capacity for (urban eden, human error)

Click above image to see a slideshow of images from the show.

This system uses a computer controlled four-axis positioning table to "print" intricate bio-architectural constructions out of live plant cells. Suspended in a clear gel growth medium, these cells continue to divide and flourish, gradually filling in the construction. The algorithmically-generated patterns drawn by the system are based on the Eden growth model and leverage mathematical representations of both urban growth and cellular growth, thereby connecting the concept of city with the concept of the organism. This project is working to make concrete the idea of dynamic and fluid computer space altering the expression and formation of a living and growing biological material, via its collaboration with an engineering mechanism.

The project was presented in New Orleans from December 7 - 14, 2007 for DesCours, a public art event sponsored by the AIA and curated by Melissa Urcan.

Special thanks to:

Dr. Delene J. Oldenburg of UW Biology and Dr. David J. Longstreth of LSU Biology for support, consultation and biological resources

Ryan Wolfe for linear actuation design and implementation

Mitchell Whitelaw for providing Processing code of the Eden growth model

Links: Make, Organism, Times-Picayune Review (Pre-Opening), Times-Picayune Review (Post-Opening)

The Eden growth model is a surface fractal that has been used to describe bacterial growth. As stated by Philip Ball in The Self-Made Tapestry; "Watching a bacterial colony grow is like watching a city expand into urban sprawl, except that it happen in days rather than decades. The inhabitants of the colony multiply and what drives this multiplication and growth is a supply of food." This association has also been made by applied mathematicians and urban designers. Nikos A. Salingaros states in his essay Connecting the Fractal City; "Living cities have intrinsically fractal properties, in common with all living systems".

This project uses undifferentiated plant cells, with the purpose in mind of structuring tissue formation and placement via a mechanical arm first placing the cells and then depositing the substances that allow the cells to differentiate. The first step in this process is to develop callus tissue with the undifferentiated cells, which was the goal of this first instantiation. However due to issues with sterility, this did not occur as hoped. The cells being used in this iteration were Alligator Weed. Once sterility issues are managed differently, the landscape will start to describe a city and an organism in multiple dimensions.

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