Artists create bacteria-fermented wine dress

  • 07 Jun 2012

A research lab that started out with hopes of creating a cyborg with self-developing skin has created the newest line in womenswear -- skintight dresses made from fermented wine.

Bioalloy, which carries out research at the FNAS laboratories of the University of Western Australia (UWA), has formed Micro-be, a collaboration from contemporary artist Donna Franklin and Bioalloy cofounder Gary Cass. The pair create large quantities of fibrous cellulose (the structure that makes up stringy plant cell walls) by introducing acetobacter (the bacteria used in the fermentation process of turning wine into vinegar) into vats of wine. The bacteria produces cellulose when grown in a solution containing glucose. Other alcohol can be used in its place, including beer. "This microbial cellulose [produced] is chemically similar to cotton," Cass told "Therefore the Micro-be garments are made from microbial cotton. It is formed on the surface of the wine, almost as if the bacteria are trying to form a raft to flow on the wine. One could only imagine the sing-a-longs and good times by all the bacteria on this drunken raft."

The resulting material is then draped over a mannequin and it shrinks to fit. It is modelled on an inflatable mannequin rather than a person because when dry, the cellulose becomes inflexible and easily torn -- a rather large stumbling block if Bioalloy is hoping to go mainstream one day. This is because cellulose is made up of short chain links of fibres, making it prone to breakages. "We have now perfected a culturing technique that will allow the bacteria to form a three-dimensional garment that will be seamless," adds Cass. "It can be formed to fit the wearer like a second skin."

This is not textile artist Franklin's first foray into the world of fermenting fashion -- in 2007 she presented a living orange bracket fungus dress while working out her residency at UWA's SymbioticA, an "artistic laboratory" that works closely with life sciences. She fed the fungus dress special nutrients to promote its colour-changing properties. Franklin said she wanted to "challenge people's perceptions of body-garment relationships and our relationship to the natural world and the commodification of that world". It was then that she met Cass, who was working on developing a machine that could generate its own skin, described as "a symbiotic alliance between a biological bacteria and an alloy machine".

Having chosen fashion as an outlet for their creations, the pair hope to provide a social commentary and promote debate within the field. "Our society is based around capitalist ideas," Franklin said in a previous interview. "So I think, as an artist, to have that opportunity to take your art into that system and infiltrate it and maybe change it, or change people's ways of thinking, particularly... when people are becoming more concerned about the ethics of production and consumption and green technologies, is a great thing."

Cass is currently carrying out research into how the Micro-be material can be used to scaffold tissue engineering -- where the processed microbial cellulose would be applied on the lower half of the wound and then seeded with stem cells -- and the pair plan to release a new dress later this year. "We hope that it will inspire others to come up with more creative pieces that will direct and/or redirect our future society," Cass told "Fermented fashion doesn't need to stay within the fashion world but can inspire new thoughts in many other disciplines, such as medicine, engineering, dentistry or architecture. All you have to do is let your imagination, creativity and ingenuity loose."

Images: Ray Scott