This 3D Printed Wearable Capillaries “The Wanderers” were unveiled as part of the exhibition: ‘The Sixth Element: Exploring the Natural Beauty of 3D Printing’ on display at EuroMold, 25-28 November, Frankfurt, Germany, Hall 11, Booth FN01. This work was done by Neri Oxman and a group of creatives from the MIT mediated matter group in collaboration with Christoph Bader and Dominik Kolb. Each piece intends to hold life sustaining elements contained within 3D printed vascular structures with internal cavities. Influenced by natural growth behaviour, the computational process creates shapes that adapt to their environment and is capable of producing a wide variety of living structures. Starting as seeds, the biomimicry process simulates growth by continuously expanding and refining its shape. Living matter within these structures will ultimately transform oxygen for breathing, photons for seeing, biomass for eating, biofuels for moving and calcium for building. Scientific collaborators include Dr. James Weaver, Prof. George Church, Prof. Pamela Silver, Prof. Tim Lu, Allen Chen, Stephanie Hays, Eléonore Tham and Dan Robertson.
The collection of bio-material 3D prints explore the possibility of ‘voyaging to the worlds beyond by visiting the worlds within.’ The wearable capillaries have been conceived for ‘interplanetary pilgrims’, which are infused with synthetically engineered microorganisms to make the hostile habitable and the deadly alive.
