A public discussion with Vanessa Mardirossian, Miri Checkanovich, Alex Bachmayer, Alice Jarry, and Yves Gélinas.
Scientist Janine Benyus, in her 1997 work Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, invites us to reimagine material research and production methods by taking nature as a model. The natural world manufactures, calculates, performs chemistry experiments, builds structures, and designs high-performance systems and tools. Benyus encourages interdisciplinary collaborations between design and science so that we might mimic these incredible feats. Similarly, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, published five years later by designer and chemist duo William McDonough and Michael Braungart, highlights the importance of planning for the end of a product’s life from the moment it is designed in order to eliminate the need for waste.
Inspired by the ecological thinking of these authors and adopting both a scientific and artistic perspective, this public discussion will address the research-creation process of the Cyclical Matter collective, their work with biocomposites, and the challenges – be they conceptual, methodological, technical, or health-related, of working with such materialities.
