Remember our 35th issue, Everything Under Control? For a forthcoming exhibition at The New Institute in Rotterdam, curator William Myers has selected dozens of projects that illustrate new ways to harness living systems for art, design and production. Biodesign: On the Cross-Pollination of Nature, Science and Creativity will run from 27 September through 5 January.

The quest to integrate natural processes with design is as old as wood houses. However, the changing climate and rapid depletion of resources heighten its urgency, as humans face the necessity of reshaping their relationship to nature. Clever, usable new ideas present the prospect of a sustainable future and may provide ways to ease the long-running conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. Biodesign: On the Cross-Pollination of Nature, Science and Creativity will glimpse into our possible future and provide inspiration for designers, artists and scientists in the form of varied, in-depth information on new materials and potential biological applications in architecture and design.

“As we deepen our understanding of biology, we come to appreciate its magnificent sophistication and potential for design. Many forms of life, such as microbes that live in extreme environments, have tremendous potential for applications from medicine to architecture,” Myers says. “Several of these innovations work to align our behavior with the preservation of natural resources, to erect bridges between ecosystems and the built environment; others are more playful or speculative and provoke us to question the meaning of these new technologies.”

Biodesign: On the Cross-Pollination of Nature, Science and Creativity will be officially opened on Thursday 26 September. Click here for more information about the exhibition. Head over to this page for more details about Volume #35: Everything Under Control.