factory is an interdisciplinary performance project exploring the relationship between China and the UK through the lens of the global textile industry. Through their residency, they hope to challenge students’ preconceptions around sustainability as well as our wider consumption habits and beliefs.
Led by Professor Carole Collet, our students worked in collaboration with Heather Barnett and students from the MA Art & Science course, supported by Imperial College London PhD candidates Glen Gowers and Kenny Walker. Exploring how biodesign could help respond to the critical challenges of the Anthropocene epoch and help develop new sustainable design propositions, the students developed collaborative projects to push the potential of this field of design. With 3 days of both theoretical and hands-on workshops, the students worked with Dr. Tom Ellis, Reader and Group Leader for Synthetic Biology at the Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London to decode the Komagataeibacter rhaeticus bacterial genome, worked with Prof. Carole Collet to sequence their own DNA, played with Heather Barnett’s Slime Mould, as well as got their hands on Philip Boing’s new DIY Bento Lab kits.
CAMBER SAND - CAST ING T RIP Going back to basics we headed south to the long golden beaches of Camber, near Rye, not only in admiration of the long uninterrupted stretches of natural coastline, but also to learn the basic principles of sandcasting. Collecting waste aluminium from the shore, we built our own metal furnace and smelted aluminum cans into homemade moulds. Uncharacteristically, all students came back unscathed and with a custom cast tool in hand.
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Graduate Successes
SANNE VISSER exhibited at Milan Design Week 2017 and from Jun – Nov 2017 will be showing her ‘The New Age of Trichology’ project at the Earth Matters exhibition at the Textile Museum in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Earth Matters displays textiles and materials by internationally renowned designers and young talent in search of environmentally conscious ideas.
KATY SHAND, CHARLOTTE NORDMOEN & ANNE VAANDRAGER were Designers in Residence at ArtEZ Academy of the Arts in the Netherlands from Jan - Apr 2017. This was the first venture for them as (Un)Known Collective. During the residency they developed their research project on the UK housing crisis and the rise of tiny living spaces and also exhibited at Milan Design Week 2017.
GIULIA TOMASELLO’S ‘Future Flora’ project has featured in Dezeen and Elle Décor and she was also nominated for the Young Talent Award at Dutch Design Week 2016. She is now a designer with the studio Ma-tt-er and a part time Research Assistant at the Centre of Interactive Wearables Design at Nottingham Trent University.
SABRINA KRAUS LÓPEZ, fascinated by craft, worked with a remote Peruvian weaving community for her final MA project before undertaking the Common Thread residency for the British Council. With a strong interest in traditional crafts she joined forces with the designer Noëlle Maxine Tierito to start their own label, ODE TO A, which collaborates with artisan communities to create limited - edition collections.
YESENIA THIBAULT-PICAZO undertook a residency at the LAB of Sustainable Cultures of Domaine de Chamarande (Fr). The LAB and the resulting exhibition ‘Soils Fictions’ was initiated by COAL, an organisation mobilising artists on social and environmental issues, with the support of the European programme Creative Europe and the European network Imagine2020.
NATSAI CHIEZA is exhibiting at ‘Craft Becomes Modern: The Bauhaus in the Making’ at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation from Apr 2017 – Jan 2018 and also spoke at SynBioBeta 2017 at Imperial College London. SynBioBeta is the premiere synthetic biology conference for the industry – bringing the global community together to share best practices and learn
MARLENE HUISSOULD has exhibited as Studio Marlene Huissould this year at Selfridges, Future Arena Barcelona, Jerusalem Design Week, Milan Design Week, San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design, the Textile Museum in Tilburg, the Netherlands and Chamber in New York.
DIANA KOVACHEVA has been working as a Colour & Materials Designer at Ford Motor Company since 2014 and her first project, the Ford Fiesta (especially the Active and the ST series), was officially launched at the Geneva Motor Show this year. The Ford Fiesta is the best-selling car in Europe, with the all-new Fiesta going on sale across Europe this summer.
ÉMILIE GRENIER received the Phyllis Lambert Design Montréal Grant to create a collection of urban narrative objects that will create a dialogue between two UNESCO Creative Cities, Montréal and Reykjavik, Iceland. The Phyllis Lambert Design Montréal Grant rewards the talent of a Montréal designer (or design collective) with less than 10 years’ professional practice who has demonstrated exceptional quality in studies and work as well as a particular interest in the city.
PAMM HONG has been named ‘one to watch’ by the Future Laboratory and was chosen to exhibit ‘Watermelon Sugar’ at the Global Futures Forum 2016 where she was listed as one of the ‘Top 20 Disruptors’ - the next generation of names that have been tipped as tomorrow’s Uber, Airbnb or Google.
TINA GORJANC has had her ‘Pure Human’ project feature on the BBC, in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Mirror, Dezeen and GQ, to name a few. This last year, she has also given a presentation on bioengineering and design at Biofabricate 2016 in New York. The conference showcases leading designers, engineers, scientists and ventures who are at the forefront of making potential future industrial and consumer products that are grown from living systems.
HÉLÈNE COMBAL-WEISS will be leading an ‘Augmented Ear Reality’ workshop with sound artist Antoine Bertin at the School of Machines, Making & Make Believe in Berlin this summer. Their hybrid creations merge auditory and tactile senses in the completion of objects, installation and participative experiment.
INÊS MARQUES exhibited her ‘Post-fishing’ project at Regeneration: Revitalise the Ecology as part of Dutch Design Week 2016 - an exhibition dedicated to the regeneration of our current ecosystems. The exhibition delved into questions such as how to deal with issues of extreme drought, rising water levels, pollution, and waste and what tools can be used to regenerate our ecosystems?
SOPHY STOENNER is a designer at Fablab Aachen – Germany’s first Fab Lab. It’s a non-profit small workshop at RWTH Aachen University with computer-controlled tools and machines to make almost anything. She is also just about to embark on a Human Computer Interaction PhD at the university.
SINCE (QIAN) WANG has joined the London office of one of the biggest Chinese fashion and textiles manufacturing groups where she has assembled a fashion and textile design team to provide seasonal collections to clients including Ted Baker, House of Fraser, Brook Brothers and Debenhams. In 2015 she founded the Fashion Crossover London platform which is an online concept store and marketing platform to introduce, promote and engage emerging designers with the fashion industry on the other side of the world. Slow Fashion, hand craftsmanship, individuality and green production are reflected in the ethos of the platform.
LUCIE LIBOTTE, since graduating, has given a talk on ‘Shaping the Future’ at the London Festival of Architecture 2015 and won the Global Irish Design Challenge 2016 for her project ‘Dust Matters’ which examines discarded matter – domestic dust – with the aim of sharing a new insight of value making in the field of material innovation.
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From all of the team here at Material Futures, we would like to thank everyone in 2016/17 who has contributed and collaborated with the course to support this years’ graduating students:
Adam Thorpe, Agi Haines, Alex Yardley, Alexander Rose, Alexandra Murray-Leslie, Amy Congdon, Andy Miah, Attua Aparicio, Aubrey de Grey, Bart Hess, Burton Nitta, Carole Collet, Caroline Till, Clemens Winkler, Daisy Ginsberg, David Benque, Emile De Visscher, Frederik De Wilde, Hannah Cheesbrough, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Hefin Jones, Jamie Brassett, Jean-Cesar Minoru Harada, Jonathan Chapman, Jonathan Chippindale, Julia Lohmann, Kate Goldsworthy, Kevin Warwick, Laura Gordon, Lauren Bowker, Lola Lely, Lorraine Gamman, Lucy McRae, Margaret Wagstaff, Matt Malpass, Michael Saunby, Neil Harbisson, Nelly Ben Hayoun, Nicolas Myers, Oliver Wainwright, Patrick Stevenson-Keating, Paul Haywood, Philippa Wagner, Stephen Hayward, The Long Now Foundation, Tom Ellis, Tom Mannion, Tony Dunne, (Un)Known Collective, Yesenia Thibault-Picazo, Yuri Suzuki
Thank you.
A space to collaborate and research. Our aim is to actively re-think the future, encouraging a wholly multi-disciplinary approach to design in which research is at the very heart of the design process. We believe that it is only by observing and analysing how we live today that we can even begin to consider and explore how we can help shape a better, more sustainable future.
We teach our students to question the world around them. MAMF works with a whole host of academics, designers, scientists, researchers and practitioners – all experts in their particular fields. We believe in the value of knowledge, of research, of cross-collaboration and of hands-on making. That is why for the first time we have invited some of our collaborators and contributing tutors to highlight some of the critical issues that they believe are informing and shaping their own discipline. We hope this gives you a flavour of the types of questions and areas of design our students are exploring and responding to in their work. Finding answers is never simple or straightforward but at Material Futures we believe that we have an obligation to never stop trying. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our authors: Dr. Stephen Hayward, Prof. Carole Collet, Prof. Paul Haywood, Agi Haines and Prof. Kevin Warwick.
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Post-Truth
The designer of fictions cultivates the natural. The moss garden attached to Saiho-ji Temple, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto.
After studying archaeology and anthropology, then the history of art, Stephen Hayward completed a PhD at the Royal College of Art in the history of design. He subsequently taught at the University of Teesside and Southampton Institute while curating exhibitions and writing articles that applied an historical perspective to contemporary design. He has worked at Central Saint Martins since around 2000 and is now responsible for tutoring on MA Industrial Design and MA Material Futures, while co-ordinating aspects of the contextual studies provision across the BA and MA design programmes.
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Dr. Stephen Hayward Post-Truth ‘We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realise truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. If he only shows in his work that he has searched, and re-searched, for the way to put over lies, he would never accomplish anything.’ (Picasso, 1923)
This is Picasso talking about the hard-won truthfulness of art. A painting or a sculpture may start with a personal conviction, but then the maker is obliged to conceal the handiwork. The specific must become the universal, so that the experience is able to live again, as the work is remade, or reinterpreted in the mind of the viewer. In Picasso’s own career this led to images that seem visceral and immediate, but also iconic; portraits that transform an individual into an archetype, or an historical moment, like the bombing of Guernica in 1937, into something epic and legendary. The idea that a work of art creates its own truth, and exists in a special time and space, lies behind the words of Samuel Coleridge, the 19th century poet best known for Kubla Khan. A vision in a dream (1816). To fully appreciate the poem there must be a ‘willing suspension of disbelief’. The principle is central to most kinds of theatre, music, film, etc., even when the theme lacks the universal ambition of Picasso or Shakespeare. It becomes controversial when the seductive power of what seems emotionally true is abused, as in propaganda or covert advertising, and when feelings become muddled with empirical facts.
This is the situation described in the current media panic over ‘post-truth’. In an age of infotainment, docudrama, reality TV and celebrity culture, the idea of objectivity is under attack. The slogan seems to be that if it looks real, and feels real, then it doesn’t really matter that it is fake. So there is a blurring of boundaries, and while the truth of ‘public affairs’ may have been lampooned since at least the days of the 18th century satirist, new technology is amplifying the doubt. What is the difference between the real truth and a constructed reality when anyone can edit an online persona and exist in a community of his or her making? And yet some truths are more valued than others. Consider the different levels of investment in government funded research. Thanks to the internet, the medium that is doing so much to challenge the hegemony of the expert, we can readily see how the annual budget of Research Councils UK stands at £3 billion. It is arranged into seven categories with medical research, biotech and engineering at the top of the agenda, and the arts and humanities at the bottom (1). Hardly surprising perhaps, when there are many more votes in new hospitals than new art
schools; but it is interesting to reflect on how the imprimatur of the scientific method might have shaped the self-image of the so-called creative professions. To what extent has it been necessary to aspire to absolute truth in order to be respected? This is a reference to both the 20th century Modern Movement’s predilection for slogans, like ‘form follows function’ or ‘truth to materials’, and more recent imperatives like sustainability, social innovation, inclusiveness and agorism. The key point is how in the designer’s version of the truth; technical and commercial priorities mingle with aesthetic, moral, and even political drivers. A case in point is the best-selling text book Universal principles of design. 125 ways to enhance usability, influence perception, increase appeal, make better design decisions, and teach through design (Lidwell, Holden, Butler, Elam 2010). The title reveals the behaviourist emphasis, and many of the 125 principles are grounded in psychological research. And yet these ‘facts’ are interspersed with cultural conventions, like the Golden Ratio; as well as modernist polemic, like Modularity and Ockham’s Razor (sic), which is a sort of mediaeval version of ‘less is more’. Perhaps the discrepancy lies in the effort to reconcile the many areas of design practice; from those focussing on a technical concept of problem-solving to those concerned with interpretation and storytelling. In so far as the work of Material Futures involves personas, communication, and speculation, it probably owes more to Picasso’s sense of an artful truth than the sort of quantitative evidence typical of a scientific paper. And yet a number of the projects are specifically concerned with emergent scientific concepts, while the effectiveness of the storytelling necessitates an acceptance that we do indeed live by common norms and codes. For without a mastery of institutional conventions, like the museum vitrine, the archetypical laboratory, the ‘look’ of an official report etc., it would be impossible to place the audience in a receptive frame of mind.
