NTAA22 FINALIST: Nathan Thompson & Guy Ben-Ary & Sebastian Diecke - Bricolage

In Bricolage, autonomous, animated, living, biological entities that have the ability to self-assemble are created and hosted in a suspended vessel (Incubator) custom made of clay, metal and glass.

These living automatons are derived from blood, heart and silk. Bio-engineered human heart muscle cells are grown over custom printed silk scaffolds that beat in real time, manipulating the automatons movement, which at times self-assemble to create a larger structure visible to the naked eye of gallery attendees. Bricolage is unique in its independence from microscopes, projections or any other technological mediation and instead of experiencing it via layers of technology, viewers peer up through the windows of a custom made clay incubator. Its alien animacy encourages the viewers to re-evaluate categories of life and aliveness. By the conscious use of specific materials and processes, Bricolage paves a narrative that disrupts and pulls apart embedded definitions in order for us to build a more thorough and inclusive dialogue to the objects and entities that surround us.