The Designers & Artists 4 Genomics exhibition shows fore award-winning art projects that will amaze our visitors and prompt lots of questions. The artists use living materials obtained from genomics institutes that are studying the genes of humans, animals, plants and micro-organisms.
Where?
NCB Naturalis, 5e verdieping
Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR Leiden
When?
From 8 June 2012 until 6 January 2013.
Award winning projects on display are:
Concrete Lichen
Lionel Billiet and Kees van den Hondel, Kluyver Centre
The project ‘Concrete lichen’ or Living pigment by Lionel Billiet and the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation is an examination of the biological growth of lichens on man-made surfaces such as buildings. The project above all aims to learn to propagate the lichen Xanthoria parietina, the lichen will then be planted on existing concrete walls – and the results observed.
Aqua Vita / Urine diary
Susana Cámara Leret, Mike Thompson and Jan van der Greef (Netherlands Metabolomics Centre)
Aqua Vita, the project by Susana Cámara Leret, Mike Thompson and the Netherlands Metabolomics Centre, focuses on the idea that rather than being waste, urine is a rich source of information, providing valuable insights into the ever changing inner landscape and health balance of the human body.
In Vena Verbum / Message in a vein
Tiddo Bakker en Henk Jalink, Center for BioSystem Genomics
In Vena Verbum (‘Message in a vein’) aims to make people aware of the fact that plants are more than simply static, decorative objects. Tiddo Bakker and the Center for BioSystem Genomics will reveal to us the hidden world of plants by developing a medium that measures the activity of the chloroplast, thereby revealing how the plant responds continuously to its environment. This medium as it were gives the plant a voice.
Eat less, live more… and pray for beans
Zack Denfeld, Cathrine Kramer and Annette de Deugd (Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing)
‘Eat less, live more… and pray for beans’ is the title of an illustrated cookbook with imaginary recipes from the year 2030. Research into the composition of the recipes is based on the ‘Getting Old Together’ study of the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, in which subjects were moving more and eating less. Based on this study, Zack Denfeld, Cathrine Kramer and other members of the Center for Genomic Gastronomy started wondering: what influence will changes in climate, global trade, and power supply have on Dutch eating culture?
