New Book Features Highlights from the Emerging Design Field of Biodesign

Biodesign Challenge: A Retrospective will include essays and projects by the artists, designers, and scientists who are reimagining the future of biotechnology

June 21, 2021 — Biodesign Challenge announced today a new book: Biodesign Challenge: A Retrospective—a full-color, 236-page collection of 28 projects and 11 essays that provide a primer on the emerging field of biodesign.

The book is a celebration of the first five years of Biodesign Challenge (BDC); it’s a catalog for the forthcoming Retrospective exhibition at Philadelphia’s University City Science Center; and a deep dive into the perspectives shaping biodesign.

Featured projects were selected from hundreds of artworks and designs from BDC, a competition and education program that started in 2015. Essays by art, design, and biology pioneers explore the role of biotech in shaping people’s identities, cultures, and relationships with the living environment.

Over the last five years, BDC has mobilized a worldwide community of biodesign practitioners and students who together have reimagined ways biotech can make architecture, medicine, food, products, and fashion more sustainable and equitable.

Essayists include prominent experts like curator William Myers, artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg, designer Pia Interlandi, architectural historian Christina Cogdell, and more. The foreword is by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture & Design and Director of R&D at the Museum of Modern Art.

"The book is the expression of hundreds of creators' hopes, predictions, and warnings about biotechnology’s role in shaping society,” said Daniel Grushkin, editor and Executive Director of Biodesign Challenge. “The ideas offer an intimate glimpse of our immediate future—as biotech becomes the next design medium.”

BDC alumni have showcased at museums and festivals, including the V&A, London Design Biennale, World Economic Forum, Dutch Design Week, the United Nations, and elsewhere. Biodesign Challenge: A Retrospective is a way to continue fostering critical dialogue around new technologies and how they impact humanity.

The book is available for pre-purchase exclusively through Kickstarter from June 21 - July 20.