But how does this differ from a wellresearched science fiction film; what are the distinctive characteristics of the Material Futures’ construction of reality? In the first place the speculation is grounded in professional knowledge. It has been developed in collaboration with experts and user groups. The filmmaker often relies on technical consultants, but their input is generally secondary to the emotional demands of the plot. Then there is the fact that the majority of materials explored in these projects are subjected to actual experiment. They are not simply props, or concept models, or copies of something that already exists. This leads to the core proposition of Material Futures; as a practice it involves not just the exploration of matter, but the communication of ideas through the experience and the presence of the material. Finally, there is the tone of the work. While some projects are primarily concerned with problems and others are by their nature ‘cautionary tales’, there is a wariness of simple answers. Each project acknowledges a multiplicity of stakeholders and the need for personal interpretation and action in the realisation of change. They leave space for the imagination. They represent a world that is familiar enough to be credible, but strange, or playful enough to trigger a conversation.
REFERENCES Lidwell,W. Holden,K. Butler, J. Elam, K (2010). Universal principles of design. 125 ways to enhance usability, influence perception, increase appeal, make better design decisions, and teach through design. Beverly Mass, Rockport Publishers. Picasso (1923). Picasso Speaks reprinted in Picasso: Fifty Years of His Art by Alfred H. Barr Jr., published for The Museum of Modern Art by Arno Press, New York, 1980. (1) Research Council UK Strategic Priorities and Spending Plan 2016-20, available at www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/ documentsstrategicpriorities andspendingplan2016/
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Re-Calibrating Design for the Bioeconomy
{Fig.2} Self-patterned mycelium rubber © Carole Collet 2016. Created as part of the design research project ‘Mycelium Textiles’ which explores the potential of mycelium to grow bio-circular materials and new biodegradable finishing processes for textiles.
Prof. Carole Collet has dedicated her career to developing a new vision for design, and pioneered the discipline of Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins in 2000. She is now Professor in Design for Sustainable Futures and Director of the Design & Living Systems Lab at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts. Her research focuses on exploring the intersection of biology and design to develop disruptive sustainable design proposals. Her recent curation of ‘Alive, New Design Frontiers’ (www.thisisalive.com) questions the emerging role of the designer when working with living materials and technologies such as synthetic biology, and establishes an original framework for designing with the living via the lens of sustainability. One of Collet’s characteristics is that she takes on different research roles, from designer, to curator and educator. This enables her to develop an informed critique of both the design outputs and the design contexts, from making knowledge to framing knowledge. Her work has been featured in international exhibitions and she regularly contributes to conferences on the subject of textile futures, biodesign, biomimicry, synthetic biology, future manufacturing and bio-materiality, sustainable design and climate change. Collet has recently been appointed Director of CSM LVMH Sustainable Innovation to lead a R&D programme that can foster the development of sustainable propositions for the luxury industry.
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Prof. Carole Collet Re-Calibrating Design for the Bioeconomy
Material-led, critical, speculative, reflective, industrial, craft-based, bio-inspired…whatever we choose to individually qualify our design expertise, it is informed by our studies, influenced by our times and anchored within our respective cultures and personal journeys. What matters to me is what difference design can make, in what realms, and for whom. However, these fundamental traits are often misguided by the pace of technological emergence and the quest for obsolescencedriven marketing models. We seem to evolve on a trajectory of ‘progress’ defined by material wealth, high-tech knowledge and a brave new world of apps. Within this context, I believe designers should take a step back and evaluate their roles in relation to the ‘global versus local’ discourse, the North-South divide and the ever-increasing environmental pressures. But easier said than done. How do we reconcile intrinsic creative playfulness, genuine invention and original thinking with the ability to address pressing societal and environmental challenges? This is where design education can make a difference by providing a space to experiment, explore, critique, imagine and inspire. It creates a fifth dimension of possibilities, where the future meets the present, the past re-awakens the forgotten, and new paradigms are carefully composed. It lives on the tangent between industry and research, design follies and pragmatism, the real and the virtual world, re-inventing manifestos and growing new design toolkits these are the stuff of our everyday. But will it last? And how does that help us create a better future, not just for the elitist
design-hungry communities, but for the citizens of a planet threatened more than ever by over-exploitation? I am an ecologist. When that’s your starting point for design, you also have to be on the optimistic side to be able to face the harsh realities of the world at large. 2017 marks twenty years of my teaching role at Central Saint Martins where I first embarked on creating a disobedient curriculum with sustainability at its core. Inevitably, I ask myself, how has that made a difference? What has changed in twenty years? How do we ensure our students can remain ready to face evolving future challenges and make a positive impact on the world? What are the emergent ideas that design can empower? And indeed, what are the most pertinent design questions? Twenty years ago, embracing sustainable principles was somewhat on the periphery of design, an optional ‘plugin’, ignored by most. Today, designers understand, consider and evolve new ways to embed ecological values in their design propositions. Sustainability is ubiquitous, at the risk of becoming mainstream, and even, dare I say, a ‘predictable’ topic. So quite a lot has happened in twenty years. A clear awakening that we are interconnected with our environment, and as such dependent on its resilience and ability to regenerate. But at the same time our global world population is promising to fast reach unprecedented levels and our material consumption has become rampant. According to Greenpeace, in a report published in 2016, ‘clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2014’ - a staggering fact. We are digging deeper and deeper into
our Earth’s crust to mine precious metals and vacuum-suck finite oil resources. It seems that paradoxically, as our environmental consciousness has risen, our exponential and unconstrained consumption model blatantly undermines our progress. So what does the future of sustainable design look like? What can design do next to help transition towards a mindful, interconnected, environmentallyrestorative and resilient society? Designing for the ‘bioeconomy’ may well hold that promise. The OECD defines the bioeconomy as referring to ‘the set of economic activities relating to the invention, development, production and use of biological products and processes’ . Mainstream design currently relies on working with the natural, the chemical, the artificial and the synthetic material worlds, and until now has mostly fed into an energy-hungry linear manufacturing system that largely relies on the toxic exploitation of non-renewable resources. With the emergence of the bioeconomy, design stands a chance to reinvent itself and to influence the shaping of bio-circular production systems that demand a thorough understanding of renewable biodegradable materials and circular supply chains. The field of biomimicry, the emulation of nature’s principles, has already permeated through architectural and design practices, but remains a niche concept. It allows for design strategies to manifest expanded sustainable propositions inspired by how nature fabricates materials and engineers solutions at an ambient temperature, and without toxic by-products. In this emerging design landscape, biology is taking centre stage and new relationships with the natural world can be established (Fig.1). Design for ‘biofacturing’ (versus design for manufacturing) will require an expanded set of skills and methodologies and designers will need to re-calibrate their practice to engage with twenty-first century biofabrication tools. Embracing biomimicry principles, together with incorporating biotechnological emergent processes arising from recent advances in the biological sciences (such as synthetic biology), will stretch most designers out of their comfort zone. Designing living systems for instance will require adaptive
design methods to co-work with organisms to generate new materials and finishings (Fig.2). Yet, the bioeconomy is growing fast, and many countries are putting in place formal and official bioeconomy strategies. According to the European Union, ‘recent and continuing progress in the life sciences now makes the bioeconomy one of the most dynamic sectors of the European economy and it is also one of the largest employers’ . It is now time for designers to expand their practice and contribute to imagine this new bio-based regenerative economy to help transition towards a more sustainable future. However, we need to remain critical of the promises of the bioeconomy. Even if we succeed in shifting from conventional linear manufacturing systems to more sustainable circular bio-based production models, we are still at risk of endorsing further our current overconsumption mindset. The bioeconomy can only succeed if we alter our consumption behaviours and fundamentally rethink the notion of progress to create a new biomodernity that is inclusive, interconnected and mindful.
{Fig.2}
REFERENCES {1} www.greenpeace.org/ international/Global/international/ briefings/toxics/2016/Fact-SheetTimeout-for-fast-fashion.pdf {2} www.oecd.org/futures/long-term technologicalsocietalchallengesthe bioeconomyto2030designingapolicyag enda.htm {3} www.epsoweb.org/file/560, p.4.
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The Trouble Today
Professor Paul Haywood is Dean of Programmes for Art, Culture and Enterprise, Graphic Communication Design, and Drama and Performance at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. He is Chair of PARADOX, the Fine Art European Forum, and Co-Chair of NAFAE, the National Association for Fine Art Education in the UK. He is Visiting Professor for Creative Community Engagement at the University of Salford in the Faculty of Health and Social Care; this research connects with Universities and adult learning networks across Europe and is concerned with the design of open tools for the recognition of learning from experience. He is currently engaged with research and academic communities within UAL where is collaborating on the design of curriculum frameworks to support open mutual learning in distinct areas of cultural production.
Paul Haywood’s main activities as an arts practitioner are focused on a small group of cultural enterprise projects relating to processes of co-creation that prompt artistic outputs. He has a long-term and ongoing collaboration with designer Maxine Kennedy (www.colourground. com) concerned with enquiries into landscape colour and place identity. He has worked with sculptor Karen Lyons and with Kelly Burgess over a number of years to establish and prove a project framework for recycling metal for weapons into design outputs and sculpture (www.gunstogoods.com). He maintains a studio in Rochdale, East Lancashire, where he continues to explore a painting practice.
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Prof. Paul Haywood The Trouble Today
“Could you write eight hundred words for our catalogue, please?” “Respond to an area of society, culture, technology or material.” My immediate impulse is to search for a helpful system. How can I manufacture 800 words into one cogent response. How can I design and articulate an answer from nothing. A structure will give me form for reference and rules. Deploying a decimal framework, I can write in manageable sentences. It should become possible to shepherd random thoughts into alignment. Writing ten words per sentence means eighty sentences in total. Ten sentences per paragraph means eight paragraphs in logical order.
Creativity is common; it is as innate as the air. Cultural production is a normal human function, habit and need. It is not a privilege, neither an exclusive natural gift. It is our personal right of reply constructed from within. Let’s not preserve a conservative model of public resource distribution. Let’s foster optimism and build towards improving mutuality and respect. Guarantee the means of cultural production for all in society. Guarantee the free movement of culture between and beyond communities. Assume an ambition for equality, enjoy the ecology of difference? Nurture belonging for all across society and harvest rhizomatic diversity.
I like systems; regularity, order, solidity, solidarity, form and unity. Foundations to support the construction of my thoughts and beliefs. Then I can deviate and create difference or differently create. Sensible foundations give us permission to breathe out of rhythm. To see around corners or from behind doors and walls. To resist resolution and know that there is always more. Pragmatically, personal invention and adventure requires a degree of certainty. A sense of the earth beneath our feet, of belonging. Creative freedoms are most sincere when rooted in secured footings. To be of society, each cultural contribution must have value.
The trouble with today is that fear is actual currency. The powerful play with our anxieties and profit from division. Potential impacts from the ridiculously named Brexit are provoking uncertainty. Negotiating new terms with European nations and nationals assumes enmity. Confused and confusing national policy initiatives divert the expert eye. The post-truth political era is recasting democrats into ideologues. Trump’s narcissism is enforcing a collective state of not knowing. Partisanship and conflicts disrupt our cosmopolitan local and global communities. Diminished and diminishing civic ownership is segregating our social communities. Design thinking for society has to combat power and privilege.
I choose to respond to one pressing and paradoxical dilemma. It concerns our general assumption of civic and equal rights. A squandered democratic vision in an era of privileged participation. A notional concept of public good polluted by principled sovereignty. An aspiration that remains elusive and ill-fitting within capitalism. Despite the packaging, our cultural democratic processes are uncommonly private. Comprehensive access to public resources are constantly pirated for profit. Despite our humanity, despite our protestations, we preserve selective privilege. There is no democracy without fair access to cultural resources. Without means of nurturing personal wisdom, knowledge, and cultural production.
My roots are in Manchester and that post-industrial conurbation. By the moorland ridge out east of the Salford 100. In the foothills that roll west from the Pennine edge. Where the threads of Calder and Roche are spun together. Looking over the Irwell Basin from the pallatine of Lancashire. The bombing of May 22nd momentarily clarified our collective vision. It offered proof of our natural sense of common community. It validated our reputation for ‘northern’ togetherness and resilience. And, for the moment, solidarity prevails and it has a voice. In many ways it is strengthened by this recent horror.
This is a contemporary dilemma and challenge with serious history. A chronic condition with ancient linage and new century character. How to orientate the disorientated, the displaced, and the disavowed. What does inclusion mean in a caste world promoting exclusivity. Those who cannot access nutrition, may not grow towards illumination. And this source of disadvantage is the genesis of privilege. Where we become separated, we also become remote and detached. Producing some with too little and some with too much. And so, society becomes and remains unbalanced, unequal and unjust. Whilst some cultural contributions become devalued and then not recognised.
Of course, we cannot know the pain of the victims. We cannot really experience the suffering of their loved ones. These are individuals who must be allowed their personal grief. Inevitably, Mancunians will all know someone who suffered that day. It is two connected cities largely comprised of family networks. What is notable and obvious is deep sadness but determination. United in peace but proud of our differences and diversity. What happened was human tragedy, annotated by a global media. Resonating the pain of countless others suffering through modern conflict. Our only answer is unity. Our system is each other.
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What’s Next? The Future of Design and the Body Agi Haines’ work is focused on the design of the human body. How might people respond to the possibilities of our body as another everyday material and how far can we push our malleable bodies while still being accepted by society? Currently she is undertaking PhD research at Transtechnology Research, funded by Plymouth University. This research sits within a transdisciplinary department called Cognovo - a large scale Marie Curie funded ITN exploring cognitive innovation. Working amongst various artists and scientists who are all focused on creativity and cognition, her inspiration comes from the weird and wonderful things that exist inside us. Questioning how our morbid curiosity for the viscera of life might affect the future of design, not only for the environment but also for us as sentient sacks of flesh within it?
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Agi Haines What’s Next? The Future of Design and the Body
The interaction between the body and technology has always been a concern of the designer. With the ongoing integration of new biological technologies into the design toolbox, the instruments of design now have softness or moistness, and a potentially fluid and developing plasticity. The body is now a fabric, pervious to design intervention. Yet what gives the designer license to deal with this sensitive biological fabric, especially when the present or even future of the body is not yet visible to us? Initial fears that human alteration may compromise our sense of identity and essence are dispelled through the understanding that perhaps the innermost desire to alter ourselves is characteristic of human-ness. Since Frankenstein was published in 1818 both confidence in and caution of science has maintained, as Shelley writes “none but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science.” (1) Scientific anxiety is not necessarily wholly due to the emergence of a new technology, it may be a more deep-seated concern about the general use of knowledge. The acquiring of knowledge does not necessarily have to invoke the use of it. After a substantial amount of time, growth and evolution it seems there is a lot more potential for humans to change. The opportunity of introducing new modifiable material opens up the gates for
endless possibility. Yet as Stan Lee suggests “with great power there must also come great responsibility” (2) and more thought will need to be put into using material that we have a biological connection with. The shift in design from a historically solution driven discipline to encompass counterfactuals, criticisms and imaginaries has revealed it can be a platform for provoking thought through methods that inhabit the fringes of design practice. Design may then be used to raise questions regarding the use and distribution of knowledge and its subsequent effect. Highlighting questions about the body and technology through design may in turn impact our comprehension of the interaction between the two. The future of design is dependant on the interplay between a number of paradigm shifts. These shifts are not new abrupt ruptures but rather have a history of development and resurfacing, they are not the result of a specific trigger but rather they are fluid shifts in focus or attention. A current shift in research methodology includes sharing ideas, approaches and working processes between seemingly divergent disciplines and includes the integration of alternative insights to highlight new enquiries and concerns. The enquiries and concerns are formulated from an exchange of ideas, which can unravel topics that are shared between all parties
involved. Another shift in design thinking has encouraged the move away from design as product driven to be inclusive of inward looking critique. The role of design is now in itself often questioned as part of the design thinking process. Paradigm shifts such as the ones mentioned above become part of a trajectory of shifting focus that is guided by inputs and ideas, yet their crossovers can offer fertile ground for artists and designers to make work that can dent this trajectory, leaving a permanent cognitive imprint. An intervention in the way we understand a particular topic, in this case the interaction between the body and technology. Throughout the history of biomedicine and healthcare the human body has been viewed and represented as manoeuvrable and modifiable by technology. The more widely accepted the soft and moist tools of design become, the more chance they might make us, as humans, the product. A choice to accept or reject the future of biological technologies can be probed through design research. It is no longer a question of technological possibility but rather one of human character that will push us forward into the new stage of biotechnology. It is imperative to continue reflecting on and imagining the developing plasticity of technological futures. Simulating biomedical and technological imaginaries may offer
a number of insights, firstly to pre-empt potential issues and responses to these futures. Secondly to aid further understanding of the processes in science as well as art and design practice. And finally to help us consider what kind of research may be worthy of our future creative and scientific efforts. “Technological innovation is part and parcel of that development, of exploring humanity and exploring the world around us.” (3) This type of exploratory design is therefore a vehicle for ideas exchange across disciplinary boundaries, it is the saliva of the disciplinary world; it can lubricate a concept or topic that may otherwise be difficult to digest.
REFERENCES
(1) Shelley, M. (2013). Frankenstein. London, e-artnow. (2) Lee, S. (1962). Amazing Fantasy 15, USA, Marvel Comics. (3) Sargent, E. (2012). Superhuman – Exploring Human Enhancement from 600 BCE to 2050. London, Welcome Collection.
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Photography by David Vintiner
A Revolution in the Body as an Art Form
Kevin Warwick is Emeritus Professor at Reading and Coventry Universities. His research areas are artificial intelligence, biomedical systems, robotics and cyborgs. Kevin is a Chartered Engineer who has published over 600 research papers. His experiments into implant technology led to him being the cover story on the US magazine, ‘Wired’. He achieved the world’s first direct electronic communication between two human nervous systems, the basis for thought communication. He has been awarded higher doctorates (DSc) by Imperial College and the Czech Academy of Sciences and Honorary Doctorates by 9 Universities. He received the IET Mountbatten Medal, the EllisonCliffe Medal from the Royal Society of Medicine and presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.
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Prof. Kevin Warwick A Revolution in the Body as an Art Form The human body has long been used as a form of expressive art, indeed it may well have been the first canvas with regard to painting and jewellery. In some countries this has included deformations of the body, particularly the neck, feet and face. In particular, African body art has included scarification, shaving and body painting. Even body piercing has been popular, especially with regard to the lips, ears and nose. All of these aspects have involved modifications to the physical appearance of an individual usually for its visual effect. This is epitomised by, in the present day, moving from the body beautiful in Michelangelo’s David or Titian’s Venus of Urbino towards body imperfections. Visual interpretation of this comes in the form of pseudo-abstractions such as Antonio Mora Diaz’ “Sad”. Body perfection is not the ultimate artistic expression that it once was. Interestingly, as some of the older African artistic traditions are in decline as the society becomes more westernised, so they have found a new form of existence in the western world. Tattoos, once the stable of the working classes have become a fashion item, something sought after and what the middle classes simply must have along with their BMW, satellite TV and designer kitchen. But in this upsurge in recent years has sprung a whole new genre of body piercing due to the ready availability and adaptability of technology. You name the body part, it can be pierced. But in reality no longer is it strange or shocking to witness nipple or genital piercings, arguably as an individual’s effort to stand out from the crowd. Nowadays what gives someone the edge is to have a technological piercing or even an implant – not to regain a body function (such as hearing) that is no longer functional or to overcome a neurological problem (e.g. Parkinson’s Disease) but rather as an expressive art form. It is quite possible now that your piercing also tells you the direction of magnetic north or causes LEDs to light up under your skin when you are in the proximity of something magnetic. Essentially what might be considered as artistic
expression can also have a practical purpose. So identification implants allow a computer to know where you are and in response switch on lights and operate doors without you lifting a finger. You and your building become an immersive work of system art, a cybernetic whole. But it really gets exciting because no longer does an individual’s body modification need to be a visual alteration to the outer side of the person (e.g. skin) but instead can be implanted and have no immediate visual effect at all. Indeed it does not need to be an individual implantation but rather a collection of implantations that have an external effect under circumstances. Thereby realising a truly cooperative, social work of art. For one person it may mean that they can sense the world in new ways, not before open to ordinary humans, and their brain signals can operate interactively with the internet. But when linking with the implants of others this rapidly becomes a collaborative effort. And to experience the output of a collaborative work of art a person may well need an implant themselves. It rapidly becomes a must have, not only to exhibit but also to experience. So you have to ask yourself this. Do you wish to remain in an antiquated art world of painting on two dimensional canvases (do people still do that?). Or do you wish to be part of the new avant garde and look on art as part of the technological/biological revolution? This means impinging on your body beautiful not with some external indicator such as a tattoo but instead with a little implant that sits in your body. Such an implant possibly merely interacts with the external world or maybe you will have one that sits in your nervous system and has the ability to relate your immediate excitement or shock to a globally encompassing intelligent network. In return you will be able to experience the excitement and shock of others. You will have become part of a global, interactive, bi-directional art form in which the participants are also the benefactors. You will be part of the Techno In-Crowd.
Material Futures Class of 2017
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Agusta Arnardottir Future Farming Democratising the emerging and advanced technologies usually only available to the world’s mega-farms. Family farms provide 80% of the world’s food on only 24% of the world’s farmland, however, with increasing competition from commercial mega-farms, how will they continue to feed and support our rising population as well as preserve their way of life? Industrial agricultural plants employ advanced automation technologies in order to increase efficiency and drive profits which a small-scale family farm is often unable to invest in or take full advantage of. All too often this results in them being completely left behind technologically and unable to compete in the world’s marketplace as they can’t fulfil society’s expectation of low-cost high-yield food crops. However, unlike commercial mega-farms, small-scale farms and their traditional way of life are far more beneficial for our environment as they maintain healthy soil - a depleting future resource, ensure crop variety as well as provide protection for our more fragile and more holistic natural eco-systems. Through this project, I spent time living, working and observing several small-scale farms and worked with the families to create a range of open-source, more accessible artefacts that not only would enable them to take full advantage of the latest scientific and technological developments within the agritech industry - which ordinarily would be far out of their reach economically, but would also allow them to continue with their more environmentally friendly, traditional farming practices and way of life.
