BioArt

A new exhibition opening in Dublin is attracting plenty of media attention. "Visceral: The Living Art Exhibition" at the Science Museum brings together a number of crossover artists working in a range of scientific fields, from DNA profiling to tissue-engineering.

One group's exhibit develops their work 'The Semi-Living Worry Dolls'.

The 'Worry Dolls' were the first tissue engineered sculptures to be presented 'alive' in a gallery eleven years ago. Inspired by the Guatemalan worry dolls given to children to whisper their worries and concerns to, these worry dolls were hand crafted out of degradable polymers (PGA and P4HB) and surgical sutures. The dolls are then seeded with living cells that, throughout the exhibition, will gradually replace the polymers within a micro-gravity bioreactor that acts as a surrogate body. The worry dolls become partially alive. 

Weird.

Interview with the artist: