Symbiosis by Jelte van Abbema | A Biodesign Project | the Netherlands at Schema : more than ethnic

Symbiosis by Jelte van Abbema | A Biodesign Project | the Netherlands

Art can certainly be thought-provoking and able to emote some of those feeling you thought you never had. Ever heard of art that could endanger your health? Probably not. But it exists and it's called Symbiosis, a series of E coli growing posters produced by Dutch visual artist Jelte van Abbema.

Using petri dish techniques as a model, van Abbema placed papers of E coli on agar and cellulose into advertising boards with temperature and humidity controlled to ensure the bacteria grew into images of letters.

While the incorporation of E coli pushes the limits of artistic mediums, it also puts the public at risk of such diseases as meningitis, pneumonia, and septicaemia. Symbiosis was considered so hazardous that the Museum of Modern Art in New York only displayed it on its online exhibition.

Van Abbema's innovative project is apart of the biodesign movement, where products are being made to mimic biological growth processes. How these processes are recreated varies. Some biodesigns borrow concepts of growth patterns, while some others (like Symbiosis) actually grow biological matter. Whatever the case biodesign, according to conceptual artist David Kremer, asserts that "we are rapidly moving from a civilization based on the manipulation of inanimate objects to a civilization based on the generation of living organisms".

More (links in English): Van Abbema's official website | Icon Magazine article Design and Biology | Sica Magazine article The Phenomenon of the Enterprising Designer