‘Globally 33% of agricultural soil – fully a third – is classified degraded.’ [SOURCE: UN Food and Agriculture Organization 2015]
‘The world is currently producing 4600 kilocalories of food per person per day’ (SOURCE: Tudge 2016 p. 18]
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E X P ER T S Dr Jonathan Menary, PhD candidate in Sources of Innovation in the Fresh Produce Industry, Warwick Crop Center Jayne Eldridge, Organic Farmer and Horticulturalist, Oxton Organics
C OL L A B OR ATORS Signy Thorhallsdottir, Graphics Birgir Orn Jonsson, Bookbinding Karen Douglas, Proofreading
Jake Eldridge, Organic Farmer and Forest Keeper, Oxton Organics Laura Marner, Area Manager and Horticulturalist, Vitacress Sigurdur Sigurdsson, former Sheep Farmer in Iceland, special advisor on various farming techniques, both traditional and modern.
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Angela Mathis Ectosymbiont Exploring the technique of decellularisation on plant tissue and its application for the human body. ‘Natures materials carry a quality insurance of 3 billion years.’ Oded Shoseyov [SOURCE: www.ted.com/talks/oded_ shoseyov_how_we_re_harnessing_ nature_s_hidden_superpowers]
Engineering plant tissue for the human body. Every day 22 people die because they did not receive a transplant organ on time, and this is only in the US. That makes over 8000 preventable deaths a year. Because of the surprising similarities between human and plant scaffold, this project explores the use of plant tissue for transplantation into the human body. My material experiment with plant tissue has resulted in an archive of 100 different decellularised species and a collaboration with scientists to use tissue engineering to evolve us, the human species, into the Homo Ectosymbiont.
‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.’ Charles Darwin ‘After decellularization, plant scaffolds remained in its shape and are able to transport microparticles.’ Joshua Gershlak
‘The problem of organ shortage lead to an illegal million dollar business.’ [SOURCE: www. economist.com/node/12380981]
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E X P ER T S Joshua Geshlak, leads the research on decellularised spinach for cardiac muscle. PhD candidate, Life Sciences & Bioengineering Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Dr Giuseppe Mazza, the first scientist worldwide to decellularise a liver. CEO at Engitix, Post-doc Fellow at UCL and Director R&D at Promethera Bioscience, Royal Free Hospital
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer
Dr David C.K.Cooper, Pioneer and expert in xenotransplantation. Professor of Surgery, Pittsburgh University Mr Florin Feneru, advised on plant species and their taxonomy and showed me the plant collection in the cellar of the Natural History Museum. Identification and Advisory Officer, Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity, Natural History Museum, London
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Annya Mutia Suhardi Phantaspalma An exploration of the palm oil industry and the controversy that surrounds it. Should we prioritise environmental protection over the livelihoods of others who are more vulnerable and dependant in society? From snacks to shampoo, palm oil is present in over half of all the products we consume. Given the extent to which we, in the most developed countries of the world, depend and consume this product, it naturally has a huge environmental footprint. Yet at the same time, it is often the only opportunity for some of the world’s most vulnerable and least developed communities to earn a decent living, often providing them with basic amenities such as fresh water, sanitation, education and basic infrastructure such as roads, schools and housing. Given the environmental consequences of palm oil, coupled with its ability to transform the lives of the poorest communities in the world, it is no surprise that it has therefore become one of the most debated commodities of the century. Through my project, I hope to expose the impact, both good and bad, that surrounds palm oil and unearth the whole picture that we often don’t get to see through the mainstream media. By creating an arcade machine that explores the complexities that surround the commodity, I invite people to put their previous assumptions aside and instead step into the shoes of a palm oil factory owner and try their luck in making “better” decisions for both the industry as well as the environment. The project aims to deconstruct what we think we know about the issues surrounding palm oil by allowing us to better reflect on the choices we make individually, as well as how as a society we should balance issues around sustainability and ethics. Palm oil is in around half of all packaged items found in supermarkets, from biscuits to detergents. It is the most widely used vegetable oil on the planet, accounting for 65% of all vegetable oil traded internationally.
[SOURCE: www.theguardian. com/sustainable-business/nginteractive/2014/nov/10/palm-oilrainforest-cupboard-interactive]
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E X P ER T S Bambang Notonegoro, owner of the palm oil plantation which I visited for my field research. He has been involved in the business for nearly thirty years. CEO, PT. Swadaya Sapta Putra Rauf Prasodjo, involved in the regulatory part of the palm oil industry since his time working for the United Nations Development Programme and World Resources Institute. He is now trying to make a “change from the inside� by working with Unilever who purchases 3% of the total palm oil production. Sustainability Sourcing Manager, Unilever Indonesia
C OL L A B OR ATORS Muhammad Vilhamy, Artist Lutfiadi Rahmanto, Programmer and electronics expert Tom Mannion, Photographer Helen Ingham, Signwriter
Ashley Gorst, has been studying how to apply environmental economics to corporations and systems. He helped me make sense of whether the case for change in the palm oil industry would suit being tackled through more environmental economics or ecological economics routes. PhD candidate in Environmental Economics, London School of Economics
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Anoushka Cole Project Fish With declining fish stocks, a struggling fishing industry and the cultural landscape of our coasts under threat, I aim to celebrate such communities and their associated crafts whilst at the same time caretaking for the environment. A poetic response to a marginalised community and a forgotten resource. The UK fishing industry has been forgotten and left to decay on the coastlines. Many of these traditional communities are now left marginalised with a lack of prosperity as well as opportunity, and without much to offer in the way of enticing rejuvenation or regeneration. Exploring this forgotten and discarded resource, my project aims to celebrate the primitive relationship between humanity and the sea, crafting meaningful and valued artefacts that cement our bond with the surrounding environment. This project acts as a poetic response to a complex and multifaceted problem. The project is not meant to propose a solution to fix these issues, but instead acts as a catalyst to promote and inspire change.
57% of the total UK fish and shellfish are classified as waste. Forest Worm predicted collapsed fish stock decline by 2048 Small scale fishermen make up 77% of the British fishing fleet but net just 4% of the total quota.
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E X P ER T S Martin Fuller, a small-scale Fisherman from Newhaven with a 16ft open boat. His fishing practice is sustainable, working with static gear and hand lines, causing very little impact to the environment. Self-employed Fisherman. Sam, a Fishmonger who buy fish directly from small-scale fishermen around the British coast daily. Sam has been collecting their waste fish skin for me throughout the year Fishmonger, Moxon’s Islington Rose Choules, hand makes moccasins and clogs inspired by ancient styles in her studio in Bude, Cornwall. Her traditional techniques and understanding of the material whilst working with fellow craftspeople celebrates the past whilst creating sustainable lasting products. Shoemaker, Rose Choules Atelier
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer Ricky Lee Brawn, Metal Technician, Central Saint Martins
Ken Thomas, a retired Fisherman who’s family have fished from Dungeness for decades. He now runs the fish hut on the beach selling the day’s catch from the boats run by his son and brother. Self-employed Fisherman Andy Kenny, Marine Benthic Ecologist whose work looks at the effects of human activity on the seabed. He has worked with the EU on the management of deep sea fisheries. Principal Marine Biologist, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) Oliver Cross & Lucy Lloyd, make footwear inspired by contemporary design whilst maintaining traditional techniques and a respect for the leather they work with. Shoemakers, Ottowin Handmade Footwear
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Bolor Amgalan Match Clinic Science says love is just chemicals in the brain and sequences of genes. This project explores the consequences of this definition on the future of human relationships. Globally, 1 in 3 relationships begin online; 1 in 5 new marriages are a result of an online dating site. [SOURCE: match.com]
What is your scientific compatibility to the rest of the world? In a world where hacking into a dating site to increase your compatibility with other profiles is becoming more and more common, how will the increasingly scientific understanding of love impact the way we see ourselves and form relationships with others? Science says our immune system genes play a significant role in how we feel attracted to others; and labs all around the world are offering DNA compatibility tests to both singles and couples. Based on my own attempt at profiling my most scientifically compatible match through collaboration with geneticists, psychologists and a neuroscientist, I present to you Match Clinic. Using cutting edge scientific instruments, Match Clinic will find the best match for you from our database, backed by existing scientific research. We will test your genetic and psychological compatibility across a broad spectrum, which could also reveal useful information to you about your personality and health. Our goal is to increase your chances of achieving a high compatibility score with your future partner.
There is now strong scientific evidence that genetically compatible partners enjoy greater attraction to one another and have superior relationship stability.(SOURCE: Instant Chemistry referencing the Dr. Claus Wedekind study on genetic compatibility, www.instantchemistry.com/ relationship-compatibility)
Researchers are now able to pinpoint the exact parts of the brain that get activated when we feel love as well as the chemicals in the brain that are responsible for the feeling of love – namely dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin. (SOURCE: Helen Fisher 2009, Why Him? Why Her?)
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E X P ER T S Anar Amgalan, Neuroscientist currently developing algorithms that predict the dynamic evolution of networks (from neurons to populations) in response to energy constraints and perturbation. PhD candidate in Physics, Laufer Center for Physical & Quantitative Biology, Stony Brook University Dr Tamara Brown, expert in molecular genetics and neurobiology. The Gene Partner matchmaking algorithm was developed based on Brown’s PhD research. Chief Scientific Officer, Gene Partner Dr Sara Seabrooke, an expert in genetics and neurotherapeutic drug development, Sara is in charge of developing the Instant Chemistry DNA compatibility test. Chief Scientific Officer, Instant Chemistry
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer Caitlin Young, Videographer Phill, Sound Designer, Plane Audio
Jacqueline Olds, respected Psychiatrist, Author, and the Inventor of SunSprite light tracker and Consultant in Psychiatry, MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Training Programme Heidi Kuivaniemi-Smith, specialising in facial identification and is involved in research in the field of investigative interviewing. Forensic Artist, Facial Depiction Dr Sharrona Pearl, Theorist of the face and body with particular focus on physiognomy and its communicative role throughout history. Assistant Professor of Communication, University of Pennsylvania
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Britt Berden PLAN B? Design as a communicative tool to inform the public about climate engineering, a risky but realistic future. How to critically engage the public around the issues of climate engineering? We are living in the Anthropocene, a geological era shaped and controlled by humanity. It makes us aware of the global impact and responsibility we have to deal with human-induced climate change. One proposed controversial method of dealing with our impact is a highly man-driven technological approach: climate engineering. Climate engineering is the deliberate intervention in the climate system to cool down the Earth. One way of doing this is reflecting sunlight back into space. Scientists see this as ‘Plan B’ when other attempts of fighting global warming have failed. My project aims to look at the way culture has created an over positioned attitude towards the natural world. We often assume that we can accomplish and abstract the systems of the Earth, expecting them to be simpler than they actually are. The emphasis of my project is on the way we perceive the Earth as a machine and how we are playing God. The objective in my design is to simulate the scientific complexity of tinkering with the climate as a communicative tool. I use an educational approach to explain brightening the clouds, artificially mimicking the way natural clouds form to reflect sunlight. I also explain Stratosphere Aerosol Injection, spraying tiny particles into the sky to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth. Both are realistic but highly dangerous proposals to fix the planet. Let’s not make this future a reality...
