Talk - Creating meat with stem cell technology - Kings College London - 13th March

When news came out last year that a real burger had been made in a lab using stem cell technology I was immensely excited. As I've mentioned before, I care deeply about both animal farming practices and the environment, which could both be affected for the better by this research. 

It is extremely unlikely that people will just stop eating meat (it is DELICIOUS - I may be heading towards vegetarianism but I'm not ready yet - it's a struggle to even only eat free range meat, damn my love for greasy spoon fry ups and cheap fried chicken! I think I manage it 90% of the time though!)

Animals for meat require a lot of land, which could instead be used to grow food - grains, vegetables etc that could feed many more people than can be fed by meat produced on the same amount of land. Plus the huge amount of methane produced by cows, adding to the problem of global warming problem. And farming practices can be awful, causing unnecessary pain and suffering to the animals we eat to make it cheaper and use less space. As the population ever increases, the problems also increase.

So when I saw that Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University (whose team is behind this research and the burger) was giving a talk at KCL, I had to go. 

And I found it very interesting and informative. Prof Post explained the reasons behind the research (see above - environment/animal welfare) before explaining how the burger was created. This made sense to me at the time but I wasn't making notes so cannot now remember the how, but moving on, they are now working on perfecting the taste/texture of the burger, increasing the efficiency of production/sustainability and lowering the cost! Also - creating a steak is on the agenda. They think that in 7-10 years these burgers could be in shops, though this sounds rather overly optimistic to me considering the cost for the burger last year was something like £220,000!!

I do hope this research succeeds in creating affordable, ethical meat on a mass market scale though. How amazing!


Links:

BBC news - World's first lab grown burger
KCL - Creating meat with stem cell technology
Evening Standard article - image taken from this page
Scientific American - Meat/Environment
Wiki - Meat/Environment
Compassion in World Farming

Macoto Murayama

http://www.psfk.com/2009/08/macoto-murayamas-flower-illustrations.html

Beautiful computer images of flowers.....I don't understand how it's done in the slightest but it's amazing. There's no getting bored with nature is there, there's always something fascinating and wonderful.

Blur Building

Why had I never seen this before? It's beautiful and amazing, a building shrouded in mist! So poetic and suggestive of a fairytale or futuristic narrative.

(Dillier Scofodio & Renfro 2002)

http://www.nextnature.net/?p=39

Bug Bazaar @ Millenium Gallery

Claire Moyniham - Embroidered Bug Ball

John Dilnot - Screenprint

Lots of gorgeous drawings and pieces set up like victorian insect collections...like this screen print by John Dilnot. Claire Moyniham's embroidered felty bugs on balls charmed me as did Nora Fok's insects made of found objects in nature....leaves and twigs :)

Other interesting things...Jenny Tillotson's scent whisper...biomimcry...brooches connected smehow so one person whispers into their brooch and the other persns brooch releases a puff of perfume...mimicing how this beetle releases a scent to defend itself...but this is more romantic and interesting. I just googled her and she works at the innovation centre...I thought her name sounded familiar!

There were also amazing insect robots, hexapod robots by micromagic systems.

And I learned that Chinese art used insects to represent the beauty and bounty of summer. Excellent...as I used insects to represent similar in my story :)

Jean Nouvel again!

I was recommended to research the Institut du Monde Arabe because of its use of shadow and light. I find it was designed by Jean Nouvel, whose shadow kitchen cupboards I like so much!

http://emmiephant.blogspot.com/2008/05/jean-nouvel.html

Crazy video facades

Can this be real? Amazing!

Brave Space - Light Blocks

Brave Space have done something very like what I'm doing but using wood and eco resin. I like the surprise of a shadow behind wood...you never think you'd see through wood. But I feel somehow it could be more exciting...

Étienne-Jules Marey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne-Jules_Marey

Philips Daylight Window

Anke Jakob

Light projections onto fabric, playing with perception and ephemeral decoration.

http://surfaceandmedia.blogspot.com/

Out There - Nikola Basic

Amazing beautiful concepts...He has built a Sea Organ - pipes that play music as the waves move so the sea is playing music..listen to it here...it's incredible!

More related to my work, is Greeting to the Sun - "Symbolic urban installation which, by means of photovoltaic cells built-in sea walkway, changes solar energy into lighting spectacle"

It's sustainable, interactive, dramatic. I'm not sure what I think of it visually...the photo looks pretty but I watched some videos on you tube that weren't very interesting or attractive. However I havn't actually seen it and it sounds like it has the potential to do many things, project images, interact with people and nature...I'd love to go see both these installations in real life.

