ABSTRACT

As the urgency around the environmental impact of fashion production grows, biotechnologies that engineer microbes and other biological organisms such as plants offer cleaner, greener processes and entirely new products. Bacteria and yeasts may be engineered to colour fabric, generate synthetic fibre precursors, and produce enzymes used to break down and convert waste. Biotechnology can also present as a continuation of humanity’s mastery over the natural world. This article explores how biotechnology may offer fashion – as both industry and culture – alternative ways of forming relationships with the natural world, offering a range of propositions for the role of biotechnology in fashion practice. The first theme, ‘taming’, examines how biotechnology offers alternatives that control and reduce environmental impacts within existing industry norms. Taming includes synthetic biology and microbial biotechnology to develop processes for silk and leather alternatives, and the replacement of existing fossil-fuel based fibres with bio-based equivalents. The second theme, ‘rewilding’, focuses on the role biotechnology may play in local, decentralised fashion production existing outside of industry control, within the community. Last, ‘speculating’ shows the role biotechnology may play in imagining and enacting alternative views of the living world in which the human and more-than-human entangle to form new kinships.

摘要

随着时装生产对环境影响的紧迫性日益增加，改造微生物和其他生物有机体（如植物）的生物技术提供了更清洁、更环保的流程和全新的产品。细菌和酵母可以被设计成给织物着色，产生合成纤维前体，并产生用于分解和转化废物的酶。生物技术也可以表现为人类对自然世界的掌握的延续。本文探讨了生物技术如何为时尚——作为产业和文化——提供与自然世界建立关系的替代方式，为生物技术在时尚实践中的作用提供一系列主张。第一个主题“驯服”研究生物技术如何提供替代品，在现有行业规范内控制和减少环境影响。驯服包括合成生物学和微生物生物技术，以开发丝绸和皮革替代品的工艺，以及用生物基纤维替代现有的化石燃料纤维。第二个主题是“重新野生”，重点关注生物技术可能在社区内行业控制之外的本地分散式时尚生产中发挥的作用。最后，“推测”显示了生物技术在想象和制定人类和超人类纠缠以形成新亲属关系的生活世界的替代观点方面可能发挥的作用。分散的时尚生产存在于行业控制之外，存在于社区内。最后，“推测”显示了生物技术在想象和制定人类和超人类纠缠以形成新亲属关系的生活世界的替代观点方面可能发挥的作用。分散的时尚生产存在于行业控制之外，存在于社区内。最后，“推测”显示了生物技术在想象和制定人类和超人类纠缠以形成新亲属关系的生活世界的替代观点方面可能发挥的作用。