‘Tests must begin in earnest, time to stage trials of engineering the atmosphere to cool Earth’ Watson Matthew 2016 [SOURCE: www.newscientist.com/ article/2113880-time-to-stagetrials-of-engineering-theatmosphere-to-cool-earth/]
‘As the Arctic warms, interest in geoengineering increases (…) China has been suggested as likely to initiate climate engineering’ [SOURCE: www. arcticnow.com/scien-ce/2017/01/10/ as-arctic-warms-interest-ingeoengineering-increases]
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E X P ER T S Markus Kalberer, part of the SPICE project, he investigated the effectiveness of Solar Radiation Management and particularly focused on the chemical composition of organic aerosols and the corresponding changes to the climate. Professor in Physical Chemistry, University of Cambridge Tony Cox, his contribution to the SPICE project involved specialist advice on the potential impact of particles used for Solar Radiation Management on the stratospheric ozone. Doctor in Physical Chemistry, University of Cambridge Jeroen Oomen, trained in philosophy, sociology and political science, he has a particular interest in questions of equality and fairness, the environment and climate change. PhD student and Visiting Fellow, The Keith Group, Harvard University
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer
Peter Irvine, conducts research on the broader impacts and implications of solar climate engineering as a potential means to reduce the risks of climate change. Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The Keith Group, Harvard University Jack Stilgoe, works on science and technology policy, particularly the governance of science and emerging technologies as well as public engagement with science. Senior Lecturer, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London Jan Zalasiewicz, involved in helping develop ideas on the Anthropocene and chair of the Anthropocene Working Group of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Professor of Paleobiology, University of Leicester Matt Edgeworth, archaeologist and cultural anthropologist has a special interest in the Anthropocene. Archaeologist and Anthropologist, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester
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Candyce Dryburgh Carnicultures The current meat industry is unsustainable. With the promise of in-vitro meat on the horizon, how will our relationship with meat evolve when we no longer have to kill an animal for it? Is in-vitro meat the answer to a more moral and sustainable meat supply? This project sets out to investigate alternative methods of culturing your own meat when in-vitro has become commonplace and is available in local supermarkets. As this becomes more domesticated and people begin to culture at home, how will we start to tell the difference between what is ethical and what is socially wrong? Through exploring systems set up to enable users at home to culture their own muscle tissue I aim to investigate what good meat is - just because we didn’t have to kill the animal to eat it, does that make the meat more moral?
Livestock pose a significant disease risk to humans. Around 60% of all known human diseases and 75% of the most damaging emerging diseases are animal-transmitted in origin. [SOURCE: www.sentience-politics. org/de/positionspapiere/ kultiviertes-fleisch/] There is scientific consensus regarding animal sentience and their capacity to suffer and this is officially recognised in EU legislation. [SOURCE: www.ec.europa.eu/food/animals/ welfare_en]
A study out of Oxford University showed clean meat could potentially be produced with 96% less greenhouse gas emissions, 45% less energy, 99% less land use, and 96% less water use than meat made through animal agriculture. [SOURCE: www. medium.com/@sethbannon/cleaningthe-record-on-clean-meat4888815a8614]
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E X P ER T S Chloe Hurling, is investigating Bardet-Biedl Syndrome using induced pluripotent stem cells. She is also an advocate for public engagement in scientific research. PhD student, Centre for Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine, Guy’s Hospital, London and King’s College London
Andy Miah, with a focus on technology and posthumanism, his research considers the many ethical issues we are confronted with as a result of these innovations. English Bioethicist, Academic and Journalist. Also Chair in Science Communication & Future Media, University of Salford, Manchester
Jess Krieger, for the past three years Jess has optimised a culture system that improves tissue organisation and muscle fibre development in tissue engineered skeletal muscle. PhD student, Kent State University and New Harvest
C OL L A B OR ATORS Jonny Garrill, Graphic Designer, Common Works
Hattie Hunter King, Model and location for film
Tom Mannion, Photographer
Terrence, Model Gurtie, Model
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Christine Lew The Galactic Everyday Exploring the overlooked everyday aspects of future life in space. ’I think the human race has no future if it doesn’t go to space.’ Stephen Hawking [SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ article-4468700/Stephen-Hawkingsays-leave-Earth-100-years]
Scott Kelly, the NASA astronaut who recently finished his oneyear mission in space stated “Personally, I’ve learned that nothing feels as amazing as water…” This comment struck me that there is a real longing and desire for sensorial and tactile experiences in space, where it is sterile and inhospitable. The subject of humanness and achieving human comfort in space has been overlooked by science. Humanising space needs to be addressed and given attention and research in order for humans to live well in long-term space colonisation and deep space exploration. My position on space travel is neither the picture painted by NASA and SPACE X, nor is it the adventures of Barbarella, it is the grey area of space, the overlooked dayto-day life of humanity that I believe to be of importance. Why can’t living in space be purposeful and fulfilling but also enjoyable, pleasurable and sensuous?
‘We will stay on Earth forever, and eventually there will be an extinction event…and the alternative is to become a spacefaring and multiplanetary species — that’s what we want.’ Elon Musk [SOURCE: www.futurism. com/elon-musk-has-a-new-timelinefor-humans-living-on-mars]
‘The seven wonders of TRAPPIST-1 are the first Earth-size planets that have been found orbiting this kind of star.’ Michael Gillon [SOURCE: Gillon, lead author of the paper and the principal investigator of theTRAPPIST exoplanet survey at the University of Liege, Belgium.]
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E X P ER T S Cameron M. Smith, combines his archaeological interests in the human past with an evolutionary interest in the human future, including settlement of space. He also developed his own lowcost spacesuit. Professor, Portland State University and Founder, Pacific Spaceflight Dr Colin Wilson, an InterDisciplinary Scientist for ESA’s ExoMars 2016 mission, Operation Co-ordinator for ESA’s Venus Express satellite and supplied the wind sensors for the 2003 Beagle 2 and 2016 ExMars EDM Mars landers. Researcher, Atmospheric Physics Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer
Dr Nelly Ben Hayoun, designs extreme experiences and challenges society today. She is the founder of NBH Studios, has released a feature film, and is now starting a new creative education system, University of the Underground. Founder, Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios
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Dohee Lee A Common Thread Can textiles help mitigate against social isolation in an increasingly aged society and bring about positive social cohesion? The world is facing an unprecedented situation, we will soon have more older people than children. To capture the full benefits of a longer life we must rethink the value and purpose of that time and understand how important a strong social structure is in making people achieve a longer life and encourage a more age-friendly society. My project uses a textile workshop as a communication bridge. It helps the elderly generation to show their identity by translating their vast experiences, stories and precious knowledge by making their own poetic garments.
People over 65 will outnumber children under five and they are approaching 16% of the global population in 2050.
In European countries, more than 40% of women aged 65 and older now live alone.
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E X P ER T S Andrea Sinclair, art tutor who leads creative classes at the Drovers Centre. Activities and Partnerships Co-ordinator, Drovers Centre, Age UK Islington Tony Bloor, responsible for the overall management and coordination of activities and services. Manager, Third Age Project, Crypt Centre Anne Teoh, Brian Sheppard, Carol Straker, Nanci Rasmussen and Robert Manaley
C OL L A B OR ATORS Francesco Manocchio, Freelance Videographer Sinae Kim, Photographer
Bridget Walsh, Debbie Umdally, Khoi-Lai Tang and Lillian Brett Members of the Third Age Project, Crypt Centre Carmen Roberts, Cathy Daniels, Karen Holden, Laura Wilson, Rosamund Thunder and Sheona Josiah, participated in workshops for the project and gave their clothes for final artefacts. Members, Drovers Centre, Age UK Islington
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Gamia Dewanggamanik (IM) Measurable Footprint An exploration of “the cloud”: its abstract notion, its ambiguous environmental impact and the precariousness of the industry. How can a physical visualisation of our personal energy consumption help us better understand its wider impact? Despite its widespread use, the system that exists behind “the cloud” is still largely unknown or understood by those who frequently access and use it. This technology has been designed to be as seamless and as invisible as possible. Efficient, digital and physically intangible, we trust it and think nothing about the physical consequences of accessing or using it, and we as a society are completely unaware that behind the interface lies a very real physical material presence. Inside, an elaborate system of industries are working interdependently. Fuel and minerals are extracted to support its vast infrastructures, substantial amounts of electricity are consumed to keep network servers running, massive quantities of data are travelling throughout the globe at any given second — yet it all remains hidden and abstract to us. Acknowledging the physical materiality of “the cloud” is necessary in order to understand its real impact, in particularly how the industry works and the very physical consequences that it has on our environment. Given the sheer scale of how much digital content is generated every single millisecond in “the cloud”, one has to wonder about its longer-term sustainability and huge environmental impact.
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E X P ER T S Mike Berners-Lee, expert in greenhouse gas footprinting and author of How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything and co-author of The Burning Question. Mike is also a Professor at Lancaster University and Director and Principal Consultant, Small World Consulting, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University
Duncan Clark, edited How Bad are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything and co-wrote The Burning Question. Consultant Editor for Guardian (environment), Visiting Researcher at the UCL Energy Institute and Co-Founder of Kiln, a digital journalism company Sara Muir, Head of Energy and Environment, Imperial College London Gunnar Kreitz, Senior Technology Advisor, Spotify
C OL L A B OR ATORS Ardha P. Rahardjo, MSc in Sustainable Energy Futures, Imperial College London Daniel Budiono, BSc in Computer Science, Imperial College London Tom Mannion, Photographer
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Hannah Brooks Humankind This project looks at the potential for harvesting the water content of the human body as a valued natural resource in the face of future scarcity. The average 72 kg body contains 38 litres of water. (SOURCE: Sea Metrics)
How could recycling the human body for its materials lead to a more holistic re-evaluation of our role and consumption of natural resources? With our population set to boom by almost 3 billion by 2050, complete exacerbation of resources is a very real threat that we are already facing. The human body contains a vast wealth of raw materials and natural resources that are largely not utilised as it is seen as taboo. With a focus on the fresh water crisis, this project seeks to reposition the human body into the resource cycle from which we consume by proposing a system where people can choose to donate their body’s water after death, in turn questioning how this scenario might become socially acceptable and honouring the rituals that surround the body after death.
If the entire world’s water were fitted into a 4 litre jug, the fresh water available for us would equal only about 1 tablespoon. (SOURCE: Sea Metrics) There have been 265 recorded incidents of water conflicts from 3000 BC to 2012. (SOURCE: Sea Metrics)
A leaky tap that drips at the rate of 1 drip per second can waste more than 11,356 litres every year. (SOURCE: Sea Metrics)
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E X P ER T S Cameron Robinson, provides high quality frozen specimens for dissection to the educational sector. The specimens are all food grade as they are sourced as byproducts of the expansive meat industry. Director, Samples for Schools Reverend Gray Featherstone, recently retired Vicar, Holy Trinity Church David Banks, consultant in Thermology, Hydrogeology and Geochemistry. Director and Hydrogeologist, Holymoor Consultancy Ltd
C OL L A B OR ATORS Richiiro, Model/Cadaver Tom Mannion, Photographer
Brody Condon and Christine Borland, using human body donation as a tool for artistic research and practice. Borland and Condon imagine a contemporary approach to death and dying by suggesting the anonymous body after death could be a site of ambiguity and expression. Artists, Circles of Focus Richard Wingate, Head of Anatomy and Senior Lecturer, King’s College London Philip Blower, Professor of Imaging Chemistry, King’s College London
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Inge Sluijs Plasma Rock How might Plasma Rock and the associated technology help us mine historic landfill sites and also prevent an ecological crisis? Plasma gasification is a pioneering new technology whereby any known material from landfill can be heated to such a temperature that it renders all known substances to (Plasma) rock and gas. Within the industry they are primarily concerned with the utilisation of the waste gas for use in the energy industry, converting it from something highly toxic to something that could be a viable (and valuable) alternative to fossil fuels and natural gas. However, I am interested in the waste Plasma Rock that is produced as a result. This Plasma Rock currently has no real viable commercial value or application, despite it being completely non-toxic and the potential for it being produced on a mass scale in the future. Through my project, I looked at historical coastal landfill sites, and specifically the one in East Tilbury. These sites are viewed by scientists as ticking time bombs. With the land being eroded away and the sea levels rising quickly, we have no idea what is in these landfills and are currently doing nothing to stop them from eroding and eventually leaching into the sea. By finding ways of utilising this prolific future raw material, I hope to not only divert these potentially dangerous materials from polluting the sea, but also to develop a new localised craft process that in itself could become a viable alternative to other more environmentally un-friendly processes/materials. Through my objects, I hope to not only communicate the rich historical, industrial and cultural heritage of these specific areas, but also raise awareness of the devastating effects that ignoring these landfills could have in the future.
In Europe there is 5 million tons of waste - enough to cover London, Paris, Brussels and Madrid with 1 metre of waste.
