Project Context

Humans have combined biological processes with progressive technological advancements to produce, process and create. For example, the domestication of plant and animals resulted in human settlements. Our evolution from hunter-gatherers to farmers some 13,000 years ago can be seen as the start of using organisms as a tool as well as a fuel. Since then, food and its production has always played a key role in society. Nevertheless, our actions have affected our natural environment, often negatively, because of the missing consideration of social, cultural, and ecological interconnections.

New technologies open up opportunities to manipulate, design, understand, protect and interact with our natural environment in sustainable ways.

This project will introduce life sciences and biotechnologies to designers and artists through critical debates and empirical investigations. Investigators will be tasked to think, define and create new approaches for the future of food.

This project is part of the Bio Design Challenge 2017

Project Goal

Our food supply chain combines science, technology and culture. It blurs the borders between disciplines and fields. Participants will interact with the biological, physical and computer sciences to help understand the practicalities and innovations of the food supply chain. This will occur alongside contextualisation through cultural and economic factors. Furthermore, an ideal project will conceive of methods of collaboration between scientific, anthropological and design disciplines to produce a sustainable food future that supports the whole ecosystem we live in.