Revital Cohen
From CT4CT: Creative Tools for Critical Times
Revital Cohen is a designer and Royal College of Art Design Interactions graduate whose work examines the relationships and possibilities between medical machines, animals, and humans.
According to Dezeen:
Cohen recently attained a Masters in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art in London, which followed a BA in Contemporary Furniture Design from Buckinghamshire New University. As a designer and researcher she develops critical objects and provocative scenarios exploring the juxtaposition of the natural with the artificial. Her work spans across various media and includes collaborations with scientists, animal breeders and medical consultants.
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Projects
Artifical Biological Clock
Revital Cohen's Artificial Biological Clock (2008) is a clock-like device that responds to online information from a woman's doctor, therapist and financial advisor. It is designed to remind modern women when they are fertile and emotionally and economically ready to conceive. It is an examination of how contemporary life can disconnect us from our instincts and the natural rhythms of our bodies.
According to Cohen:
The promises posed by new reproductive technologies such as IVF, test tube babies and egg freezing, are blurring perceptions of the reproductive cycle amongst women, and consequently, the age of conception is constantly being challenged. The female body clock relies on moonlight to regulate the menstrual cycle. The use of artificial light and contraceptive hormones, along with the growing pressure to develop a career, are distorting the body’s reproductive signals. The artificial biological clock compensates for this increasingly lost instinct. This object acts as constant reminder of the temporary and fragile nature of fertility. Given to a woman by her parents or partner, it reacts to information from her doctor, therapist and bank manager via an online service. When she is physically, mentally and financially ready to conceive the object awakes, seeking her attention.
See also:
Dialysis Sheep
Revital Cohen's Dialysis Sheep (2008) examines the use of transgenic sheep as possible replacements for dialysis machines. It is part of her series entitled Life Support in which she questions whether animals can be transformed into medical devices.
According to Cohen:
At night, the sheep is placed on a special platform at the patient’s bedside. The transgenic sheep’s kidneys are connected via blood lines to the patient’ s fitsula (a surgicaly enlarged vein). During the night, peristaltic pumps remove waste products from the patient’s blood by pumping it out of the body, through the sheep’s kidney (a natural, organic filtering system) and returning it, cleaned, to the patient.
See also:
- Revital Cohen: Dialysis Sheep
- We Make Money Not Art: Life Support - Could animals be transformed into medical devices?
Respiratory Dog
Revital Cohen's Respiratory Dog (2008) consists of a medical device fitted to a greyhound dog through a harness that converts the dog's lung movement into mechanical ventilation used to push air into a human patient's lungs. It is part of her series entitled Life Support in which she questions whether animals can be transformed into medical devices.
According to Cohen:
The greyhound is fitted with a harness that converts its lung movement into mechanical ventilation. The harness is non invasive and uses the dog’s rapid chest movement to pump a bellows that pushes air into the patient’s lungs. A greyhound brought up in racing kennels usually suffers from separation anxiety after retirement. As an assistance dog, it is constantly connected to its owner by a trache tube and is never left alone. The treadmill, using a mechanical lure that employs the dog’s previous training, functions as the interface and on/off switch.
See also:
- Revital Cohen: Life Support - Respiratory Dog
- Vimeo: Revital Cohen's Pecha Kucha at Design Indaba 2009
- We Make Money Not Art: Life Support - Could animals be transformed into medical devices?
