What is it like to live with a technology intimately embedded in our bodies? What if implant technologies are applied to healthy people too, so that we can eventually enhance ourselves? Intimate Implant is an interactive art project within INKplant looking for answers.

INKplant is deepening into the closer relationship between humans and technology. Their researchers are working on biodegradable synthetic implants that dissolve into the body, stimulating the growth of new tissue. INKplant is at the forefront of exploring the medical potential of this technology. The implants, which could treat diseases like cleft palate and bone defects, are also used by enthusiasts to experiment on their own healthy bodies. That's why INKplant has joined a diverse group of experts, including ethicist scholars, artists, engineers, and researchers, to create Intimate Implant, an interactive art experience.

There are fundamental questions with important ethical, cultural, social and political implications that need to be explored now, before regenerative implant technologies will be implemented in healthcare and further applications will be available in society on a large scale. This project aims to engage patients and the general public to reflect on these questions.

Rising public awareness

One of these collaborations has turned into the art project Intimate Implant, lead by Manon van Daal and Anne-Floor de Kanter (ethics scholars), along with interdisciplinary designer Bertrand Burgers with support from the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU). This unique project will provide a platform for patients to reflect on the impact of regenerative implants while sparking a wider discussion about the future of the human-technology relationship.

Bertrand Burgers is a designer working at the intersection of art, technology, and society. His work focuses on emerging technologies and their ethical and societal challenges, and he has extensive experience with similar interdisciplinary projects. An example is the interactive installation Baby Builder, in which visitors can design their own child through genetic engineering. His work has been exhibited at national and international events such as Dutch Design Week and Ars Electronica.

Art as a science tool

INKplant's work on this project falls within Workpackage 9, which focuses on identifying and evaluating the ethical and societal challenges of regenerative implants. Through an interactive art experience, stakeholders can gain a deeper understanding of the future implications and possibilities of regenerative implants.

The performance art experience will enrich INKplant's ongoing user acceptance study by using art as a tool to start a conversation about the future impacts and possibilities of regenerative implants. It also aligns with the goals of open science and open innovation and will contribute to innovative multidisciplinary research at the intersection of science, ethics, and the arts.

Understanding a complex relationship

Through this collaboration, INKplant highlights the complex relationship between humans and technology. As Manon van Daal and Anne-Floor de Kanter, the ethicist scholars involved in the project, puts it, "Through this project, INKplant is exploring the intimate relationship between humans and technology through interactive art. By engaging citizens and patients in a discussion on the societal impact of regenerative implants, we can gain a better understanding of the implications of living with a technology embedded in our bodies.”