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Short abstract

This presentation examines how biodesign, through molecular knowledge and biomatter itself, fosters responsible nature-culture relations, exploring interdisciplinary laboratory practices as tangible and regenerative applications beyond the lab, while asking where attentiveness would be needed.

Long abstract

Biodesign is an emerging design sub-discipline that integrates approaches from the life sciences, speculative design, and materials science, implementing organic materials and living organisms into design processes. It is perceived as a potential source of solutions for a sustainable future (Mason, Sharr 2022; Morrow, Bridgens, Mackenzie 2023; Gambardella 2024) and examined from multiple perspectives, addressing ethical questions (Armstrong 2022), presenting a developed taxonomy (Pollini, Rognoli 2024), and analyzing the role of workspaces and infrastructures in which it evolves (Ihls, Pollini 2025). Biodesigners mobilize phenomena stemming from the molecular properties of living organisms as constitutive elements of their projects: environmental modulation, biofilm formation, complex communicative forms, and metabolite biosynthesis are microbial capacities that predominantly attract interest. These capabilities serve as inspiration and as a medium, with the goal that outcomes – in the form of composites or biological substances – can be applied beyond laboratories/studios. This presentation examines how molecular knowledge and biomatter contribute to cultivating responsible nature-culture relations. The analysis is grounded in ethnographic research (observation, participant observation, and in-depth interviews) conducted during fieldwork in three “new laboratories” corresponding to the typology proposed: 1) a DIY laboratory, 2) an academic biodesign laboratory, and 3) a research and development institute. I interrogate how “bio” is mobilized in aspirations toward a “greener tomorrow” and the dimensions requiring attentiveness through the arts of noticing (Tsing 2015). I also reflect on biodesign through the lens of symbiopolitics (Helmreich 2009). The presentation contributes to the evolving discourse of biohumanities.