Genetologic Research

Bob de Graaf
On the Crossing of Species, 2010

Limbs

1.  SPIDER’S LEG
2.  POLYCARBONATE PRICE HOLDER
3.  IRON HOOK
4.  BEND NAIL
5.  SCORPION’S LEG
6.  LIZARD’S LEG
7.  GRASSHOPPER’S LEG
8.  SAFETY PIN
9.  PRAYING MANTIS FRONT LEG
10. FIREBUG’S LEG
11. FRAME HOLDER
12. LADYBUG’S LEG
13. IRON HOOKNAIL

Bob de Graaf made a catalogue of different parts of animals and objects which he found in his surroundings.
‘My collection can be used to create a new order of species. By using the natural lifecycle of animals in everyday objects an evolutionary up-cycle can replace linear production systems. By breeding animal-like objects or object-like animals, we can construct a practical class of species.’

Vanescrew (Synthia) Slotta, 2010

Pieron (Artogeia) Napil, 2010

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg (with Sascha Pohflepp)
Growth Assembly, 2009

Herbicide Sprayer (Nozzle Fruit)

Herbicide Gourd

Spike

Handle 

Connector

After the cost of energy had made global shipping of raw materials and packaged goods unimaginable, only the rich could afford traditional, mass-produced commodities.

Synthetic biology enabled us to harness our natural environment for the production of things. Coded into the DNA of a plant, product parts grow within the supporting system of the plant’s structure. When fully developed, they are stripped like a walnut from its shell or corn from its husk, ready for assembly.

Shops have evolved into factory farms as licensed products are grown where sold. Large items take time to grow and are more expensive while small ones are more affordable. The postal service delivers lightweight seed-packets for domestic manufacturers.

Using biology for the production of consumer goods has reversed the idea of industrial standards, introducing diversity and softness into a realm that once was dominated by heavy manufacturing.

The product shown here is the Herbicide Sprayer, an essential commodity used to protect delicate engineered horticultural machines from older nature.

Hester Oerlemans
Modern Fossils in asphalt, 2003

Recognisable objects like a wind rose, a mobile phone, a key, a pair of scissors, a safety pin, a ring and also words and poems were rolled into the still hot asphalt of the constructed footpath. They are ‘modern fossils’ that carry the past with them in a playful way. Hester Oerlemans collected these ‘fossils’ together with the residents and personnel of nursing home ‘t Laar and had them placed over the entire stretch of the two hundred meter long footpath, connecting the new and the old part of nursing home ‘t Laar.