Technology – ecoLogicStudio has created two bio-digital sculptures developed in “collaboration” with colonies of photosynthetic cyanobacteria, and a collective of Asian Fawn Tarantulas. The in-human gardens are on show at La Fabrique du Vivant [The Fabric of the living] exhibition at Centre Pompidou in Paris.

• RELATED STORIES: discover more architecture and design stories related to fungi, algae, polips and bacteria… 

“In the digital era, a new interaction is emerging between creation and the fields of life science, neuroscience and synthetic biology” explain Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto, founders of ecoLogicStudio.

In the H.O.R.T.U.S. XL Astaxanthin.g project a digital algorithm simulates the growth of a substratum inspired by coral morphology. Photosynthetic cyanobacteria are inoculated on a biogel medium into 3D-printed triangular cells, or bio-pixels. Among the oldest organisms on Earth, cyanobacteria’s unique biological intelligence is gathered as part of a new form of bio-digital architecture.

Their metabolisms, powered by photosynthesis, convert radiation into actual oxygen and biomass. The density-value of each bio-pixel is digitally computed in order to optimally arrange the photosynthetic organisms along iso-surfaces of increased incoming radiation.

In the XenoDerma project, ecoLogicStudio harnessed Asian Fawn Tarantulas’ cobweb-crafting skills within a man-made spatial scaffolding, algorithmically designed and 3D printed. “Spiders’ minds, do not entirely reside in their bodies, as their webs constitute a form of spatial thinking. Information from their webs become an integral part of their cognitive systems.”. Explain Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto.

The behaviour of the spiders and the production of silk is re-programmed in XenoDerma through the design of the 3D printed substructure and of its geometrical features. The result consciously seeks productive ambiguity, revealing in the alien beauty of its silky morphologies, an intelligence that resides somewhere at the intersection of the biological, technological and digital realms.

“The notion of ‘living’ takes on a new form of artificiality, that permeates the entire Urbansphere. [In H.O.R.T.U.S. XL Astaxanthin.g and XenoDerma] the miniaturization, distribution and intelligence of manmade urban networks have reached in-human complexity, engendering evolving processes of synthetic life on Earth.”

The exhibition La Fabrique du Vivant at the Centre Pompidou in Paris is on show until 15 April 2019. As part of the Mutations-Créations series, it re-traces an archaeology of living things and artificial life in a forward-looking manner. On show the recent works of 50 creators along with the research coming from scientific laboratories.

All photos: © NAARO – Courtesy of ecoLogicStudio.

RELATED STORIES: read more about high-tech architecture and design on Archipanic…