XenoDerma is a research and design innovation project on embedded material intelligence and bio-cognition. It explores the exceptional properties of spider silk and the possibility of a bio-manufacturing process involving direct interaction with living tarantulas.
The research has been conducted at the Urban Morphogenesis Lab, UCL. The material prototypes illustrated here have been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, as part of the Mutation/Creation exhibition series. If you wish to load the prototypes for an upcoming exhibition please get in touch.
In XenoDerma, spider web morphogenesis is intercepted with a man-made spatial scaffolding, algorithmically designed and 3D printed. Spiders’ minds, in this case Asian Fawn Tarantulas, do not entirely reside in their bodies, as their webs constitute a form of spatial thinking. Information from their webs become an integral part of their cognitive systems.
The behaviour of the spiders and the production of silk is re-programmed in XenoDerma through the design of the 3D printed substructure and of its geometrical features.
The result consciously seeks productive ambiguity, revealing in the alien beauty of its silky morphologies, an intelligence that resides somewhere at the intersection of the biological, technological and digital realms.
