The DIY Body Project - www.diybody.org

The DIY Body Project is a participatory art project by artist Britt Wray inspired by DIY approaches to synthetic biology and crafting that takes place online and as an evolving textile installation in the !dea Gallery at the Ontario Science Centre. It has been curated as part of the Spark! The Heart of Art and Science exhibition happening from March 3 – Aug 12, 2012. The exhibition also features works by Toronto-based sculptor Laura Moore, and scientific researchers from the MaRS Discovery District.

Find out how you and your family can learn a new craft and exhibit your work in the Ontario Science Centre by visiting www.diybody.org.

DNA is often referred to as the “genetic blueprint of life” that directs the growth of an organism. For sewers, the pattern is the blueprint that guides their creations. This project provides free downloadable sewing patterns to create your own DIY “synthetic” body parts from through crafting. Combine the parts you make into an imaginative body in your own home, or bring them to the gallery and add them to the evolving installation where a textile body of human, plant, animal, microbiological and imagined parts is installed. Over the 6 months of exhibition, the “synthetic” body will evolve in the gallery to reflect the mutations that gallery visitors impose upon it.

For more information on the project and the topics that inspire it (synthetic and DIY biology) please visit www.diybody.org.