About
I am a designer, artist and researcher interested in the future. I use design to explore the implications of emerging and unfamiliar technologies, science and services. Perhaps my background in architecture and urbanism makes me want to look down the microscope the wrong way: I am fascinated by the macroscopic view, the larger-scale social, cultural and ethical consequences of engineering invisible organisms, creating nano-scale devices and unravelling our genetic futures.
Prior to receiving my MA in Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art n July 2009, I read Architecture at Cambridge University, worked in urbanism and spent a year at Harvard University as a Herchel Smith scholar, learning about narrative and design research. I spent my time at the RCA exploring what design - integral to the developments of the Industrial and Information Revolutions - has to ‘offer’ to a Biotech Revolution. I think that role includes imagining and designing compelling narratives that allow us to question our unprecedented future.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Royal College of Art MA Design Interactions
10/2007 - 07/2009, London, UK.
Dissertation: "Design Evolution: Microbes and the Everyday" [Distinction].
Harvard University
09/2005 - 06/2006, Cambridge, USA.
Herchel Smith Scholarship from Cambridge University.
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences: Animation, Film + Architecture, Set Design, French.
Graduate School of Design: Product Design, Design Research in Product Design and Advanced Drawing.
Cambridge University MA (Cantab) Architecture, First Class
09/2001 - 06/2004 , Cambridge, UK.
Ranked first in graduating year.
Purcell Miller Tritton Prize (Best Overall Student).
Nominated for entry in RIBA President's Medals Awards.
Dissertation: “Consuming Architecture:
Exploring the Ethics of a Sustainable Brandscape.”
Awards
VIDA 12.0 Special Mention, Growth Assembly, 2010
Growth Assembly nominated for FutureEverything Award, 2010
Australian Bicentennial Fellowship Awarded by Kings College London to undertake research at SymbioticA, 2009
Herchel Smith Scholarship to Harvard University, awarded by Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, 2005 - 2006
Purcell Miller Tritton Prize Best Overall Student, Department of Architecture, Cambridge University, 2004
Residencies, Fellowships & Projects
Design Fellow, Synthetic Aesthetics: Connecting Synthetic Biology & Creative Design
Stanford University, USA & Edinburgh University, UK,
Feb 2010 - June 2011
Visiting Fellow, ESRC Genomics Forum, University of Edinburgh, Feb 2010
Residency,SymbioticA , University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, Sept 2009 - Dec 2009
Co-founder, AlterFutures , 2009
Co-organiserLong Now London , 2009
Co-founder and designer, GSD Green Design,Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Sept 2005 - May 2006
Exhibitions & Screenings
They Go Round and Round
April 23 - May 23
Exhibition, 0047, Oslo, Norway
(Growth Assembly)
Details
The Art and Science of Systems Biology
Exhibition, Santa Fe Complex, March 2010
(The Synthetic Kingdom)
Details
Wellcome Trust Windows, London, 01 Feb - 30 July 2009,
Curated by Dunne & Raby
(The Synthetic Kingdom, Growth Assembly & E.chromi)
Link
What If? Science Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, Oct 2009 - Dec 2009
(The Synthetic Kingdom & Growth Assembly)
Link
Sustain, Royal College of Art online, 2009
(Growth Assembly)
Link,
Royal College of Art Show 2009, London, June - July 2009
(The Synthetic Kingdom & Growth Assembly)
Link
Boom! Work in Progress Show Royal College of Art, Feb 2009
Designing Debate: Biomedical Futures, Battle of Ideas,Institute of Ideas, Royal College of Art, London, Oct 2008
Link
The Revolution is Set: Bring it to the Table Spring Gallery, New York Design Week, USA, April 2008
BioSysBio Showcase, IET BioSysBio Conference 2008, Imperial College, London April 21 2008
Design Interactions Work in Progress Show,
Royal College of Art, Feb 2008
Touching the City Design research project with Oliver Froome-Lewis, Sept 2006 -July 2008
Exhibition at Westbourne Grove Church Art Space,
June - July 2007
Compendium: The Work of the University of Cambridge Department of Architecture, Group show, RIBA, London, Jan - Feb 2006