[SOURCE: Yves Tieleman 2015 dutch television programm Black light]
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E X P ER T S Chris Chapman, Chief Technical Officer, Advanced Plasma Power
C OL L A B OR ATORS Lisanne van Ingen, Filmmaker Imke Meeusen, Illustrator RuĹžena Vakulenko, Photographer
Yiannis Pontikes, has published research papers about geopolymer made out of Plasma Rock. Associate Professor, University of Leuven, Belgium
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Jenny Banks #sustainable fast-fashion Can we use 3D-printing technology to recycle waste textile fibres into fast-fashion garments? 3D-printed fashion has the potential to revolutionise how we experience and interact with our garments. This project brings together the additive manufacturing and textile design disciplines to develop a process which, in contrast to conventional 3D-printing processes, can produce tactile and wearable novelty garments. More importantly, they are also affordable and therefore accessible to the mainstream consumer. The 3D-printer uses post-consumer textile fibres as its raw material and layers and binds them in a way that produces highly textural and versatile results. It also allows for 100% recoverability of these fibres to ensure a closed-loop life-cycle for garments manufactured in this manner. #sustainablefast-fashion becomes a service that offers a quick fix for our wardrobes. Traditionally manufactured, durable basics protect us whilst 3D-printed fast-fashion lets us wear what the big names are wearing on Saturday night. No waste, no bad investment, no guilt.
‘Of the estimated 1.14 million tonnes of clothing supplied onto the UK market each year, 1.13 million tonnes are discarded.’ [Valuing our clothes’ online report 2012 by WRAP] ‘Previously fashion trends trickled down from the high-end catwalks, but now we are also bombarded with endless fashion ideas directly from popular culture, social media ‘influencers’, and our peers.’ [Barnes & Lea-Greenwood 2006: 260]
‘In these short life-cycle markets, being able to spot trends quickly and to translate them into products [...] in the shortest possible time becomes a pre-requisite for [a successful fast-fashion retailer]’ [Christoper et al. 2004] ‘To design for sustainability is to develop techniques and methods that allow us to reach forwards through time and embrace the unpredictable, unformed, ambiguous ‘life world’ of people and clothing’ (Fletcher 2016: 116)
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E X P ER T S Fab Lab London team (special thanks to Ande Gregson, Josh Bannerman and Josue Vivas). Fab Lab London and Green Lab are creative spaces providing open access to rapid prototyping tools and shared knowledge from a community of innovative makers. Fab Lab London and Green Lab Laura Coppen, investigates how innovations in the circular economy can converge with the emerging Industrial Revolution. 4.0. Global Creative Lab and Research Manager, H&M
Lizzie Harrison, works with reclaimed materials and has extensive experience of working with communities and developing localised fashion production. Creative Director & Research Assistant, AntiForm, Fashion Ecologies project at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion
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Lena Saleh Future Sleep An exploration of technology’s impact on human behaviour and health through sleep. How can we optimise our future sleep? In recent years, the link between the brain and sleep has become increasingly evident. Researchers have coined the “glymphatic system” as the brain’s garbage disposal, removing all the toxins that have built up throughout the day. When sleep is deprived or even disturbed, the glymphatic system does not have time to perform its function, and toxins build up which could lead to neurodegenerative diseases. With these health implications realised, the rise of technology and ease of travel across different time zones, what does this mean for our body’s natural rhythms as well as our longer term health? In this project, I have created a series of artefacts that encourage mindful breathing rituals that I hope will become a viable alternative to staring at our phones and laptops before going to sleep. These objects are designed to be as functional as they are sculptural, encouraging you to wind down through simple and short sensory experiences and to change our nighttime routines. These objects are also able to technologically track our sleeping patterns and adapt the environment in the room around us to suit our unconscious needs, lowering the radiator temperature, changing the light levels as well as emitting specific scents that all encourage us to practice mindfulness and optimise our sleep.
‘Nearly half of us are getting just six hours sleep or less a night. And an alarming four out of five people complain of disturbed or inadequate – or ‘toxic’ – sleep.’ (SOURCE: Sleep Council ‘Toxic Sleep’ survey, January 2011, www. sleepcouncil.org.uk/sleep_ media/key-facts-and-figures]
‘A loss of circadian control will increase rates of neurodegeneration. This will feed back and further disrupt circadian control, which will in turn promote age-related physiological decline.’ [SOURCE: Dr. Russell Foster Circadian Rhythms: A Very Short Introduction]
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E X P ER T S Dr Russell Foster, his research spans basic and applied circadian and photoreceptor biology. Head of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford Dr Giorgio Gilestro, his work is aimed at elucidating the enigmatic function(s) of sleep using a combination of neurobiology, genetics and bioinformatics. Lecturer in Systems Biology, Imperial College London
C OL L A B OR ATORS Anita Zaman, Model, Central Saint Martins Tom Mannion, Photographer
Dr Omar Matar, Professor of Fluid Mechanics, Imperial College London Dr Holly Clemens, a total wellness physician who is a member of the Wellness Advisory Council for USA athletes, both local and professional. Owner, Queen City Health Center Dr Paul Luckham, his principle area of research is to try to control the bulk properties of suspensions by controlling the interactions between the particles in a suspension. Professor in Particle Technology, Imperial College London
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Lu Zhang Human Frequency Improving the lives of animals and humans through future urban soundscape management. ‘Very few species like what we like. In fact, very few can even survive in the habitats we like’ Michael L. Rosenzweig
Sound plays a positive role in people’s lives. Whilst providing us with a rich culture, on a purely pragmatic level it also means that we are able to live our lives more safely and efficiently. However, the noise created by humans can be torturous for many animal species that we share our environments with, disrupting their biological and physical patterns of behaviour and longer term health. Through bone conduction technology, I propose the possibility of creating a completely separate sound “channel” which can communicate essential auditory data to humans, but which bypasses animals completely, therefore creating a far safer and healthier natural urban soundscape. It would also contribute to a general “clearing up” of sound pollution within cities and could lead to a calmer, more natural environment for us humans also.
Can humans choose to build cities that are homes for both them and wildlife? BBC EarthII Cities ‘Sound plays many positive roles in people’s lives. Big cities have buzz, but they also need balance.’ [SOURCE: The Greater London authority, www. theguardian.com/cities/2014/ mar/13/sounds-city-technologyurban-centres-peaceful]
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E X P ER T S Kevin Moody, leader of the Human and Natural Ecosystems team. He is responsible for the measurement of traffic noise and its effect on wildlife. Team Leader, U.S. Federal Highway Administration Tuomo George-Tolonen, has been at the forefront of the discussions and developments with Ofcom to secure a future for wireless equipment in the professional audio industry in the UK. Pro Audio Group Manager, Shure UK
C OL L A B OR ATORS Denis Bada, Musician, Model Adam Degay, Technician
Robert John Young, his research has always been focused on understanding animal behaviour and how it can be used to improve animal conservation and animal welfare. Much of his research is applied and some of it addresses fundamental questions about how animals communicate. Chair in Wildlife Conservation, University of Salford
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Lucinda Pender The Entomophagy Welfare Act 2017 : Regulation 1100/17 The ethical slaughter and processing of mealworms for human consumption. ‘The Entomophagy Welfare Act 2017’ explores the processing system and legislation that would have to be created to support the mass consumption of mealworms as an acceptable and ethical food source for western diets. Lacking development and regulations has meant that the introduction of mainstream entomophagy has stalled. Currently, there is no law or legislation around the farming, slaughter or preparation of an insect for human consumption in the UK, meaning that even if a commercial company or kitchen wanted to utilise them, they may not be working completely within UK law. Working with leading entomologists, I have researched, explored and proposed the cleanest, most humane and ethically efficient method of killing a mealworm for human consumption commercially or at home. Through this project I hope to not only propose future legislation around the preparation and slaughter of mealworms commercially, but to also help make entomophagy more culturally, socially and ethically acceptable to a western society.
There are 40 tonnes of insects to each human on the planet. [SOURCE: Can eating insects save the world? BBC} Mealworms need only 10% of the land used for the production of beef. [SOURCE: de Boer, Oonincx 2012]
The Food Standards Agency currently has no specific hygiene advice for food businesses concerning the farming or handling of insects / insect products. [SOURCE: Novel Foods Regulation]
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E X P ER T S Collin Willson, Field Veterinary Lead responsible for the welfare of animals during the time of slaughter, as well as the development and approval of abattoirs in Wales. Food Standards Agency Andy Grist, Andy’s interests lie in animal welfare issues particularly at the points of stunning and slaughter. Teaching Fellow in Veterinary Public Health, University of Bristol Alexandra Sexton, researches the ethical and bio-political implications of cultured meat, plant-based proteins and edible insects as solutions to food security. PhD candidate, King’s College London
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer
Jonas House, explores the consumer attitude of western culture towards eating insects. Based in the Netherlands, Jonas has explored on an academic level the theories that would allow insect-based foods to be more accepted. PhD candidate, University of Sheffield Dr Sarah Beynon, Farmer, Entomologist, TV Presenter and Founder of ‘The Bug Farm’, Pembrokeshire - the location of ‘The Grub Kitchen’, the UK’s first insect focused restaurant.
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Margaux Hendriksen Scramble for the Moon What could be the long-term impact of mining space? Space mining is now a reality that we may face, not within decades, but within years. In 2015, the USA created the 2015 Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (SPACE) Act that permitted private companies based in the USA to access, process, and commercialise any material resources that they are able to extract from space. The Moon is to date the first target of interest because of its close proximity to Earth. New data of its material composition reveals that some places are far more valuable than others, for instance, ‘The Peaks of Eternal Light’ whereby you are guaranteed light and therefore eternal solar energy. The first to settle down and secure this area will obviously have a huge monoploy, both economically and politically over their space rivals. Scramble for the Moon is a speculative and critical design project that questions the ethical and moral implications of space mining more generally. The project depicts a fictional private company, Moon Origin, who over-extracts the Moon’s resources for the markets sake. Following 60 years of over exploitation, Moon Origin starts running out of the most lucrative and highly-prized extracted materials. The last samples of fresh water, oxygen-enriched air and Helium3 - a powerful yet stable source of nuclear energy, become not just everyday commodities for all of society to consume, but instead highly lucrative and expensive luxuries for the very few. Through this project, I want to question and debate the ethics of creating such laws and acts that permit private bodies to own space material . I question whether such acts really are for the benefit of science and research or are simply putting short-term profits and prosperity over the longer term good of humanity?
‘More venture capital was invested in space in 2015 than in all of the previous 15 years.’
[SOURCE: The Tauri Group 2016 Start-Up Space: Rising Investment in Commercial Space Ventures.]
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E X P ER T S Dr Tony Milligan, co-author of The Peaks of Eternal Light: a Near-term Property Issue on the Moon, a paper that considers the issue from scientific, technical, ethical and policy viewpoints. Teaching Fellow in Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion, King’s College London
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer
Ian Crawford, author of Lunar Resources: a Review published in Progress in Physical Geography about the Moon’s resources and potential values for space economy. Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology, Birkbeck, University of London
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Maria Idicula Kurian Super-Synthetics Re-engineering existing ecological materials to provide a more sustainable alternative to single use synthetic ones. Packaging materials like plastic, thermocol moulds and foams are extremely harmful for the environment. Most of these materials are derived out of petrochemicals. Their manufacturing, processing and disposal often releases toxic pollutants like ethyl benzene, xylene, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide and volatile organic compounds that are all highly unsustainable and dangerous for us and the wider environment. Ironically, most of the synthetic objects that we use for the shortest amount of time, such as plastic drinking cups, are often made from these very materials. Objects that we use sometimes for just seconds can take many thousands of years to break down and can leach dangerous chemicals into the environment. Through my project I hope to find natural alternatives to short-lived synthetic everyday objects which, rather than taking several thousands of years to degrade, take just minutes. Re-designing a plastic drinking cup for instance so that it degrades in less than an hour would not only divert thousands of tons of plastic from going to landfill every year, but also be far more efficient and friendly to both the environment and our long term health.
