This week I immersed myself in The Secret Teaching of Plants, Buhner, and was blown away by his critique on scientists and their studies of life and nature. He argues that the traditional approach scientists use to study life is by dissecting and deconstructing nature, and while this can be a useful and practical study, it completely ignores a major aspect of nature that may help to understand many of the mysteries of nature; life. Living organisms are able to function based on the communication between cells, organs, and specie to specie. When we look at dead objects, we are missing the whole communicative aspect, which is where I think the high intelligence of nature occurs. This seems to relate to the class readings, especially Palassmaa’s inquiry on the communication between brain and hand. He believes that life is nature, and this leads me to believe that the ultimate high tech is the force of life itself.

 

This week lead to me to realize my first iteration of my project. I want to grow a plant from a seed, (say a bean), and 3D print the process of its growth. I want to make the growth of nature tangible and visible, and freeze these moments in time. At the same time I think it would be interesting to photograph myself or a friend doing a yoga pose every day to see the internal growth that happens within the body and mind when doing a spiritual practice. I think the distinction between growing and making, and the balance of the two are interesting subjects and worth speculation.