Course Description
In the thousands of years since humans left the stone age, we have developed an astounding collection of skills and technologies for fabrication. Nature, however, has employed billions of years of R&D to develop far more sophisticated and elegant means of making things. Biofabrication is the combination of these technologies.
This course is an invitation to new approaches to making which are opened through collaboration with the more-than-human world. Engaging in this practice requires a willingness to understand these organisms, on their own terms, in order to pursue the possibility of making things together. You will learn about natural growth systems and explore ways of making, not just from, but with nature. Through readings, lectures, and hands-on work in the lab, you will gain a scientific understanding of fundamental principles of biological organisms, processes, and materials. We will work with a variety of organisms, including bacteria and fungi. We will combine these with different biotechnologies, like genetic engineering, and fabrication processes you may have learned in your other studio practices. This will allow us to create objects in a range of materials such as microbial cellulose nanofibers, chromoproteins, and mycelium composites. These complex technological practices will be driven by artistic sensibilities and put into action through material exploration and studio projects.
Topics of Study
Student learn how living systems make things. Concepts from lectures and readings are immediately put into practice in the lab. Students learn basic genetic engineering and modify bacteria to introduce new functions to the cells. A strong focus is also placed on biomaterials. Students work with living organisms to grow their own works of art.
