#mushtari

[articline]

“A piece of craft that makes the world a better place. What is it and why do you think it is important?” (semester 1)

During our first lecture of this year, the class was asked to write about a piece of craft that could be seen to make the world a better place. A piece of craft I feel could make the world a better place is “Mushtari”, part of the “Wanderer collection”, by Neri Oxman in collaboration with Christoph Bader and Dominik Kolb. The piece is made up of 58 meters of 3D printed channels, injected with an unspecified fluid, that converts sunlight into useful products for the wearer – for example, scents, drugs, food, pigments or fuel. Two known components of the fluid’s makeup are organisms, a Photosynthetic microbe – microalgae or cyanobacteria- and a compatible microbe – baker’s years or E. coli. The photosynthetic microbe uses sunlight to create sucrose – sugar- that is then absorbed by the compatible microbes to create the materials needed, this ideally would be chosen by the wearer so that a particular substance is created (Eric Oh 2015).

          “Mushtari” was originally designed with the idea that the piece could adapt to any condition (Neri Oxman, 2018), an example being space; somewhere barren and – as far as we know- unable to sustain life. This piece – and collection- is important as it not only furthers human exploration throughout space and other unexplored depths but could also be adapted to help those who suffer from diseases, allergies and disorders. Making the piece a little more wearable for the everyday could mean someone who needed to take medication to live their day to day life – or allergy medication – could be carried around on the wearers wrist, the sunlight would generate the correct dose for the wearer’s need, which they could then trigger and take without having to carry tablets, epi-pens or pillboxes.

References

Neri Oxman 2018, Mushtari – Jupiter’s Wanderer, Neri Oxman, viewed 20 September 2019, <https://neri.media.mit.edu/projects/details/mushtari.html>

Eric Oh 2015, Neri Oxman’s “Mushtari” Is a 3D Printed Wearable That Makes Products from Sunlight, Arch Daily, viewed 23 September 2019, <https://mediatedmattergroup.com/mushtari>

[fruitsoftheweb]

“For Mushtari, the initial geometry and parameters created a single long channel that grew over numerous iterations into a wearable with 58 meters of inner channels varying in diameter from 1 mm to 2.5 cm. Transparency was graded regionally within the design to create areas where photosynthetic microbes could receive light and produce sucrose.“

[fruitsoftheweb]

“These computational form generation processes mimic biological growth by generating recursive forms over many iterations of the algorithm. Initial geometry and parameters defined by the algorithm inform the overall geometry, the local mesh geometry as well as variations in material property by altering the relative strength of relaxation, attraction and repulsion between mesh vertices.“

[freedomtofail]

Mushtari

Jupiter’s Wonderer

By Neri Oxman 2014, 3D Print Euromold, Frankfurt, Germany

Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System with a mass two and a half times greater than the mass of all other planets in the Solar System combined. Named after the king of the gods, its Arabic name reflects is vastness (Mushtari مشتري means huge, giant). Designed as a single strand filled with living matter inspired by the form and function of the human gastrointestinal tract, this wearable is designed as a an organ system for consuming and digesting biomass, absorbing nutrients and expelling waste. The peristaltic movement of matter within 3D printed translucent tracts is designed to support the flow of cyanobacteria engineered to convert daylight into consumable sucrose.

Production: Stratasys 3D printed with Stratasys multi-material 3D printing technology In collaboration with Christoph Bader and Dominik Kolb Photos: Yoram Reshef

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

Wanderers, An Astrobiological Exploration

Traveling to destinations beyond planet Earth involves voyages to hostile landscapes and deadly environments. Crushing gravity, amonious air, prolonged darkness, and temperatures that would boil glass or freeze carbon dioxide, all but eliminate the likelihood of human visitation. Wanderers explores the possibility of voyaging to the worlds beyond by visiting the worlds within. 3D printed wearable capillaries designed for interplanetary pilgrims are infused with synthetically engineered microorganisms to make the hostile habitable and the deadly alive. Each design is a codex of the animate and inanimate with an origin and a destination: the origin being engineered organisms, which multiply to create the wearable within a 3D printed skins; and the destination being a unique planet in the solar system. The setting for this exploration is the solar system where, with the exception of planet Earth, no life can exist. The series represents the classical elements understood by the ancients to sustain life (earth, water, air and fire), and offers their biological counterpart in the form of microorganisms engineered to produce life-sustaining elements. The wearables are designed to interact with a specific environment characteristic of their destination and generate sufficient quantities of biomass, water, air and light necessary for sustaining life: some photosynthesize converting daylight into energy, others bio-mineralize to strengthen and augment human bone, and some fluoresce to light the way in pitch darkness. Each wearable is designed for a specific extreme environment where it transforms elements that are found in the atmosphere to one of the classical elements supporting life: oxygen for breathing, photons for seeing, biomass for eating, biofuels for moving, and calcium for building. Design research at the core of this collection lies at the intersection of multi-material 3D printing and Synthetic Biology. The medieval Arabs are known for their fascination with astronomy. They took a keen interest in the study of celestial bodies; motivated to better comprehend the divine creation, they also appreciated the knowledge of the constellations as guidance in their journeys. In honor of these early contributions to the science of astronomy the Wonderers in this collection are named in Arabic after their respective destination planets: Mushtari (a wearable for Jupiter), Zuhal (a wearable for Saturn), Otaared (a wearable for Mercury); and Qumar (a wearable for the Moon). The word "planet" comes from the Greek term planets meaning "wanderer".

The Wanderers series was unveiled as part of Stratasys' collection ‘The Sixth Element: Exploring the Natural Beauty of 3D Printing' on display at EuroMold, 25-28 November, Frankfurt, Germany, Hall 11, Booth FN01 organized by Naomi Kaempfer.