Future Farm at the RCA Design Interactions show

Tuesday evening (23.01.07) marked the opening of the Design Interactions ‘Work in Progress’ show at the Royal College of Art. My project ‘Future Farm’ in the group show was a first outing for the project in the public realm, as an exhibition piece. This blog will be highlighting the continuing development and the many edifices of this umbrella project. It will present research, sources, musings and curious adventures into the near and far future of the human body farm. This first entry on ’slub’ highlights my starting points with two projects – Nanotopia and Stem.

“Organ of Last Resort”

Future Farm reflects the desperate reality of severely deprived people who reconsider their body as a last resort. The current trade in organs, eggs, sperm and hair informs this future scenario. Combined with the impact of bio and nanotechnology, this leads us to a possible future where the body is used as a farm to cultivate clinical and pharmaceutical products.

In Nanotopia (above), synthetic biology is used to manipulate warts (self-replicating Human Papilloma Viruses) to grow desirable products on the body. In comparison, at the upper extremity of the socio-economic scale, the impact of the ‘body farms’ spur new bodily aesthetics. This tends towards growth-free bodies and natural protection systems against free viruses in the environment.

Stem (above) presents a legalised trade in stem cell production from adipose fat tissue. Extrapolating from current scientific research, the scenario explores the future relationships between producers and the medical industry. Consequently Stem questions the Rich and Poor’s increasing polarisation and their extremes of body morphology in response to a market economy.