Out of the Blue and into the Black: The Pursuit of Innovation and a visit to the DSM Biotechnology Center

The New Artisan and the Old Potter

Artisanship is not dead, but it will change. In the same way that potters once made jugs from clay and dried them in the sun. Later, they learned to steer the potters wheel and fire the kiln. Now, computers are the basis for design and the execution is by the machine. But the had of the artist is still there.

Perhaps that’s a reason why companies like Ginkgo BioWorks have an artist in residence. Why there are serious works of art being executed by serous artists like Susan McDonald that are using the chance events of growth from bacteria as a means to create art — as if Jackson Pollock had found a means for abstract expressionism with microbial machines to bend to his will.

Susan McDonald’s artworks created by bacteria interacting with media.