In the North Pacific Ocean, there are 6x more plastic debris than plankton. They are killing marine animals who mistake them for food.
10% of the plastic we use yearly end up in the ocean. That’s equivalent to 700 billion plastic bottles!
We have an island in the middle of the North Pacific Gyre, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – which is mostly composed of plastic. It’s the size of India, Europe and Mexico combined.
At point of publication, 4,243,088 Tons of plastic have already been dumped in our oceans this year alone. {SOURCE: TheWorldCounts.com]
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E X P ER T S Dr Deepak Kalaskar, Heads Msc course in Burns, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at University College London. His group is actively involved in research on Nanotechnology and Tissue Engineering solutions for medical implants and devices. Lecturer in Cellular Engineering, University College London
Rodrigo García González, Inventor, Designer, Architect and Engineer, he also lectures in Product Design at Kingston University. One of his key projects includes ‘Ooho’, the edible water bottle. Co-founder & Co-CEO, Skipping Rocks Lab
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Marta Giralt Dunjó Virtual X One of the first industries to adopt Virtual Reality (VR) was the porn industry. As the technology rapidly advances, in a near future users will be able to fulfil their sexual fantasies by accessing hyper-realistic environments and experiences. How could Virtual Reality impact the future of sex? This project was developed to investigate the future of virtual pornographic experiences and the impact they could have in the physical world. Early research in VR has proven that there is a link between virtual experiences and behaviours or attitudes in the physical world. If pornography were to move into a virtual domain tomorrow, would deviant sexual behaviour be encouraged or would it simply just become a mechanism to elude the legal and moral constraints of the physical world? Virtual X is a design project that investigates the possible legitimisation of the illegal sexual practice of rape if it were to be made available in VR and how this may impact our society. It means to interrogate the existing legal and ethical systems and propose a future scenario that questions the lack of existing regulation in the coming virtual world.
‘Porn is often a key driver during the fledging, emergent periods of new media technologies. All the porn out there in cyberspace, the soft core and hard core (...), helped to make the internet grow, and made it sexy.’ O’Toole 1998 ‘Pornography makes up to 12% of all Internet sites which attracts 30% of al Internet traffic. Every 39 minutes a new pornography site is created.’ [SOURCE: David Yerle The Future of Porn: A Disturbing Possibility, available at www. davidyerle.com/the-future-of-porna-disturbing-possibility]
‘With laptops, high-speed WI-FI, cell phones and newer technology, we can pretty much get porn anytime, anywhere. For better and worse, technology has arguably democratized access to pornography. In 1989 Linda Williams (author of book Porn Studies), predicted that virtual reality would one day become a new permutation of pornography.’ Shia Tarrant 2016
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E X P ER T S Ethan Zuckerman, Media Scholar, Blogger, Internet Activist and Author of the book Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection. He was also chair at the Forbidden Research Conference 2016 at MIT. Director, MIT Center for Civic Media Kate Darling, leading expert in Robot Ethics who researches social robotics. Her interest lies in how technology intersects with society. Researcher, MIT Media Lab
C OL L A B OR ATORS Joan Ros, Model, Central Saint Martins Bentagai UmpiĂŠrrez, Graphic Designer, Studio Bentagai
Mel Slater, specialises in the use of VR to create social scenarios. Research Professor in VR, University of Barcelona Sylvia Xueni Pan, worked in VR for more than 10 years and combines the fields of VR and social neuroscience in her practice. Lecturer in VR, Goldsmiths, University of London Matthew Wood, background in psychology and health psychology with a critical and social approach. PhD student in Digital Civics, Newcastle University
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mrt.rocca@gmail.com
Martina Rocca Emovos A post-material consumer experience: are we ready? What are the potential ethical implications of a future in which consumers are able to consume commercially available emotional experiences? An additional 2.6 billion people are projected to attain at least middle-income levels by 2050. This growth will mainly be driven by increasing consumption in the developing countries that aspire to obtain a similar lifestyle to the ones enjoyed in the richest parts of the globe. But many non-renewable raw materials have already reached peak extraction. Growing global demand for resources on this limited planet will therefore increase competition and the possibility of conflicts over the access to scarce resources. Through my work, I engineered a new post-material experience that offers us a viable alternative to the unsustainable practice of physical material consumption. Recently, techniques for direct brain stimulation have made it possible to not only read but also write information into single neurons. This project proposes a potentially very real future in which fast-fashion high street stores, rather than sell us physical stuff, instead sell us deep, emotional, commercial experiences.
12 percent of the world’s population lives in North America and Western Europe and accounts for 60 percent of private consumption spending, but a third of humanity who live in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa account for only 3.2 percent. [SOURCE: WorldWatch Institute]
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E X P ER T S Dr Mario Campana, recently completed his PhD in Consumer Research at Cass Business School, City University, London. His main research interests lie in the fields of social innovation and alternative economies. Course Leader and Lecturer on MA Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Goldsmiths, University of London Dr Patrick Degenaar, at the heart of his interests is his pioneering use of CMOS-micro-LED optoelectronics in combination with optogenetic gene therapy solutions. These will lead to highly advanced forms of prosthetic intervention not previously possible. Biomedical Engineer, Researcher, Lecturer, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Newcastle University
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer
Dr Michael Hausser, educated at the University of Oxford where he was awarded a DPhil for research on neurons in the substantia nigra. His research interests are in neuroscience, biological neural networks and artificial neural networks. Professor of Neuroscience, Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London.
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montana_feiger@alumni.brown.edu
Montana Feiger Humix Using the principles of biomimicry to better understand air pollution. Humix is a collection of mechanically controlled frames that combine sensors, motors and sound generators to emulate a human sneeze when the air quality is below the safe levels as recommended by scientists and the World Health Organisation. This machine can be embedded into walls, corners and entryways of buildings in order to very simply communicate this information to an everyday public who would otherwise have no idea of this potentially lethal environmental disaster.
London broke its annual limit for air pollution in the first five days of 2017, compared to the first 8 days the previous year. The estimated annual economic costs of health impacts attributed to Nitrous Dioxide (NO2) and fine particles (PM2.5) has reached up to £3.7 billion. (SOURCE: Draft Economic Evidence Base 2016) Compared to other major cities of its size, London’s air quality is poorer than that of Singapore and Paris, but better than New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai. (SOURCE: Draft Economic Evidence Base 2016)
In London, the main pollutants of concern are Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)2, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and fine particles (PMs) that are emitted mainly from road transport but also arise from fossil fuel, power generation and domestic and industrial sources. (SOURCE: Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology – Air Quality in the UK 2002)
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E X P ER T S Jeremy Keenan, helps students with coding and bespoke electronics. Physical Computing Expert, Central Saint Martins Dr Alexandra Porter, works in correlative electron microscopy techniques analysing interfaces between synthetic biology, nanomaterials and tissues. Reader in Bioimaging and Analysis, Imperial College London
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer
Rachel Armstrong, focuses on establishing alternative approaches to sustainability by coupling them with computational properties of the natural world. She has been promoting a 21st century production platform that she describes as ‘living’ architecture. Professor of Experimental Architecture, Newcastle University Nicolas Myers, investigates the implications of digital technology through the filter of design. Disruptive Thinker, Royal College of Art
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nicole-perez.com nicoleperez8@msn.com
Nicole Pérez Misbehaving (ro)bots Can misbehaving robots replace the need for intimate human relationships? With the rapid investment and development of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence, what we perceive as ‘real’ is becoming increasingly difficult to quantify and takes us a step closer to the virtual and real world becoming inseparable and intertwined. In the future, experts in the field, as well as myself, believe that even the most primitive and basic of human needs, such as love and intimacy, could take place with non-human partners. However, much of the current research into these still very young fields of research often neglects the importance of the “unnecessary” and “irrelevant” aspects of human relationships, instead, they tend to prioritise physical efficiency and physical wellbeing. As a response to this, I have engineered a collection of misbehaving robots that mimic and emulate the often overlooked frustrating, annoying and not always entirely pleasurable aspects of everyday human interactions. Their purpose is not to be efficient but unnecessary, fulfilling the non-practical, useless actions that we feel in a relationship. After all, being in an intimate relationship is not only about dealing with pleasure and fun – it is also about dealing with the rest.
‘Long-term relations could be possible between human and robot if the robots shows typical human – like imperfect behaviours in interactions.’ Biswas and Murray 2015 ‘Domestic robots will be a $3 billion market by 2020. These will include cleaner robots, security robots, 3d printers, family friendliy robots that offer interaction for children and elderly and sex robots.’ McGuirk 2016
‘With intimate robotics, we are referring to systems that actively foster attachment and, yes, even love in the user that is directed toward the intelligent artefact. With respect to intimate robotics we are not really engaged at all in the necessary ethical discussions that will guide our acceptance or rejection of the technology’ Arkin 2016
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E X P ER T S Cabby Laffy, trains counsellors, psychotherapists and other health professionals in the Homeodynamic Model for Psychosexual Health: an integrative view of human sexuality and relationships that encompasses the social and cultural environment, as well as the physical, mental and emotional. Founder, Centre for Psychosexual Health Dr Kate Devlin, works in the fields of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), investigating how people interact with and react to technology to understand how emerging and future technologies will affect us and the society in which we live. She is currently focusing on cognition, sex, gender and sexuality and how these might be incorporated into cognitive systems such as sexual companion robots. Senior Lecturer, Department of Computing, Goldsmiths, University of London Dr Helge Wurdemann, lead Researcher of the #SoftHabitcsLab creating (medical) devices made of soft material to ensure safe human-robot interaction. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London
C OL L A B OR ATORS Nick Shackleton, Model Elphège Barthe, Model
Caroline Yan Zheng, has been working with creative quantification of emotion and manifesting the data in tangible form since 2013. Caroline explores through the design of interfaces between body and space, and conversely through relations with machines endowed with emotional intelligence, new means of communications. Doctoral Researcher in Information Experience Design and Fashion, Royal College of Art Dr Ronald Arkin, research interests include behaviourbased reactive control and action-oriented perception for mobile robots and unmanned aerial vehicles, hybrid deliberative/ reactive software architectures, robot survivability, multiagent robotic systems, biorobotics, human-robot interaction, robot ethics and learning in autonomous systems. Regent`s Professor, Associate Dean for Research and Space Planning, School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing, Georgia Tech
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pauline.roques1@gmail.com
Pauline Roques Anthropoceae How might plants evolve in order to survive the Anthropocene and what mutations might develop as a result? This project aims to forecast plant evolution in a polluted, post-human and post-Anthropocene world. Human activities are critically endangering our natural ecosystems and biological way of life. Through my project, I want to observe, understand and imagine how nature will react to a post-human existence. From the mass production of plastics to a potential nuclear war, this project aims to predict the most significant actions of humans in the future and the associated impact that such actions would have on the evolution of the living world around us. The project, much like an early evolutionary botanical study of plants in the past, is meant as a way of communicating how real plant species will adapt, survive and flourish in a more toxic and extreme environment in the future.
