Skin is the new canvas

I've been lying on the couch for the past couple of days with a thick ankle, so all the time in the world to check out The Net endlessly. That's how I came across this interesting find on Etsy (I looooove Etsy!):



It's called 'Piece of yourself', by MadamEdgar. Besides remembering me of the 'hobby' a friend and I had in high school (we collected our own nails, hairs, and blood, and filled little oh so romantic (...) friend boxes with it), it also made me aware again that more and more artists share an interest in skin. Here are some examples, some of which you probably already recognise, since they are not new, but also some of new and emerging Dutch artists (go see their work!):

The electronic tattoo, by the Philips Design Probe team




Carskin, by Olaf Mooij:



A work of which I don't know the name, by Peter Zwaan (I took the picture last week at science festival Discovery10 in Amsterdam , and you can't see it really well, but there are hairs growing out of the 'apple'):



Body modification for love (clone your lover's nipple and transplant it to your own body) by Michiko Nitta (www.myportfolio.me.uk/):



And 'Game Boys' from an artist I really admire for the way she makes us all philosophers, Patricia Piccinini (Patricia Piccinini, Game Boys Advanced, 2002 (detail.) Image Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery. Copyright Patricia Piccinini):

Knitted lab rat/Gebreid proefdier

(English Below!)
Ik vind het enorm fascinerend dat je proefdieren, ik geloof vooral muizen en ratten, kunt bestellen (voor lab-onderzoek, niet zomaar!) met een specifieke genetische make-up, zodat ze bijvoorbeeld snel een bepaalde soort kanker ontwikkelen. Als niet-wetenschapper klapperen je oren als je dat soort informatie hoort. Een hele nieuwe wereld! Hierboven een foto van een kunstwerk voor in wetenschap geinteresseerde mensen: zonder dat er een dier voor heeft hoeven sterven, want geheel gebreid! Zie www.etsy.com/shop/CraftyHedgehog

I think it's totally fascinating that as a scientist working with test animals (or what is the English phrase?), you can order rats or mice with a specific genetic make-up, with for instance a genetic disposition for a certain type of cancer. As a non-scientists, that kind of information is rather surprising! A whole new world, where people shop for very curious things... In the picture a cool artwork for the science interested. It's made without having to really dissect a rat, because it's totally knitted! Check it out at www.etsy.com/shop/CraftyHedgehog