Transformation of the inner beauty

Hanneke Wetzer

 

Isaac Monté is a design activist and designs objects and installations as a response to the social, ecological or economic problems. At the moment his work called ‘the art of deception’ is been featured in Kazarne, Eindhoven during the exhibition of guest curator Jeroen Junte, called ‘next up’.

Ruud Balk

 

‘We have taken discarded pig hearts and transformed them into elegant vessels for new life by decellularizing them and re-populating them with various techniques, into aesthetically improved hearts for humans’ (Monte).

The work consists of 21 cylinders, each containing a transformed porcine heart. With this collection, Aterlier Monté, explores how biological intervention and aesthetic manipulation can be used as tools for the ultimate deception: transforming the inner beauty, from extreme to perfect. Isaac thereby asks the question on how muslims and vegetarians respond to receiving a donor heart.

Isaac Monte

The project is about improving and beautify the human body, it is about the deceptiveness  of beauty and the scientific developments in the field of tissue culture and organ transplantation. Isaac examines the future scenario in which the scientific improvement of an organ such as the heart does not result from medical necessity, but out of greed and coquetry.

You could see Monte as an explorer in a possible future world. His findings ask fundamental questions. What does it mean that our body, the most familiar, that is composed of material that we can analyze and manipulate as desired? What does it say about our identity? Does it exist independently from our bodies? In other words, what is humanity?

 

 

This bike has multiple sclerosis

 

Multiple Scleroris (MS) is an onnoying disease. It is common to have several symptoms and it is very difficult to explain the disease to people, and to explain how it effects your body. Grey invented a cool idea: in collaboration with neurologists, physiotherapists, patients and bicycle repairers they incorporated the virous symptoms of the disease in a bicycle. So now everyone can feel exactly what it’s like to have MS.

Broken gears, wheels and brakes, it’s all on the bicyle. If you have used the bike for 20 minutes it becomes clear that you are using certain muscle groups that you’ve never used before. And it is very clear that the human body acts like a machine; also machines are able to get terrible short circuits and MS is perhaps the best example for that.

 

HIV heroes

Vakgardist

 

Austrian magazine, Vangardist asks attention for HIV in a special way. In order to print the latest edition they have used the blood of three HIV patients. The sterilized blood containing the virus was used in three thousand from the eighteen thousand magazines and was intended to convey the attention to the dailiy stigma of people with HIV.

The journal is of course completely safe to use. Researchers from Harvard and the University of Innsbruch accompanied the magazine during production. The issue features articles on the history of the stigmatization of HIV patients and how the disease exists today and interviews with the three blood donors. The procees will be donated to charities that are involved with HIV and AIDS.

Julian Wiehl explains to Vice: ‘We wanted to not only bring HIV to the attention, but also the fact that people who are infected with it, are still very stigmatized in our society. The problem is not that HIV never made the news, but nowadays it does not happen anymore. Everyone seems to think that whe heard enough about it, but the response shows in our magazine that there is still much to be gained. Unfairtunately, it is not enough to write about it’.

Bicycle Friendliness

Like Amsterdam, Copenhagen is a city with an extensive cycling network.
Discovering a city by bike is nice, it gives you a certain freedom. For me it looked like they cycled so much faster than me and my classmates, but the Danish think the same about the cyclists in Amsterdam. In a strange city you always have to figure out the road you need to take and in your own city you don’t even have to think about how to ride to work.

Copenhagen is very innovative in the field of cycling.

For example, the green wave. The first green wave for cyclists was established back in 2007. Since then, the concept has spread further throughout the rest of Copenhagen. ‘The idea is simple. Coordinate the traffic lights for cyclists so that if they ride at a speed of 20 km/h, they will hit green lights all the way into the city in the morning rush hour’ (copenhagenize.com)

On average, bicycle users in Copenhagen cycle about 16km/h. A wave of 20 km/h stimulates some cyclists to drive up their speed, while others take up a slower pace in order to benefit from the green lights.

Copenhagen is a city with the ambitious goal to be the first CO2 neutral ‘capital of the world’, in 2025. The Green Wave 2.0 was launched in 2013. Currently, version 2.0 is in its testphase. It has sensors that are able to register a group if citizens riding together. At the intersection that they’re approaching the lights will be kept on green a little longer.

The Green Wave is not the only initiative for cyclists in Copenhagen. At a number of intersections, footrests and railings have appeared, taking away the irritation of having to hop off the saddle or put a foot down while waiting for the light to change. In addition, all over the city garbage cans have been placed so that cyclists can throw the trash while cycling.

