Material Beliefs

Abstract

Material Beliefs was a two-year research project, based at the Interaction Research Studio in the Department of Design at Goldsmiths, University of London, and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The project brought together a network of designers, engineers, scientists and social scientists to explore potential implications of emerging biomedical and cybernetic technologies. The ambition was to produce prototypes, exhibitions and debates that would move scientific research out of laboratories into public spaces. Four designers facilitated the work. They developed relationships with biomedical and cybernetic researchers at UK labs and institutes, guiding a design process in which unfinished scientific research became embodied in speculative products. By responding to social and cultural questions about our expectations of emerging technology, these productions acted as suggestions, not for potential products, but for alternative and often provocative roles for biotechnology in everyday life