The path-traces of fireflies rising and falling over a field are a drawing that Nature makes with light. Light-emitting substances, luciferins (from luc -light + fer -bearer: light bearers), are what produce this pattern. Light-bearers are rare in Nature, but humans have now begun to re-engineer them and move them across species lines in order to study biology. In this course we examine this brave new world and its implications for art and design. Students will develop an understanding of some of the processes at work in biology, and learn how designers can interact with the fascinating discoveries occurring in some of the world’s leading bio-research institutions. With the aid of Stanford postdocs, students will develop a series of experiments that culminate in a drawing created with living light-bearers in the lab at Stanford. The work that arises from this journey will not only be art, but it will also be a way of acting upon the biological fabric of the universe that has never before been seen. In the end, it is hoped the results will allow us to re-conceive drawing, information design, and even biology itself (thus the light-bearer returns, luciferin redux).

This is a course about biology and design. Its purpose is to explore methods of design that use living systems. The course is structured on two parallel tracks that run simultaneously during the semester.

Track 1: Visualizing Biology
CCA student-teams are paired with Biology postdocs at Stanford. The postdocs record presentations of their own research for their teams. Each postdoc’s CCA team then takes these presentations and develops methods for visualizing the research. This involves a deep investigation into what seduces the eye and how this seduction implicates the relationship between beauty and truth/data. Via this work CCA students join the scientific enterprise at a key node: the explanation of pattern.

Track 2: Bio/Design
Track 2 allows CCA students to use the scientific knowledge of the postdocs, as well as some of the tools in their labs, to create art/design using biological systems. This involves a sequence of independent experiment-projects, conducted with help from the postdoc mentors. These experiments explore innovative ways to manipulate the biological world for a designed purpose. The experiments are also used to build knowledge and technique. Track 2 culminates in a work that uses both biological organisms and an understanding of how biology itself counter-designs in response to the artist’s hand.