Mari mutare
Work in progress Mari mutare
Mari mutare is an experiment with biocompatible prosthesis inspired by the proto-Christian ornament of the Greenman: a pagan hybrid figure half-plant, half-human. Influenced by biohacking philosophy, feminist theory and speculative design methodology, this project examines the potentiality of biopractices (biomedia practices) as knowledge-making tools inn order to transcend human exceptionalism.
The experimentation started between Utopiana Geneva, Hackuarium and Wetlab @Hangar Barcelona
This project is currently work-in-progress & supported by ProHelvetia, Hangar Barcelona (Biofriction EU program) and Utopiana Geneva in 2020.
Protocol:
We want to decellularize plant leaves in order to get a vegetal scaffold. For this reason, we would need to wash away the chloroplasts.
1.- We will submerge organic baby spinach leaves or any "fleshy" leaves such as Basilicum. etc, into a recipient with a 10%SDS solution of water* and a very strong detergent SDS. We can either soak them in bottles or Petri dishes, just keep in mind that the water will be discarded every 24hrs for 6 days.
***ADvICE*** for a more ecological practice we will use glass Petri-dishes. We will soak them for 24hrs and discard the water** afterwards (around 15-20ml per Petri/leaf per day). Repeat the process for 6 days.
2.- In the last 48 hours, we will immerse them in a different solution. We will create a 10% bleach solution with water We will soak them for 24hrs and discard the water afterwards (around 15-20ml per Petri/leaf per day). Repeat the process for 2 days.
- I used distilled water at the begging, but is a haze when not easy access to it, so for non-medical purposes I would just use tap water.
- I use to wash them gently and thoroughly with my hands with gloves, THIS IS A VERY STRONG DETERGGENT THAT BREAKS OFF THE LIPIDS, INCLUDING THOSE IN YOUR HANDS.
- This protocol is DIY-ed from the following scientific articles: 'Murphy et al. 2018' 'Murphy 2017' 'Fontana and Murphy 2017' '3-2020-plants bone adipose tendon Decellularized apple, carrot and celery-Altomare' '4-leaves fontana2017' 'Algae-Patch-eaba4311.full' .
- I use to wash them gently and thoroughly with my hands with gloves, THIS IS A VERY STRONG DETERGGENT THAT BREAKS OFF THE LIPIDS, INCLUDING THOSE IN YOUR HANDS.