Triptych of Dismembered Immortality
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2015
Oron Catts & Robert Foster

Triptych of Dismembered Immortality is a vertical totem with three bioreactors that support either mouse and cow cells grow into geometrical shapes.

The project responds to the history of the Earmouse, an iconic mouse which in 1996 received a surgically implanted ear created from cow cartilage cells that were seeded over a three dimensional biopolymer scaffold. In an earlier experiment researchers implanted three primary geometrical shapes – a cross, triangle and a square – into mice. A trinity also existed in the Earmouse itself, since it was made out of three discrete organisms: symbolic human (ear shape), real mouse (life support), and fragmented cow (the actual cartilage cells). In response to these observations, Triptych of Dismembered Immortality, was created as an artificial life support system for geometric tissue displayed in a cascading arrangement of forms, life, and decay.