Nanyang Technological University

PROJECTS 2025

The Human Resource

FINALIST TEAM

Goh Ying Xuan, Shaw Phoebe Rebecca, Gabriel Yong Ming Hui, Cheyenne Koh Mei Yen

The Human Resource envisions Singapore in 2050 as a leader in commodifying the human body amid resource depletion. Biological waste—hair, nails, menstrual blood, semen, and breast milk—is collected and transformed into products like bioplastics and protein shakes. Citizens wear keratin “hulus” with pride, use donor apps to track contributions, and benefit from state rewards such as healthcare and BioVouchers. Aesthetic norms reflect civic duty through minimalist styles. Yet, resistance grows against this biocapitalism, especially as legislation advances toward post-mortem harvesting, raising the critical question: where does the body end and the state begin?

Instructor 2025

Veronica Ranner is an artist, designer, and educator based in Singapore and Munich. Her research and practice specialise in emerging (bio)technologies, biodesign, biofabrication, systems design, and experimental, transdisciplinary approaches across design, science, society, and ecology. Veronica Ranner is an Assistant Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU ADM), where she teaches and researches transversal approaches to product and interaction design. She also directs the Polyphonic Futures Lab at NTU ADM, focusing on bio-digital imaginaries and collective futures, as well as their socio-technical implications in a more-than-human world.