Dog's life: ideas from a crazy future
This provocative image from the exhibition explores the possibility of using dogs to provide life-support for humans.
Tuesday October 06 2009
GREYHOUND dogs transformed into live medical devices, breath-smelling bees and machines able to read emotions are among the brave new world of emerging technology that will go on display this week.
Dublin's Science Gallery will open its doors on Thursday to one of the most jarring and controversial exhibitions in recent memory.
Its "What If..." exhibit will feature thought-provoking projects from 20 industrial designers from around the world exploring the good, the bad and the ugly of emerging technologies.
Curated by London-based designers Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, the exhibit will feature the works of designers who have looked into such things as using live dogs as life support systems for humans and whether we could redesign human teeth to encourage vegetarianism.
An exhibit called "Life Support" explores the possibility of using dogs to provide recycled blood for kidney dialysis patients while "Bees" looks at using bees' acute sense of smell to diagnose human ailments by detecting a specific breath odour.
The "Cloud Project" will feature a so-called "Nano ice cream van" that will explore the seemingly far-fetched notion that the composition of clouds may be altered using recent developments in nanotechnology to snow ice cream instead of snow.
Gallery director Michael John Gorman said the exhibit will examine "possible future scenarios through products you might buy in the future."
"It's certainly provocative," he said. "But we wouldn't be aiming to shock but to get people to question decisions we are making now for the future," he said.
Admission is free although people are asked to make a €5 donation towards the exhibit, running from October 8 to December 13.
- Allison Bray
Irish Independent
