Zbigniew Oksiuta, “New Soil - New Building Material”

The aim of this work is to create complex conditions and construct tools (bio-membranes, 3D Petri-Dish, bioreactors and mini biospheres) to generate biological experiences: the growth of living objects and spaces. The project for New Soil-New Building Material concentrates on the development of biologically active gels which are the growth medium and also the structural building material, strong enough to create 3D objects and membranes on a large scale. This substance is biologically active, and should enable cultivation of organisms on its surface and in its interior.

Zbigniew Oksiuta is a practicing artist/architect and lecturer at the Department of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Zbigniew Oksiuta is an architect and artist experimenting with the possibility of designing biological structures.  He studied at The Faculty of Architecture, The Warsaw University of Technology. Oksiuta concentrates on reducing his research of space to the very necessary minimum: to the physiological existence based primarily upon the verifiable physical and chemical parameters putting aside historical, social, urbanistic and aesthetic factors. His projects such as ‘Spatium Gelatum’ and ‘Breeding Space’ and ‘Space Garden’ examine new soft technologies and biological materials which enable the development of new kind of living habitat in the biosphere and in space.

His work has been shown at venues worldwide including the Venice Biennial 2004; the ArchiLab d’Orleans 2004; Ars Electronica Linz 2007, Biennale of  Electronic Arts Perth, Australia 2007; Center for Contemporary Art Warsaw 2007; FACT Foundation  for Arts and Creative Technology Liverpool 2008; Biannual for Electronic and Unstable Art, Stavanger, Norway 2008, Casino Luxembourg 2009, Casino Luxembourg 2009, Kapelica Gellery, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2010, Science Gallery, Dublin 2011.

He has lectured and presented his ideas at a number of universities, art and scientific institutions including: RWTH Technical University Aachen; National Gallery Warsaw; German Space Agency; Slade School of Art London; University of Westminster London; Architectural Association London; Pratt Institute New York; Faculty of Architecture Landscape and Design UofT Toronto; Southern California Institute of Architecture Los Angeles; Columbia University New York; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; FACT Foundation for Arts and Creative Technology Liverpool; School of Art  at Illinois State University, Normal; Marshall McLuhan Institute, Toronto; University of Bochum Germany; Rogaland School of Art Stavanger, Norway; Royal College of Art and AA Architectural Association, London; Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, USA