EPSRC-funded book, Synthetic Aesthetics, launches at V&A

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Apr-2014

Contact: EPSRC Press Office pressoffice@epsrc.ac.uk 01-793-444-404 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

The emerging field of synthetic biology crosses the boundary between science and design, in order to design and manufacture biologically based parts, devices and systems that do not exist in the natural world, as well as the redesign of existing, natural biological systems.

This new technology has the potential to create new organisms for a variety of applications from materials to machines. What role can artists and designers play in our biological future?

This Friday, the Victoria & Albert Museum's Friday Late turns the V&A into a living laboratory, bringing science and design together for one night of events, workshops and installations.

It will also feature the official launch of a new EPSRC-funded book 'Synthetic Aesthetics: Investigating Synthetic Biology's Designs on Nature'.

The book, by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Jane Calvert, Pablo Schyfter, Alistair Elfick and Drew Endy, emerged from a research project 'Sandpit: Synthetic aesthetics: connecting synthetic biology and creative design' which was funded by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the National Science Foundation in the US.

Kedar Pandya, EPSRC's Head of Engineering, said: "This event and the Synthetic Aesthetics book will act as a catalyst to spark informed debates and future research into how we develop and apply synthetic biology. Engineers and scientists are not divorced from the rest of society; ethical, moral and artistic questions need to be considered as we explore new science and technologies."

The EPSRC project aimed to:

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EPSRC-funded book, Synthetic Aesthetics, launches at V&A