De expo ‘NeoBio, the influence of biotech on productdesign’ on the Dutch Design Week. At ‘Manifestations 2018‘, curated by Viola van Alphen. Displayed in beautiful pedestals and glass displayboxes by RENZEZ.
Nicole Spit from Studio Dáárheen is concerned with trends and tendencies in society and technological developments and what the impact on product design could be.
‘In a number of alienating objects, I will show what the influence of biotechnology could be in the future. Developments in (synthetic) biotechnology are moving at lightning speed. We can already manipulate DNA and cut and paste properties of choice into other DNA. (eg with CRISPR-Cas9 technology) We can introduce modified DNA material into genetically almost empty cells, which can serve as building blocks for living material according to our own design. We see large tech companies (such as Alphabet / Google, Amazon, Tesla) making huge investments in biotech. What if these companies will develop commercial products using biotechnology?
My goal is to create awareness about this theme and to let us already think about the possible ethical objections and the influence on form and function. So that consumers, producers, designers and scientists can take this into account in their thinking process.
In addition, the project raises questions such as: What is our changed attitude towards nature, now that it is partly feasible? How does manipulated nature behave? What new possibilities are there in the mixing of cells with electronics? Should we think about applying biomarkers to trace back to the makers, in order to prevent future problems? ‘
See also ‘NeoBio in the media’
