Edited and text by William Myers. Foreword by Paola Antonelli.
For centuries, designers and artists have looked to nature for inspiration and materials, but only recently have they developed the ability to alter and incorporate living organisms or tissues into their work. This startling development, at the intersection of biology and design has created new aesthetic possibilities and helps address a growing urgency to build and manufacture ecologically. Bio Design surveys recent design and art projects that harness living materials and processes, presenting bio-integrated approaches to achieving sustainability, innovations enabled by biotechnology, and provocative experiments that deliberately illustrate the dangers and opportunities in manipulating life for human ends. As the first publication to focus on this new phenomenon and closely examine how it fits into the history of architecture, art and industrial design, this volume surveys this shift and contextualizes it through comparisons to previous historic transitions in art and design practices, clarifying its implications for the future. A reference for students and teachers of art, architecture, industrial design and engineering, Bio Design will also introduce the subject to a broad audience.
Featured image, of Philips Design's Microbial Home, is reproduced from Bio Design.
STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely.
STAFF REVIEW
When we think about bio-tech, we think about drug companies, agri-business and Dolly the Sheep. But this book shows us what artists, designers and architects are doing with some of the same tools that the scientists are using. Part of their inspiration comes from wanting to make more sustainable building materials, or to find a new way to light public spaces, or to help prevent coastal erosion. And some of the inspiration is driven by pure curiosity: like, if you fed a certain kind of bacteria to pigeons, would they defecate soap?? Turns out they would! Or, could you engineer a flower that had your DNA expressed in the pattern in the petals? YUP! The book shows us 30 of these projects, and includes interviews with nine of the artists, scientists and architects behind them, as well as biographies of the creators of all the projects. Here are some more examples: - A typeface based on the forms created by growing e-coli cells. - A chair that shapes itself to the user's body. - A live material like coral, which can be used as cladding for the outsides of buildings. This is not a book about biomimicry, that is, mimicking in design the forms, processes and behaviors found in nature. This book looks at the actual use of living organisms, and at experiments in various fields--design, architecture and art. Some of the stuff is off the wall, some of it is bizarre; it's all cool and a little sci-fi. This topic is on the cutting edge, so the book should grab the attention of the design and art communities, technology enthusiasts, students and others interested in the overlap between design, art and science. -- Diana Murphy Artbook | D.A.P. Staff
In today's New York Times, Julie Lasky reviews MoMA's new release, Bio Design: Nature + Science + Creativity by William Myers. Featured image, "Fab Tree Hab" by Mitchell Joachim of Terreform ONE, is a project under development, which will graft living trees together to create liveable shelters. According to Lasky, "bio designers must grapple with the Frankenstein factor: a concern that their experiments will unleash some unmanageable new horror." Projects like "Fab Tree Hab," as well as a house made of living tissue (ie, "meat") and a compostable chair made of mushrooms and genetically reinforced cellulose have earned Joachim "regular visits by representatives from Homeland Security and the F.B.I. 'They just come by to see what a healthy, working community-based lab looks like, as opposed to a terrorist cell,' Mr. Joachim said. He believes the fear that researchers will blunder into a ghastly science-fiction situation is overwrought. 'It’s like you’re designing a teapot and you accidentally make a machine gun,' he said. 'It just doesn’t happen.'" continue to blog
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FORMAT: Hbk, 8.25 x 10 in. / 288 pgs / 400 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $50.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $60 ISBN: 9780870708442 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 12/31/2012 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Edited and text by William Myers. Foreword by Paola Antonelli.
For centuries, designers and artists have looked to nature for inspiration and materials, but only recently have they developed the ability to alter and incorporate living organisms or tissues into their work. This startling development, at the intersection of biology and design has created new aesthetic possibilities and helps address a growing urgency to build and manufacture ecologically. Bio Design surveys recent design and art projects that harness living materials and processes, presenting bio-integrated approaches to achieving sustainability, innovations enabled by biotechnology, and provocative experiments that deliberately illustrate the dangers and opportunities in manipulating life for human ends. As the first publication to focus on this new phenomenon and closely examine how it fits into the history of architecture, art and industrial design, this volume surveys this shift and contextualizes it through comparisons to previous historic transitions in art and design practices, clarifying its implications for the future. A reference for students and teachers of art, architecture, industrial design and engineering, Bio Design will also introduce the subject to a broad audience.
