The holes and stains in the dress have been patched with silk stained with pink colonies of E. coli bacteria, grown on dye-containing agar. The genomes of these bacteria have been edited using a technique called CRISPR, to remove an ampicillin antibiotic resistance gene and scarlessly patch the break using homologous recombination with a fragment of DNA encoding the WWII slogan Make Do and Mend. Ampicillin is part of the penicillin group of antibiotics, so with this artistic genomic edit, Dumitriu and Goldberg have used today’s technology to return the organism to its pre-antibiotic era state, reflecting on how we might in future control and protect such biotechnological advances.

Credits

Supported by the FEAT project, an initiative of eutema GmbH (AT), Stichting Waag Society (NL), and youris.com (BE). lt has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 686527 (H2020-FETOPEN- 2015-CSA). Made in collaboration with Dr Sarah Goldberg at the Synthetic Biology Laboratory for the Decipherment of Genetic Codes at the Technion in Israel. With assistance from Dr Heather Macklyne, University of Sussex, and Dr Rob Neely, University of Birmingham.

About the artist

Anna Dumitriu (UK) (1969) is a British artist whose work fuses craft, sculpture, and Bio Art to explore our relationship to the microbial world, medicine, and technology. She is affiliated to the Modernising Medical Microbiology Project at the University of Oxford (UK), the Department of Computer Science at The University of Hertfordshire (UK), Brighton and Sussex Medical School (UK), and Waag Society (Netherlands). She is the artist partner on the EU Horizon 2020 funded FET support action FEAT: Future Emerging Art and Technology and is working with MRG-Grammar to explore gene regulation.

Read more: starts-prize.aec.at.

This project is presented in the framework of the STARTS Prize 2017. STARTS Prize received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732019.

Clothing has always been a means to protect ourselves against the threats of the biosphere, and Project KOVR protects the individual from the infosphere. By testing and combining different layers of metalliferous fabrics, Dutch designers Schagen and Baauw found an effective solution to protect the individual and his/her everyday tech-devices from radio waves and radiation. The black pockets allow the wearer to still be reachable with their device of choice. Project KOVR is a wearable countermovement designed for people who want to regain control.

Credits

Telefication Zevenaar, Niederlande

Foto: Suzanne Waijers

About the artist

Started in 2016, Project KOVR (pronounced cover) is an ongoing project of Dutch designers Marcha Schagen (NL) and Leon Baauw (NL). The name originates from Esperanto, created to be an easy­ to-learn, universal language that puts aside political and cultural differences and enhances communication transparency. The project is a result of a unique complementary and multidisciplinary collaboration between two designers embodying different fields of work. Whereas Utrecht based Schagen (1991) creates fashion, wearable objects, and performances, Baauw (1991), works as a (graphic) designer, researcher, and educator from Rotterdam. Their shared vision and interest in contemporary and future social affairs led to what is now known as Project KOVR.

Lesen Sie mehr auf: starts-prize.aec.at.

This project is presented in the framework of the STARTS Prize 2017. STARTS Prize received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732019.

In the near future, textiles will be made for the individual who wears it. By function, aesthetics, touch, form, and other factors, clothing will be able to transform instantaneously. Eventually, in fashion, no two garments will be the same.

This is based on a long-term project towards a vision for the future in which Yuima Nakazato would like to realize: “to each individual, his own design”. lf clothing can be created without being sewn, the concept of designing, manufacturing, and distribution will change greatly. Designing for specific individuals will be made possible. Each item in this collection is created without a single thread or needle, each formed simply of thousands of components, which we name Units. The patterns depicted show the Units that make up each piece.

About the artist

Yuima Nakazato (JP) was raised in a house that his sculptor father took over 20 years to build. His mother was a jeweler, so he spent his childhood surrounded by an environment of modern art, handmade furniture and clothing, and various forms of expression. After studying fashion design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp’s Fashion Department, Nakazato began costume designing for both domestic and international recording artists, films, and theater. lt was then that he discovered the appeal of creating custom designs for individuals and felt the desire to spread this experience to a greater audience.

Read more: starts-prize.aec.at.

This project is presented in the framework of the STARTS Prize 2017. STARTS Prize received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732019.