BIOPHILIA.

We don’t imitate the surface of the natural world, we rebuild nature’s logic into a digital landscape of our own making. Nothing is an accident. Everything is the outcome of underlying rules. We play with natural and biological rules within digital spaces, reconfiguring them to create something of nature, yet distinctly new.

Digital ecologies evolve from inputs we define: pressures, repetitions, attractors, noise. The results are then grown—artefacts that emerge from bespoke systems. Not human, not nature, something between. Shaped by growth patterns that never existed in biology.Through additive manufacturing processes and art-techne translations these digital forms take on physical life: evidence of a parallel evolution, a speculative ecosystem where nature is not only observed, but rewritten. These digital forms, made manifest, take root on the human body, shaping its physical architecture in ways foreign yetfamiliar. Our work is not a mirror of the organic—it is a reimagining.

“Biophilia” is a rare hybrid exhibition from rising design star RJ Weaver of ORBWEAVER collective and creative junkie painter-biodesigner Kirsten Tingle.

The show is a unique pairing of traditional painting techniques, living materials,algorithmically generated body architecture, and 3D printed sculpture. Unusual to contemporary art, the making process is informed by developments in human-computer interaction, computational design, digital biomimicry,and the emerging field of biodesign. The techniques developed from the artistic creation of the show feed back out to industry and health tech, allowing for a knowledge exchange that goes far beyond the gallery walls and binds theartwork into the cutting edge of technological progress.

About the Artists:

RJ Weaver: rjweaver.studio @robot.objects @orbweaver.shop

RJ Weaver is a jeweller and computational designer from Virginia, US. He holds an MSC in Computational Design from Design Morphine, and a BS in Industrial Design from Virginia Polytechnic University. RJ is the 3D Design Director for the fashion design studio ORBWEAVER. He was a lecturer on Industry 4.0 Workflows at Virginia Polytechnic University from 2021-2024. His work has been featured on the runways of BioTech Couture and Vêtement de Rue, showcasing the cutting-edge contemporary design possibilities of parametric and virtual reality design workflows through the lens of wearable sculpture.

Kirsten Tingle: kirstentingle.com @kirstentingle @biodesign.now

Kirsten Tingle is a Scottish artist and biodesigner currently based between London and New York City. She holds an MA in Biodesign from Central Saint Martins in London, a BA in Art and English from Pomona College in South California, and completed a four-year certificate program in painting and sculpture at The Art Students League of New York. Her latest body of work combines mycelium fabrication, place-based phytoremediation, and traditional oil painting techniques to reimagine painting practice in the time of climate crisis. Kirsten is an alum of the US-UK Fulbright and Sutton Trust US Programme.