Image credit: Toby Coulson
Bio Stories
In conjunction with the Global Future Council on Synthetic Biology, Faber Futures created the multi-stage global stakeholder engagement project Bio Stories.
In order to assist storytelling in synthetic biology, Bio Stories is a set of conceptual, curatorial, and symbolic tools.
The Bio Stories visual language makes use of the spatial framework of an endless flag to depict the complex mycorrhizal networks that link and permit communication between plants and fungi in the forest. The connectivity of the rivers, earth, sky, and everything else is symbolised by the gradient that surrounds these networks. The unending flag symbolises the invisible networks that maintain and signify the interdependence of nature. These ancient metaphors for interspecies connectedness provide a visual framework for discussions about the relationships we have and desire to have
with nature.
Unfolding around a round table that has been specially designed; that is not monolithic, but rather modular, portable, and deployable in various contexts. To eliminate hierarchy and bring everyone to the same level, participants take their own seat at the table.
Image credit:Max Kneefel
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Image Credit: Max Kneefel
Image credit: Toby Coulson
The BIO STORIES report summarises the scope of the project and offers some preliminary suggestions for building the kind of world we all want to live in.
The report makes public the methods for design-led stakeholder engagement created by Faber Futures as an invitation to others to take the project further.
The report offers an invitation to others to continue the initiative by making public Faber Futures' techniques for design-led stakeholder engagement. The report also includes an appendix with summaries of the stakeholder dialogues and a code book with the theoretical framework for anthropological analysis.
A structured, interactive, and accessible layout is combined with infographics and diagrams that build on the visual metaphors of the flag.
