About
Photo: Kris Krüg for PopTech
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is an artist, designer and writer, interrogating science, technology and new roles for design in a biotech future.
As Design Fellow on Synthetic Aesthetics, an NSF/EPSRC-funded project at Stanford University and the University of Edinburgh, she is curating an international programme researching synthetic biology, art and design, investigating how we might ‘design nature’.
Other works include The Synthetic Kingdom, a proposal for a new branch of the Tree of Life; E. chromi, a collaboration with James King and Cambridge University’s grand-prize-winning team at the 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) and a science fiction short story - The Well-Oiled Machine, co-written with Oron Catts while resident at SymbioticA, the art and science laboratory at the University of Western Australia in 2009. Daisy taught both the ArtsScienceBangalore and Cambridge University iGEM teams in 2009. Most recently, Daisy designed ‘Synthesis’, a one-week intensive synthetic biology lab workshop for artists, designers, scientists and others, in collaboration with The Arts Catalyst, UCL, SymbioticA, and Synthetic Aesthetics, funded by The Wellcome Trust.
Daisy studied Architecture at Cambridge University, Design at Harvard University, and MA Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art. Her work has been exhibited at MoMA NY, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Wellcome Trust, London’s Design Museum, the Israel Museum and the National Museum of China. Daisy publishes, teaches and lectures internationally: recent talks include TEDglobal and PopTech. Her work was nominated for the Brit Insurance Designs of The Year 2011, the Index Award 2011 and she received the World Technology Award (Design) 2011.
Education
Royal College of Art MA Design Interactions
10/2007 - 07/2009, London, UK.
Dissertation: "Design Evolution: Microbes and the Everyday" [Distinction].
Harvard University
09/2005 - 06/2006, Cambridge, USA.
Herchel Smith Scholarship from Cambridge University.
Visiting student at Graduate School of Arts and Sciences & Graduate School of Design
Cambridge University MA (Cantab) Architecture, First Class
09/2001 - 06/2004 , Cambridge, UK.
Ranked first in graduating year.
Purcell Miller Tritton Prize (Best Overall Student).
Nominated for entry in RIBA President's Medals Awards.
Dissertation: “Consuming Architecture:
Exploring the Ethics of a Sustainable Brandscape.”
Awards & Nominations
World Technology Awards
Winner, Design
World Technology Awards & Summit, New York, October 2011
Index: Design to Improve Life Awards
Finalist, (E.chromi)
Copenhagen, September 2011
Exhibition to 2013
Designs of the Year
E.chromi nominated for Brit Insurance Designs of the Year Awards.
Exhibition February 16 - August 2011
Best Documentary, Bio:Fiction
Bio:Fiction Science, Art & Film Festival
Natural History Museum, May 14 2011, Vienna
E. chromi
VIDA 12.0 Special Mention, Growth Assembly, 2010
Growth Assembly nominated for FutureEverything Award, 2010
Australian Bicentennial Fellowship Awarded by Kings College London to undertake research at SymbioticA, 2009
Herchel Smith Scholarship to Harvard University, awarded by Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, 2005 - 2006
Purcell Miller Tritton Prize Best Overall Student, Department of Architecture, Cambridge University, 2004
Residencies, Fellowships & Projects
Design Fellow, Synthetic Aesthetics: Connecting Synthetic Biology & Creative Design
Stanford University, USA & Edinburgh University, UK,
Feb 2010 -
Visiting Fellow, ESRC Genomics Forum, University of Edinburgh, Feb 2010
Residency, SymbioticA , University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, Sept 2009 - Dec 2009
Co-founder, AlterFutures, 2009
Co-organiser, Long Now London, 2009
Co-founder and designer, GSD Green Design,Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Sept 2005 - May 2006
Employment
Design Fellow, Synthetic Aesthetics
Stanford University/University of Edinburgh
February 2010 -
General Public Agency Project Coordinator
London, Mar- Aug 2007
Architecture + Urbanism Unit, Greater London Authority Architectural Assistant
London, Feb - Aug 2005
Borgos Dance Architects
London, Sept 2004 - Feb 2005
Eisenman Architects
New York, Aug -Sept 2003
Pentagram Design
London, Aug - Sept 2002