陈昱凝
Yuning Chen
Biodesign
Feminist STS
More-Than-Human
Ciao! I am Yuning Chen, a PhD candidate between Design Informatics (Edinburgh College of Art) and STIS (Science, Technology and Innovation Studies) at University of Edinburgh.
With a background in environmental science and design engineering, I am fascinated by the practice of designing with living organisms. And more importantly, how working with more-than-human life could challenge anthropocentric perspectives entrenched in our capitalist ecologies.
My practice-based research looks into more-than-human ethics in biodesign and the broader biotechnological practices, with a particular focus on labour justice and practice of resistance.
CV
Project:
Morality Calculus
Morality Calculus Food Theatre
Labour Provenance
Bevergising Spirits of Asilomar
Scents of Asilomar
Microbial Revolt
Carbon Alchemy
Plant Reality Set
Project Habitate
Mobius
Email
Google Scholar
Instagram
Feel free to contact me for collaborations or brainstorming ideas!
Project Habitate is a biomimetic wearable designed to transform humans into temporary habitats for lichen species threatened with secondary extinction following the decline of ash trees across temperate climates in Europe. By mimicking the ash tree’s bark—its distinctive texture, light permeability, porosity, and pH—we developed a material capable of sustaining these often-overlooked species during the ecological gap left by ash tree loss.
Shaping this material into wearable forms harnesses human mobility: as people walk outdoors, they help disperse lichen spores through the air, supporting their reproduction. In doing so, Project Habitate proposes a new model of participatory conservation—one where humans actively perform ecosystem services themselves, reframing a term traditionally used only to describe nonhuman contributions to ecosystems.
Credit:
Yuning Chen
Yishan Qin
Tom Hartley
In collaboration with:
Ruth Mitchell
Christopher Ellis
Katie Petty Saphon
Richard Edwards
Chris Cheeseman
Benjamin F. Maier
Robert Ewers
Shiying Zheng
Video Assistance:
Andrew Mulholland
Amy Mather
Patrick Smith
Loretta Smith
2020