Biotech as Protest
Biotech can been utilized by activists to protest existing systems and to advocate for a more equitable future.
BDC Projects
UK 2029
UKEW 2029 explores how the socio-political landscape of the United Kingdom could interact with advances in biotechnology. A collection of physical artifacts, photographs, and text bring to life a possible future in which biotech is ubiquitous.
University of Edinburgh (2017) | Video | Website
Betting on Baby
Betting on Baby imagines a future where prospective parents gamble at a casino called CAS9NO to determine their child’s genetics. In this dystopic future, children are designed, reproductive rights are threatened, and genetic disorders are eliminated.
Parsons School of Design (2019) | Video
Metagenomic Field Kit
The Metagenomic Field Kit offers a series of democratic communication potentials. It opens up new channels of resistance meant to facilitate biologically encrypted information exchange within a near future landscape that is monitored and manipulated by increasingly pervasive digital surveillance.
We propose intercepting the mechanisms of genetic communication through environmental metagenomics, by which DNA sequencing can be deployed to identify specific loci, patterns, and concentrations of multiple genetic communities in relation to each other and their environment. It allows encrypted communications through the alteration of the biome by insertion of edited DNA and amplification of microbial populations.
Drexel University (2018) | Video | Website
BioShield
BioShield is a critical design that imagines using chemosignals from tears to create scents that reduce unwanted sexual attention.
University of New Mexico (2019) | Video
Further Resources
Untitled (modern inconveniences) (2019), Ani Liu
Artist Ani Liu’s work examines societal control and expectations of the human body. Her work Untitled (small inconveniences) investigates the ways consumer culture problematizes pregnancy. Learn more⟶
Consensual Consumption, Orkan Telhan and Meera Zassenhaus, Biodesigned
New Harvest’s Meera Zassenhaus spoke with artist Orkan Telhan about the nuances of his work, Ouroboros—a museum piece that has sparked controversy over lab grown meat. Learn more⟶
Lovesick Futures, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Biodesigned
Artist and biohacker Heather Dewey-Hagborg describes a custom retrovirus she created as an activist intervention to spread affection, and combat alienation, disconnection, and hate. She asks, what does a future look like when humans are infected with love? Learn more⟶
Banner image: Ani Liu, Untitled (Small Inconveniences).