Research Council of Finland’s Fellowship Project PI: Çağlar Genç   What if we play shadow guessing games with the light cast from bacteria and yeast growing in a bedside lamp? Or can we play a game where we try to avoid stepping on vibrating mushroom floor panels? Can we invent a Twister matte with wood whose veins change color? Would playing with these biomaterials (i.e., bacteria, yeast, mushrooms and plants) make them our social companions that we care for, and enjoy with, rather than solely seeing them as products that we consume?

  In a world where biomaterials such as bacteria, yeast, mushrooms and plants, are often seen as mere ‘resources’, PLAY-BIO seeks to redefine our relationship with them through the lens of More-than-human (MtH) approaches. The rise of MtH thinking challenges the traditional anthropocentric viewpoint, urging us to view non-human entities as active participants in our lives. While biomaterials have been explored in design research and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), the manifestation of cohesive MtH relations, such as care and kinship, in everyday life remains underexplored. PLAY-BIO embarks on a journey to bridge this gap by employing Games & Play as transformative tool to design playful biomaterials, envisioning a future where these materials become our social companions rather than mere consumables. The chosen playfulness, emphasizing fun and joyful interactions over utility, is anticipated to trigger exploration and curiosity, fostering MtH relations between humans and biomaterials in daily life. To achieve this, PLAY-BIO adopts a Research through Design (RtD) approach, focusing on widely accessible biomaterials like SCOBY (a bacteria and yeast culture), mycelium, and plant-based materials. The project unfolds in three phases: Material tinkering and co-speculation workshops to explore playful interaction between humans and biomaterials, deploying and evaluating playful biomaterial designs in households to identify emerging MtH relations, and synthesizing knowledge to create an MtH Design Framework for Designing Playful Biomaterials. The expected contributions of PLAY-BIO are threefold. Firstly, it promises to deliver the first examples of playfulness in biomaterial designs developed to trigger MtH relations in everyday life, marking a scientific breakthrough in HCI, Design Research, and Material Engineering. Secondly, PLAY-BIO pioneers the study of MtH relations resulting from playful biomaterial design in everyday life, bridging theoretical MtH concepts with practical applications in HCI, Design, and Sustainability Research. Lastly, the project aims to provide the first MtH Design Framework for Playful Biomaterials, linking design approaches with their impact on MtH relations in everyday life. Through this comprehensive research endeavor, PLAY-BIO envisions a transformative shift away from the prevailing human-centered view, towards a society that embraces and cares for the non-human entities we coexist with on the planet, fostering harmonious futures.

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Contact: genc.caglar@tuni.fi