We were unable to attend and present at IASDR (International Association of Socities of Design Research) Conference 2019 held on September 2-5, but the research paper is available here.
Go Yoshizawa & Jusaku Minari, Mobilising publics: governing biodesign technologies, IASDR 2019.
Abstract. Biodesign technologies enable us to design a living system and observe how that system and its environment transform over time by analysing, editing, and (re)constituting biological materials. This project creates a new mobile, tangible, and approachable design product to speculate and explore uncertain futures as well as ambiguous ethical issues related to biodesign technologies. To involve multiple and mobile publics, we selected two art festivals held at Sado Island, Japan, and recorded the feelings, thoughts, and views of various audiences through visual thinking strategies (VTS). Our project mobilised both human participants and biomaterials, (social) media services, exhibition spaces, and the culture and environment of Sado Island. Considering the future governance of biodesign technologies allowed us to blur and transgress the boundaries between nature and artefact and between designers and the designed.