School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Projects 2024
G.M. Paperworks
Finalist Project
Mari Xiao, Vetrix Ling, Liz Harper
Garlic mustard is a biennial plant that is invasive to almost two-thirds of North America and heavily disrupts native ecosystems in Illinois. Existing efforts to curb their population are done so by pulling these plants out of the ground. However, most garlic mustard ends up in landfills, producing methane gas. G.M. Paperworks seeks to prevent plant matter from going to waste by making paper from garlic mustards; raising awareness through workshops, social media, and sales of products; and promoting circularity.
Lemna Miner
Daniel (Po Chun) Tseng, Rosie Phillips, Mikel Beverni
LEMNA MINER uses common duckweed (Lemna minor) to bioaccumulate heavy metals from contaminated water, transforming them into a glaze. This project not only provides a visual representation of water contamination but also serves as a social critique, exploring and scrutinizing the impact of human activity in the Anthropocene.
Aviocene
Youcheng Li, Hengyue Zhao
AVIOCENE's goal is to create unique user experiences by integrating microbiology, robotics and poetic systems. It utilizes microbial environmental sensing technology to capture environmental signals and convert these signals into interactive systems and poetic expressions as a way to enhance public perception of the microcosm. This innovative approach not only raises public awareness of the ecosystem, but also promotes broad community participation in caring for and protecting the environment we share.
MaltMat
Jeffrey Ose Ohuaregbe, Jiayi Liu, Seyeon Cho
MaltMat is a bio-based material that promotes sustainability by reusing waste beer spent grain and creating fully biodegradable packaging solutions.
Instructor 2024
Dr. Andrew Scarpelli is a Chicago science and art professor whose training is in microbiology and synthetic biology. He is a 2020 Global Community Biosummit fellow and SciArt Resident in “The Bridge” program. He is cofounder and president of the community biolab ChiTownBio. He is greatly interested in expanding the utility of biotechnology into fields such as art and social justice.