Bioart - an experiment that could change the future of life?

Juliela's research on bulletproof skin projects has resulted in collaboration with many international laboratories and working partners. She realized that these opportunities were valuable, and in order to pave the way for other equally influential projects, she decided to set up a foundation to provide equipment and intellectual assistance to top talent at the intersection of the arts and biological sciences, so that they could better understand these ideas and realize their economic potential.

Juliela's bulletproof skin project

Violent news flooded social media, creating a climate of panic in the society, greatly affecting the rational judgment of individuals and society about the existence of threats. Juliela explores the social, political, ethical and cultural dimensions of biotechnology around the worldwide issue of personal safety.

In the laboratory, spider silk produced by genetically modified organisms is added to skin tissue to make human skin bulletproof. Spider silk is stronger than iron wire, can withstand bullets when woven, and is produced by living organisms.

Genetically modified spider silk

Juliela asked: If the human body can also produce such silk, then we can not bulletproof? Bulletproof skin can actually withstand bullets, but not at full speed. Through this work, she wants to raise the issue of security to a conceptual level, to provoke discussion on what kind of security model and concept can be beneficial to society.

Juliela's bulletproof skin project

The Bioart Lab Foundation is a healthy mix of public funding, private funding, volunteers and material donations, so it is a vast network of universities, consortia and other institutions. Within this network, the Foundation provides knowledge and fosters collaboration. "If there's a good idea, it doesn't matter what the label is on the participant. What's exciting is that a good idea can bring artists and researchers together." A spokesperson for the lab said, "We want to provide the infrastructure for bioart in the Netherlands. In collaboration with the Netherlands Institute for Earth, Life Sciences and Humanities (NWO), The Hague Medical Research Council (ZonMW) and the MU Art Space Eindhoven, the Foundation provides financial grants and opportunities for new works of art to be exhibited on major art platforms in the Netherlands. The environment in the Netherlands is great, but in terms of personal economic development, artists are still struggling."

"The art of bioscience uses living matter and cannot be separated from art forms related to ethical principles. We see this medium as a means of conveying information and as an inspiration to society. However, we see that the artist himself is capable of critical reflection. In this way, our focus is on promoting these artists and their ideas. We help them realize their ideas, expand their social impact, sometimes help them protect their intellectual property, and draft the Outlines of their business plans. In this way, we are creating an art and design movement that makes good ideas really achievable in a field that is mostly dominated by conceptual art."

The foundation is a non-profit organization, but some projects are intended to be commercialized by third parties. A good example is Mestic®, a method of making bioplastics from cow dung mixed with paper and textiles.

Mestic is a method of making bioplastics from cow dung mixed with paper and textiles

Fecal pollution from intensive farming is a big problem in the Netherlands. Data show that excessive amounts of phosphate are produced in the livestock industry, mainly due to cow manure. This will weaken the economic position of the Dutch dairy industry. The Dutch government started on phosphate policy, but it did not solve the problem. Mestic is economically viable and can be used to convert cow manure into locally produced materials.

This can reduce dependence on international oil, increase local employment, improve the living environment of dairy cows and bring economic benefits to farmers. It is sustainable and can be used for industrial production and become an emerging industry in the future.

Ethical problem of technology

At times, some of the works of the Bioart project have raised social unease and questions, and even concerns about the way humans manipulate living things. "This sense of anxiety seems to stem from an ambiguous view of ethics, which involves a conventional contract between human beings and life processes. Applied knowledge of the biological sciences has led to a range of outcomes for which our value and belief systems are unprepared." Australian artist Orron Catts published in the Measuring Commune's Art of Bioscience issue.

Cates is the director of SymbioticA, the Bioarts Centre at the University of Western Australia. His most famous work is "Victimless Leather" (2004), a stitch-free miniature jacket grown from living organism tissue.

Olon Cates' Harmless Leather

Working together, the artists and researchers grew connective tissue from mouse cells, added human bone stem cells, and coated it with a degradable polymer to form a strong skin structure. This "leather" needs to be grown in a bioreactor, with cells fed by an automated drip system. When the polymer degrades, a jacket-shaped organism emerges. This little coat, which can only be worn by mice, may be the prototype of the future of human clothing; Biotechnology in the laboratory may be the future of the production of everyday products. Both the subject and object of art are "life", and many works boldly tell the public that living organisms can be manipulated and applied to future realities.