Photo taken from here.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Shtu5HI15_U&feature=related

Out There - Aether Architecture

Wall of wing mirrors all tilting different directions to show a slightly different view! Is fascinating...excerpt from website below...

http://www.aether.hu/

"The exhibition called “Sorry for Taking Your Mirrors” talks about new ways of creating spaces which are ‘high-tech’ and ‘low-tech’ at the same time: they are interactive, responsive, can physically change to accommodate various functions over time, but are built form reused everyday objects, which are readily available around the world. We are interested in architectural research into technological spaces that are low cost, enabling and welcoming."

Out There - cuac

Manantial

Solar Pavilion

colour changing building facade

Viriato 20

translucency and light

http://www.cuac.eu/

I can't seem to find out much about these projects and I don't exactly understand them but I like them and they use light and shadow to great effect. Other project I couldn't find pictures of - Mirror Suit - buildings talking to each other with flashing mirrors,

Sunlight Transportation Systems

So interesting! I wish the bookshop had had this.

100% Design - Highlights

ZNP Creative - Lots of delicious contrasting. Like these bright smooth wood with natural tree trunk! http://znpcreative.com/

Take a Luxe - http://www.takealuxe.com/

Ulrika Jarl. http://www.ulrikajarl.com/

Freedom of Creation Lamp based on Fibonacci sequence. Pretty! http://freedomofcreation.com/

Pooroni Rhee's graphicy illustrations <3 http://www.pooroni.com/

Kate Goldsworthys Multisheers, decorative entirely polyester textiles - single materials are easier to recycle. http://kategoldsworthy.squarespace.com/

Heather Smith decorates hard materials using the weather :) Metal nails in wood with rusting! http://www.heathersmithcollection.com/

Central Saint Martins Degree Show

First some Textile Futures.....

Jo Angell's Solar Sanctuary. Shades to encourage people out of the sun with layers that shine through in the light.

Amelie Labarthe's Home Creature Comfort, interior pieces that encourage warmth and affection. Very cute :)

And then others...

Christina Chong's lamps made from shredded paper...recycling and a textured shadow. I really want to play with paper now!

Yunju Lee's fun jewellery of ink spots, ketchup stains and iron burns. Her website doesn't do her work justice but I guess it isn't finished yet.

Hiroka Nakano's Personal Landmark project...cutting sections out of photos and looking through the space. I believe it is to do with how we see landmarks and what they mean to different people. There's a proper explanation on the website though.

Epigenetics

A couple weeks ago we did a week group project combining science and design following an intense day of talks about epigenetics and model organisms - Fabrics of life, marrying design to discovery. It was so interesting! My group were focusing on my favourite talk as well which was by Jim Smith ( Molecular basis of mesoderm formation, Gurdon Institute, Cambridge) about frogs and how cells cleave and organise themselves into what they need to be. We made a concept animation thing about self repairing plates much like how newts can regrow lost limbs :)

My favourite part was thinking about mutations and playing with all the crockery. I made a cake stand out of plates and a wineglass. And of course I needed to bake cupcakes to go on it...any excuse to bake cake :D I've always wanted a cake stand and now I can create a makeshift one whenever I may need then take it apart again for easy storage. Eggggs.

You can see our work here and what all the other groups did over here.

Mmmm Smart Yogurt

BT Technologies is intriguing. Researched predictions on what the future holds. Smart yoghurt eh? Not sure I understand but I like the image. Kaleidascopic flowers. Cyberwar. Embedded smells. Emotion detection (which sounds very intrusive to me). Video clothing. Things that caught my attention.

I always imagine a Brave New World type future. Been a while since I read it but when I did I know I felt like we were already on our way. Where everything is super efficient and shallow and emotionless. Fear.

Lots of drawing was done last week. All these sort of experimental drawing excerises. Looking at an object then drawing without looking. Visualising. Concentrating on each sense. Dancing and drawing with feet. It was like being allowed to play and not pressured. I feel kind of better for it. Aint drawn in a while.

Sampling - Acrylic and Wool

Playing with layering, light, shadow and illustration :) I'm pretty pleased with where my experimentation took me. It's not what I imagined...but I think I like it.

Now I'd like to really push the storytelling aspect.

Lumie

There suddenly seems to be many light based alarm clocks! Well...at least 2. :) Maybe it's just I'm noticing because I'm thinking along the same lines. First Phillips Wake-Up light and now Lumie have one too and it's both dusk and dawn! With a 30 day trial...I'm very tempted. I am totally suckered into this idea especially after all my sleep/light research. I'm imaging waking up naturally feeling refreshed because my body chemicals are doing the right thing according to the light :) yay! £60 though...

Iknow my project isn't 'real'. And I'm not really about to start manufacturing bed curve sleep/wake lights but I can't stop thinking - imagine how much it would cost!!! All that perspex and laser cutting and felt....not to mention the actual making and getting it working and set up. It'd be very beautiful but utterly unaffordable and ridiculously unneccesary luxury. But so pretty. And I'd love to see it for real, and sleep beneath it.