Exhibition

The Microbial Design Studio: 30-day Simit Diet

Orkan Telhan (Turkey)

Studio-X Istanbul

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The Microbial Design Studio is an inexpensive automated and networked countertop biofabrication machine to design, culture, and test genetically modified organisms. The project seeks to introduce a wider audience to the debates surrounding biological design and genetically redesigned products. A new Turkish simit will be made each day of the biennial with a different genetically modified yeast. This “30-day Simit Diet” is a commentary on the desire and reality to control life by designing it from within.

“Microbial Design Studio is a new generation design platform that explores the designability of microbial organisms. It allows designers to introduce new DNA to yeast and bacteria, combine different strains of organisms to create synthetic ecologies, and grow them under different conditions in order to create new bioproducts… For the 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial, we have used the platform to design a special diet using traditional Turkish simits. We have mixed different strains of wild yeast sourced from different people and places in Istanbul with standardized lab cultures capable of producing vitamins, flavors, and smells. The ‘microbial simit diet’ will have a unique and novel simit for every day, and will suggest a different perception of the microbial gut flora not only for traditional weight control but also to diversify the culture inside us.” –OT

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The Microbial Design Studio is an inexpensive automated and networked countertop biofabrication machine to design, culture, and test genetically modified organisms. The project seeks to introduce a wider audience to the debates surrounding biological design and genetically redesigned products. A new Turkish simit will be made each day of the biennial with a different genetically modified yeast. This “30-day Simit Diet” is a commentary on the desire and reality to control life by designing it from within.

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