Antimaps, Animation, screened at 45th Ann Arbor Film Festival, USA March 2007; Aardman Animation Talent Showcase Sept 2006; Harvard University Film Archive, Harvard, MA May 2006
City, Animation, screened at Aardman Animation Talent Showcase Sept 2006; The Animation Show Jan 2007, Somerville, Boston, MA; Harvard University Film Archive, Harvard, MA May 2006
Selected Publications
Article, To Form and Multiply, Design Indaba, South Africa
Link
Exploring the Territory between Art, Design and Synthetic Biology, Interview on We Make Money Not Art & WorldChanging
Link
Science and Design, Feature by Mun-Keat Looi, Wellcome Trust Blog
Link
'The Synthetic Kingdom', Second Nature: International Journal of Creative Media, March 2010 Link
Science fiction short story, 'The Well-Oiled Machine', co-written with Oron Catts, Icon Magazine Issue 080, February 2010 Link
Article, 'Building New Life Forms at the iGEM Jamboree', Wired.co.uk, November 2009 Link
Human Futures: Art in an Age of Uncertainty Ed. Andy Miah, Liverpool University Press, 2008 Link
Material Beliefs, Interaction Research Studio, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, 2009 Link
Lectures, Conferences & Workshops
Conference speaker,Beyond the Tree of Life, London, 10 July 2010
Visiting faculty, Cambridge University iGEM crash course, Cambridge, UK, July 2010
Visiting tutor, ArtScienceBangalore iGEM workshop 2010, Bangalore, India, June 2010
Conference speaker, Tsinghua University Art Science Media Lab Symposium, Beijing, China June 2010
Speaker, 'Designing Evolution', Dorkbot London, Great Western Studios, 14 April 2010
Conference speaker, 'Designers in the Lab', SynBioNt Symposium, University of Nottingham, 22 March 2010
Visiting tutor, 'Fact and Fiction in Synthetic Biology' workshop with James King, Royal College of Art, Feb 2010
Conference speaker, 'Synthetic Aesthetics',SynBERC retreat, JBEI, CA, 28 Feb 2010
Visiting lecturer, 'Designing Synthetic Biology', The Genomics Forum, University of Edinburgh, 5 Feb 2010
Visiting lecturer, 'Designers in the Lab', University of Edinburgh, 4 Feb 2010
Conference speaker,Super Human: Revolution of the Species Symposium, Melbourne, Australia, 23 Nov 2009
Speaker, SymbioticA Biotech & Art Workshop, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia, 19 Nov 2009
Visiting lecturer, Plant Energy Biology Centre, University of Western Australia, 17 Nov 2009
E. chromi, International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition Jamboree, MIT, Cambridge, USA, 30 Oct 2009 - 02 Nov 2009
Speaker, The Hastings Center, Garrison, NY, USA, 29 Oct 2009
Speaker, SymbioticA, University of Western Australia, Perth, 16 Oct 2009
Visiting lecturer, Art & Life Manipulation course, University of Western Australia, Perth, 09 Oct 2009
Speaker, IDEO, Palo Alto, CA, USA, 15 Sept 2009
Speaker, Near Future Laboratory, Los Angeles, USA, 08 Sept 2009
Speaker, EPSRC Flaslight Funding Workshop: Synthetic Biology, High Wycombe, 29 July 2009
Speaker, AlterFutures , London, 24 July 2009
Visiting lecturer & participant, Design Advisor Cambridge University Crash Course in Synthetic Biology iGEM 2009, Cambridge, UK, 29 June 2009 - 10 July 2009
Conference speaker, Digital Money Forum 2009, London, 31 Mar 2009
Lecture, The Long Now London: "Bacteria are the Future" at Demos, London, 18 Feb 2009
Speaker, SymbioticA Biotech Art Workshop, Sandnes Science Museum, Norway, 22 Nov 2008
Participant, SymbioticA Biotech Art Workshop , Article 08 Biannual for Electronic and Unstable Art, Stavanger, Norway, 17 Nov 2008 - 21 Nov 2008
Conference speaker, Everyday Digital Money Conference, "Future of Money/Early Exit" with Intel's People & Practices group, University of California at Irvine, USA, 18 Sept 2008
Employment
Freelance Designer, Researcher & Writer
London, July 2006 -
General Public Agency Project Coordinator
London, Mar- Aug 2007
Architecture + Urbanism Unit, Greater London Authority Architectural Assistant
London, Feb - Aug 2005
Borgos Dance Architects Architectural Assistant
London, Sept 2004 - Feb 2005
Eisenman Architects Intern
New York, Aug -Sept 2003
Pentagram Design Intern
London, Aug - Sept 2002
Eva Jiricna Architects Limited Intern
London, May - June 2001
Carlos Brillembourg Architects Intern
New York, Feb 2001
Roberto Schezen Architectural Photographer Assistant
on location, UK, Aug 2000
Foster & Partners Intern
London, July 1999