ICAT: "Open (at the) Source"

ICAT: Open (at the) Source presents pioneering approaches to public exhibits that use technology to deliver immersive and interactive experiences.

Mycelium Mimetics

Project Team Members

Eva Thornton, M.F.A. in Creative Technologies
Avery Gendell, master's degree in Architecture

This project explores the agency of mycelium as a contributing material to art and design. Mycelium composites are emerging materials that have proven potential to replace many unsustainable materials used in art, design, and architecture with circular and sustainable alternatives.  A team of ICAT students propose research that is largely open-ended, addressing questions of the agency of non-human biological organisms simultaneously with artistic and design-oriented visual exploration. This research and presentation is about process, interspecies collaboration, and how these sculptural forms can foster investigation in our own roles in a sustainable future.

Photos by Avery Gendell

Weaving Weeds

Project Team Members

Braden Perryman, M.F.A. in Creative Technologies
Chelsea Brighton-Smith, master's degree in Landscape Architecture
Ben Hornyak, M.F.A. in Creative Technologies
Lois Nguyen, Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies
Thomas-Mark Peterson, master's degree in Architecture
Maggie Webb, Ph.D. in Engineering Education and master's degree in Civil Engineering

This project explores human-plant relations through biofabrication. Inspired by the sustainable forestry technique of coppicing, a team of ICAT students propose testing a theory of plant roots as an ongoing source of biomaterial, achievable through sustainable harvesting dependent on continuous care for plants as living organisms.

Photos by Braden Perryman