Imagination as an Embodied Craft

• In Event: Creative Misfits - I: Crafting Misfits: Technosocial Constructions of Disability

Abstract

On artificial hearts production, imagination is understood as an engine for the emergency of new solutions, in a field of experimental research and (still) unstable artifacts. Since there are no stabilized solutions, it is necessary to imagine and idealize new ways of dealing with heart failure, one of the main causes of death in the contemporary world.
I argue that imagination is a fundamental aspect not only to idealization of new devices, but also as an embodied craft, in all stages of the devices development, which are: in vitro tests, in vivo tests and (human) clinical evaluation. When submitted to tests recommended by the legitimized institutions, artificial hearts can make new relationships emerge. Imagination, therefore, is materialized and is not restricted to the processes of idealization of new solutions. Cognitive and “embodied” dimensions permeate artificial heart development process, which allows us to problematize production and dissemination of knowledge.
Starting from the idea of imagination as a central dimension and linked to the presence of nonhumans, such as the devices themselves and pigs employed in in vivo tests, I intend to explore the role of design and creative practice as both process and product in more-than-human research. Artificial hearts and animals impose themselves, demanding adaptations and transformations in technologies designed by bioengineers, which is evidenced by the attention given to socio-material practices.

Author

• Marisol Marini, University of São Paulo