Photo: Zepha de Roo

On June 29, Copenhagen launched the bicycle snake or ‘cykelslangen’, an iconic and important logistical mobility link. The long bridge connects two parts of the city with a 220 meter long bypass road and is exclusively for cyclists and pedestrians. Everyone in Copenhagen is very excited about the snake. It is a classic Danish design and has a functional, practical value.

Outcomes
Copenhagen is Europe’s safest capital. The percentage of accidents involving cyclists remains low due to the innovations. There is no orange in the traffic lights and red is really red there. In the Netherlands we sometimes cycle trough red, but in Copenhagen it rarely happens.

It also has financial benefits:

– The cost of 1km of cycle track is paid off in five years by the health benefits of users getting more exercise.
– Car traffic drops by 10% on these stretches and cycling increases by 20%.
– The 41% of the population who arrive at work or school by bike contribute a whopping €235m (£185m) a year to the public coffers.
-Re-allocating space from less cost-efficient transport forms like cars to modern, cost-effective bicycles makes sense.
(link)
– The number of CO2 emissions is reduced.

In Holland, we are also innovative in the field of cycling. For instance, the hovering bike roundabout in Eindhoven.  Cyclists can ride completely seperated from the motorized traffic by cycling on an extra ring above the intersection.

Links:
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2014/08/the-green-waves-of-copenhagen.html
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/oct/16/copenhagen-cycling-innovation-lycra-louts-green-wave-bike-bridges

photo’s
http://www.sharingcopenhagen.dk/media/215017/16-groen-boelge.jpg http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/12/09/business/copenhagen2/copenhagen2-articleLarge.jpg
http://cdn3.gbtimes.com/cdn/farfuture/28EsI7lzpydiQZOiFRhggXQ6hwPVY6wASy8xVulB-w/mtime:1398156987/sites/default/files/styles/1280_wide/public/2014/04/22/cph_tilted-bin_cyklistforbundet-mikkel_ostergaard.jpg?itok=XuVF7W6O

http://www.dac.dk/Images/img/1920x1200M/(50713)/50713/cykelslangen-08.jpg
http://www.designdiffusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IMG_9033.jpg

Digital Pill

What is it?
This Digital Pill tells the doctor whether the medication is forgotten or not. It’s a digital tracker that tells the doctors if their patients are taking their drugs on time and correctly. The tracker is processed in the regular medication of the patient. With a sensor the size of a grain of sand  the patient won’t notice anything.

Each tracker will send a message to the related app, it will warn at the moment that the pill comes in contact with the gastric acid. The app can thereafter send a text message to the doctor or nurse, showing that the patient has taken his/her medication. So they can directly see which pills on what moment of the day are taken, or when they forgot a pill.
But maybe the most important thing: what kind of effect the medication has on the patient.

Why is it cool?
It can decrease the number of wasted drugs and it can warn family members when the medication is not taken properly by elderly relatives.

Why does it has future growth potential?
Sustainability is very important at the moment, so wasting must be reduced.
They will also cut back on health care and the care of older people. It’s easier for the family members when they can control the use of medication on this way.

check out these websites for more information:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10279007/The-pill-that-can-text-from-inside-the-body.html
http://numrush.nl/2013/09/04/digitale-pil-vertelt-doctor-of-medicatie-vergeten-wordt/
http://www.express.co.uk/news/health/425962/Digital-pill-tells-doctors-if-patients-are-taking-their-drugs-right

Concept for medical trainings weights

What is it and why is it cool?
Weights are a good way to train your body, but they occupy quite some space. In addition, they are always heavy.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have light weights which you can aggravate temporarily.
This is the idea behind the concept for these magnetic training weights, the 02 Magnetic Dumbell.

Users can increase and lower resistance by simply adjusting a small dial. By switching the polarity of the magnets embedded within the units, users can toggle between concentric and eccentric muscle movements, allowing them to access a wide range of exercises.

The display indicates 8 circled bars which each represent an additional weight of 3kg. Thus the user can conveniently choose the right training weight ranging from 3kg to 24kg at a glance. Last but not least the user can follow the repetitions of each training set as they are indicated on the display in the middle of the device. This enables the user to get a comprehensive overview of the current training status.

Why it has future growth potential?
The reason for this concept is that people have less time to move. People want to be able to do this when they are on their way.
With the old training weight this is not possible because they are too heavy and too big to carry with them.

You can take the magnetic dumbell with you when you are traveling.  You can do the exercises in the train for example and also when you are reading a text.

Reference : http://www.want.nl/o2-concept-voor-magnetische-trainigsgewichten/