angela fragkou
Αn experimental 3D Biohub as an interdisciplinary workshop of the Computer Sculpture Lab, ASFA
Art with new materials
The Laboratory of 3D Implementations in Computers in the field of sculpture, (http://www.sculpture.asfa.gr/ComputerSculptureLab/CSL.html) of the art department in the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA) is headed by Assistant Professor Ioannis Melanitis. The Lab is active in the field of 3D printing, digital design, stereolithography, 3D design and related modern digital and analog media. The curriculum is combined with theoretical approaches, exercises and brief introductions to the current trends in international literature, touching on interdisciplinary issues of science and technology.
In 2020, an interdisciplinary 3D Biohub was created as part of the project of artistic research on structural colour, carried out by Angela Fragkou, PhD candidate in ASFA, MSc organic synthetic chemist, with the scientific team iGEM*. The aim is to integrate the bio-scientific developments from the research on structural colour and 3D printing technology for the production of works of art. During the interdisciplinary collaboration, the field of knowledge shared by biology and three-dimensional representations in art is recorded and theorized. The supervisors of the 3D Biohub are Ioannis Melanitis, Angela Fragkou and Dr. Vasiliki Koumantou, Assistant Professor in Genetics at the Department of Biotechnology in the Agricultural University of Athens.
Directing our gaze on the application of new technology that brings the use of innovative bio-materials to 3D printing, the researcher was guided by the literature to a series of scientific publications on the chemical synthesis of new polymer molecules. The research focuses on the integration of structural colour in 3D digital printing as an alternative to the use of toxic chemical dyes and paints. These are thermoplastic building materials consisting of component dendritic copolymer macromolecules, which appear with a specific system of self-organization.
The chemical colour is the one created due to the existence of the pigments. Pigments absorb and/or reflect certain region(s) of the visible light spectrum. Structural colour (according to Glover and Whitney, 2010) is a purely visual phenomenon arising from the interaction of the nanostructures of matter (living and non-living) with one or more light sources. Therefore, it is a phenomenon of purely natural origin, based on the natural mechanisms of optics. The natural mechanisms for the production of structural colour are the following: the contribution to thin films, the diffraction barrier effect, the scattering of light, the photonic crystals and the multilayer contribution. An important feature of structural colour is iridescence, i.e. the change in the visual impression of colour, depending on the angle of its observation.
Cultures of certain bacterial strains, such as flavobacterium IR1, show structural colour when cultured in bio-film. The form of the device under study in the field of bacterial strains is cellular, single layer. The experimental process involves the genetic modification of some genes of the bacterial strains, to express cellulose, creating an exoskeleton as well. In case of a positive outcome, the structural colour of the culture will be imprinted on the exoskeleton of the cellulose.
Genetics is primarily a branch of Biology that studies heredity, the transfer of characteristics and properties from ancestor to offspring. With a thematic content related to the control of life’s functions by genes, as well as the molecular nature of genetic material, genetics contributes to the understanding of biochemical phenomena that take place in living matter. DNA, genes and chromosomes all are in heart of the study of its basic concepts.
Biotechnology is a scientific branch that promotes the application of the signficant achievements by life sciences, mainly through the use of microorganisms and the products obtained by their processing, in order to develop innovative and advanced applications and products. It applies the principles of engineering science to the biological sciences. The goal is the recording, theoretical analysis and documentation of a different perspective of a purely scientific and innovative subject, visual mediation and the interaction of scientific experimentation with artistic creation, through an experimental 3D biohub, as well as the presentation of a biotechnological achievement through the visual arts to society. The above description presents a methodological approach to visual arts, through modern experiments in life sciences and science.
*iGEM Athens consists of 12 students from the National Kapodistrian University of Athens (Departments of Medicine and Biology), the National Technical University of Athens (Departments of Chemical and Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering) and the Agricultural University of Athens (Department of Agriculture). The team represented Athens in the global iGEM Synthetic Biology Competition in 2020 and 2021. Their ultimate goal is to carry out high-level research with specifications to develop an innovative biomaterial with structural colour properties.
**The results and the artworks of the workshop were published on iGEM’s scientific site https://2020.igem.org/ Team:Athens/Education, as well as on bioscientific conferences, as part of the whole research.
*** Eva Aggelaka – Art, ASFA; Dimos Aslanis – Chemical Engineering NTUA; Orsalia Veloudiou – Medical School, National Kapodistrian University of Athens; Triantafyllia Douroupi - Art, ASFA; Marianna Ioannidou – Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Athens; Spyros Kanellopoulos – Biology, National Kapodistrian University of Athens; Eleftheria Kelefioti Stratidaki - Chemical Engineering NTUA; Kalliopi Belegri - Biology, National Kapodistrian University of Athens; Giorgos Broutzakis - Biology, National Kapodistrian University of Athens; Andreas Athanasios Tzontzos Dekmak - Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Athens; Dorina Papageorgiou - Art, ASFA; Kleoniki Pylarinou - Chemical Engineering NTUA; Natalia Salpea - Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, NTUA; Natalia Sopidi - Art, ASFA; Vasileia Spyridaki - Chemical Engineering NTUA; Ilias Toube - Chemical Engineering NTUA; Christos Christou - Art, ASFA; Christina Pancess - Art, ASFA
