With her artwork Design by Decay, Decay by Design, architect, artist and researcher Andrea Ling was the winner of S+T+ARTS Prize 2020 in the Artistic Exploration Category. On 7 July, she presented her work during an online evening hosted by Waag, followed by a presentation of colleague Brenda Parker, lecturer bio chemical engineering at University College London. The talk was moderated by Lucas Evers of Waag.
S+T+ARTS Talk: Decay by Design from Waag on Vimeo.
Design by Decay, Decay by Design is a series of artefacts that exhibit designed decay. They were done for the 2019 Ginkgo Bioworks Creative Residency on how to design a world without waste. 'As an architect and artist, I recognise that most of what I create goes to landfill. If that is the case, let me design waste that I can live with, garbage that retains some desirability as it degrades in sight and on site. Let me design waste as nature designs it, not only as the product of breakdown and destruction but also as input for renewal and construction. In biology, one system’s entropy is another system’s organisation. With the assistance of Ginkgo, my goal was to organise decay, using enzymes, fungus, bacteria, and other biological agents as ways of decomposing and composing biological matter at the same time. By mediating decay through species selection, control of environmental conditions, and nutrient templating, I am actively pursuing mutability as a desired quality in the physical world as well as guarantee that the mechanisms of constructive renewal will be embedded into that world,' says Andrea Ling.
S+T+ARTS Talks are part of the S+T+ARTS Prize program organised by Waag in collaboration with Ars Electronica and Bozar. The S+T+ARTS Prize is part of the S+T+ARTS program of the European Commission.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732019. This publication (communication) reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