‘The far reaching biological changes that will inevitably take place in the distant future will be heralded by a change in the evolution of plants.’ [SOURCE: Dougal Dixon, After man a zoology of the future, Granada 1982] ‘In the past new forms of animal life has corresponded with the development of new plant life’ [SOURCE: Dougal Dixon, After man a zoology of the future, Granada 1982] ‘Britain, […] has gained 1,875 non-native species without yet losing anything to the invaders’ [SOURCE: Phil Roberts, The Anthropocene could raise biological diversity, www.nature.com 2013]
‘In a matter of years or decades, researchers believe, animals andplants already are adapting to life in a warmer world. Some species will be unable to change quickly enough and will go extinct, but others will evolve, as natural selection enables them to carry on in an altered environment.’ [SOURCE: Carl Zimmer, First comes global warming, then an evolutionary explosion 2009]
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E X P ER T S Dr Andrew Tye, his work looks at erosion and the degradation of soil. Process Geochemist, British Geological Survey (BGS) Jacqueline O’Donovan, runs the family business which takes care of industrial waste. Director, O’Donovan Waste Disposal
Max Fancourt, works on the IUCN Red List platform, ensuring data is up-to-date and answers all requests related to endangered species. Junior Professional Associate, IUCN - Red List Unit Florin Feneru, Identification and Advisory Officer, Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity, Natural History Museum
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sandra.pihlak@artun.ee
Sandra Pihlak Blacklight Mirror Harnessing black light to help us better understand the health of our skin. Overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun or sunbeds is the main cause of skin cancer. [SOURCE: www.cancerresearchuk.org/ about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/sunuv-and-cancer]
The older we get, the more chance we have of developing certain skin cancers caused by UV radiation. Despite these cancers being treatable if caught early on, most people aren’t always aware of the situation until it is too late. Through this project I propose to raise awareness of these conditions by creating a mirror that lets you see the true extent of UV light damage to your skin in real time. In the future, mirrors such as this one could also provide us with all the information we need to know about our individual skin types, as well as the potential sun damage that could occur through over-exposure to UV and sunlight. I propose placing these mirrors in cities and beach areas for the public to check themselves on a regular basis. These mirrors will also let you know the temperature and the UV index outside. They are designed to be a public service as common as an ATM.
You can’t feel UV rays – the heat from the sun comes from infrared rays, which can’t burn you. This is why people can still burn on cool days. [SOURCE: www. cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/ causes-of-cancer/sun-uv-and-cancer/ how-the-sun-and-uv-cause-cancer]
‘Among 12-year-old children, we found that the severity of sun damage in UV photographs correlates well with phenotypic melanoma risk factors and that freckling and other melanoma risk factors are important predictors of the amount of sun damage in the photographs.’ [SOURCE:Published online March 12, 2012 by the American Academy of Dermatology]
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E X P ER T S Dr Rille Pihlak, qualified medical Oncologist doing a PhD focusing on pancreatic cancer. Clinical Research PhD Fellow, Medical Education Officer and European Junior Doctors PWG, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, University of Manchester and Board Member, Estonian Junior Doctors Association Dr Avinash Gupta, currently doing an MRes in Experimental Cancer Medicine at the University of Manchester and Senior Clinical Fellow in Medical Oncology, Christie NHS Foundation Trust, University of Manchester
C OL L A B OR ATORS Dr Melissa Frizziero, PhD Medical Oncologist, Christie NHS Foundation Trust, University of Manchester Dr Zoe Kordatou, PhD Medical Oncologist, Christie NHS Foundation Trust, University of Manchester
Jeremy Keenan, background in audio engineering – the conventional recording of bands and music. Works in the Physical Computing Lab with students that need bespoke electronics, or code, or both. Physical Computing Specialist, Central Saint Martins Stephen Daniel Dabor, builds computers and gives technical advice. Photographer and Freelance Videographer
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tamarahoogeweegen.com tamara_h@live.nl
Tamara Hoogeweegen The Healthy Human Project If we were to modify babies before birth to make them the healthiest and most resilient humans possible, should we and how far are we really willing to go? Genetically manipulating babies before birth to avoid and prevent diseases is closer than you think. Thanks to the recent development of CRISPR, genetic engineering DNA has become much cheaper, faster and more precise than ever before. If we can save a life, prevent suffering and improve health, why wouldn’t we genetically modify babies? What makes this a difficult discussion is the ambiguity of what ‘healthy’ is. How far are we willing to go to create the healthiest babies? Currently, over 90% of people when informed that their child has Down Syndrome choose to terminate their pregnancy. But would this also be the case for something such as eye colour, as there is clear scientific evidence suggesting that people with blue coloured irises are ten times more likely to develop eyesight problems and have a greater risk of developing eye cancer in later life. My aim is to create a dialogue around such decisions and encourage public debate as to how far as a society we really want, or should, go.
‘Now for the first time scientist can quickly and precisely alter, delete, and rearrange the DNA of nearly any living organism, including us. In the past three years, the technology has transformed biology.’
[SOURCE: Specter, M. (2016) DNA revolution. National Geographic, August 2016, p. 30 – 55]
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E X P ER T S Dr Daniel Gaffney, focuses on identifying genetic changes that alter cell phenotypes and functions. The long term goal of his research is to understand the molecular and cellular consequences of genetic changes in gene regulatory regions. Evolutionary Geneticist, Wellcome Trust, Sanger Institute Kaustubh Adhikari, holds a PhD in Biostatistics at Harvard University. He studies the phenotypic and genetic diversity in Latin America to identify the genes behind our physical appearance traits. Statistical Geneticist, Stern Lab, University College London
C OL L A B OR ATORS Tom Mannion, Photographer
Patrick Short, focuses on the role of non-coding mutations in developmental disorders. His research group also studies how DNA mutates as it is passed on from one generation to the next, and the factors that influence the number and type of mutations that arise. PhD student in Mathematical Genomics and Medicine, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Dr Shanade Dunn, uses CRISPR-cas9 to screen the whole genome on the efficiency of cancer drugs in breast cancer cells. She’s highly enthusiastic on CRISPR-cas9 technology as it enables her to generate very specific knowledge at a fast pace. Postdoctoral Fellow, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
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victoria.adams-@hotmail.com
Victoria Adams Cheese 2.0 How will we preserve the culture, provenance and craft of traditional cheesemaking in a future where dairy farming is no longer sustainable? How will we maintain the culture of cheesemaking in a post-dairy world? Experts warn us of the importance of reducing our dependence on livestock to curb climate change. Currently, over 1,000 gallons of fresh water are required to produce 1 gallon of milk and almost 900 gallons of water are needed for 1lb of cheese. We are already seeing consumer movements and it is predicted there will be fewer than 5,000 dairy farmers by 2025 compared to 13,000 just 10 years ago. Many artisan cheesemakers are conscious of the issues surrounding livestock greenhouse gas emissions, however when asked about a post-dairy cheese, all would allow the disintegration of their practice instead of a plant based cheese alternative. Cheese 2.0 considers balancing the wider environmental issues with cheesemaking’s rich cultural heritage. How might we maintain the romanticism of artisanal cheesemaking whilst at the same time curbing future climate change?
‘Only 2 %of the worlds water is fresh, and of that most of it goes to the agriculture industry. 1,000 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of milk, and 900 gallons of water are needed for 1lb. of cheese.’ [SOURCE: FAO. ‘Livestock & Climate Change’ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome 2016}
‘46% of people aged 16-24 drink some form of milk alternative. 76% of these claim to have ‘adverse reactions to milk’ despite not being clinically diagnosed. Whereas ‘fewer than one in ten older people had any problem with dairy.’ [SOURCE: Food and You, www.food.gov.uk/sites/ default/files/food- and-you-w4combined-report.pdf)
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E X P ER T S William Oglethorpe, artisan Cheesemaker in Bermondsey arches specialising in Swiss Gruyere, Kappacasein Dairy Charles Ffloukes, agri-food and Climate Change Consultant in the Sustainable Food & Farming team. Agribusiness and Climate Change Consultant, ADAS Lucy Menter, artisan Cheesemaker from Wales specialising in Caerphilly cheese, Trethowan Dairy Mike Lyburn, artisan Cheesemaker from Sailsbury specialising in cheese with vegetarian rennet, Lyburn Dairy Robert Kesseler, Botanical Artist, Professor at Central Saint Martins and Chair of Arts, Design & Science at University of the Arts, London Jeff Price, coordinator of the Wallace Initiative - a multiinstitutional partnership examining the projected impacts of climate change on terrestrial biodiversity. Senior Researcher in Biodiversity, University of East Anglia/Tyndall Centre Gilonne d’Origny of New Harvest who strategically fund and conduct open, public, collaborative research that reinvents the way we make animal products - without animals. Development Director, New Harvest
Richard Betts, leads the Climate Impacts area specialising in ecosystem-hydrology-climate interactions but also oversees work on urban, health, industry and finance, Met Office Mike Ambrose, manager of the Germplasm Resources Unit (GRU) and its development as a National Capability supported by the BBSRC. This centres around the long term curation and distribution of strategically important germplasm for a range of crops, associated wild relatives and specialist genetic stocks and their utilisation by the wider bioscience community and related industries. Senior Scientist/Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre Jim Dimmock, Resource Management Scientist in Soils & Precision Technology, AHDB Pete Falloon, leads the Climate Impacts Modelling (CIM) group working on agriculture, water resources, drought, flooding, health and their interactions with the changing climate, Met Office C OL L A B OR ATORS William Oglethorpe, Model Jacob Chabeaux, Freelance Photographer Tom Mannion, Photographer
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Course Leader Kieren Jones First Year Tutor Austin Houldsworth Research Leader Carole Collet Contextual Studies Tutor Stephen Hayward Lead Administrator Hannah Cheesbrough Academic Coordinator Chloe Griffith Visting Tutors Philippa Wagner David Benque Attua Aparicio External Liaison Coordinator Alex Yardley
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Typefaces RaisonnĂŠ by Benjamin Critton for Colophon Foundry
Design Laura Gordon Photography Tom Mannion Printed by Pureprint
T-Star Mono by Die Gestalten
Britain’s fishing communities are on their last legs. Quotas and competition from commercial offshore trawlers mean that traditional fisherman struggle to make a living. Rather than ignoring these communities, we should be better utilizing their traditional skills, crafts and way of life.
FOLLOWING THE LACK OF RESPECT, EXPLOITATION AND ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION OF OUR OWN PLANET’S RESOURCES, INHABITANTS, SPECIES AND ECO-SYSTEMS, WE CANNOT ALLOW UNREGULATED, COMMERCIALLY MOTIVATED PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS TO TRAVEL BEYOND OUR OWN ATMOSPHERE & REPEAT THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST IN THE WIDER UNIVERSE. THESE DECISIONS SHOULD AND MUST NOT BE LEFT TO SINGLE INDIVIDUALS OR PROFITDRIVEN COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES. Given the rapid development and precision of CRISPR Technology, a process that allows the permanent modification of genes within organisms, which could lead to us very soon being able to modify human prior to birth, isn’t it about time we considered collectively as a society what we do and do not want to permit?
It’s time to step outside the ‘consumeless’ paradigm dominating sustainable fashion practice, instead, we must find ways of ensuring that if cheap fastfashion is here to stay, at very least we must reduce its environmental impact.
Our Air quality is a scandal and disgrace, killing an estimated 40,000 people each year.
WE USE A PLASTIC CUP JUST MINUTES, YET IT TAKES THOUSANDS OF YEARS TO DEGRADE. HOW IS THIS ACCEPTABLE? Let Match Clinic help you find the one. Our biological database, scientific expertise, genetic and psychological testing will increase your chances of finding your most biologically compatible partner, and long term happiness.
RATHER THAN FEAR THE ANTHROPOCENE, WE SHOULD EMBRACE IT IN ORDER TO FULLY UNDERSTAND ITS IMPACT.
SHOULD CODE SHAPE OUR HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS AND FUTURE CULTURE?
Given the future possibility of growing meat at home, we must consider the morality of harvesting cells from our pets for dinner!
It’s about time we properly care for the elderly in society. According to Age UK, the health impact on your body and health is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes each day. Let’s stop killing people through loneliness.
If traditional farmers have any chance of competing against the larger commercial mega farms, then we must find ways of democratizing the technologies which allow these bigger farms to monopolise the market.
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SLEEP IS CRITICAL FOR OUR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING. ISN’T IT TIME WE GAVE IT THE ATTENTION IT NEEDS?
‘That the default meaning of ‘cloud’ has become ‘serverbased data storage’ is a symptom of nature being absorbed by technology and technology becoming second nature. It is remarkable how casually we accept this monstrous hybrid of atmospheric aerosols and computing infrastructure without a second thought.’ Peters, 2015)