You only get to die once.
Created by:
Hydro-gel tissue 3D printed patch by Dr Carmine Gentile, Sruthy Gnanachselvam and Wafa Al Shamery of UTS School of Biomedical Engineering.
3D heart model by Dr Marco Vettorello, printed by ProtoSpace at UTS
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The object before you is a display created to celebrate the inaugural Compassionate Communities week in 2034. The 3D-printed heart with 3D-printed patch represents technological advances in medicine, while the poppy bud represents healthcare’s inherent links to natural systems, and ongoing commitment to controlling pain and other symptoms. The stories represent memories brought from the past to help shape the future.
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic meant that many people were not able to physically be with their loved ones during their death. The pain of isolation led to a groundswell of people calling for us to rethink, as a community, how we support and care for each other. By 2030, increased funding brought new technologies to patients and carers in isolation, including virtual reality calls and even haptic gloves, so that people could virtually hold a loved one's hand.
At the same time, life-prolonging procedures – such as using a patient’s own cells to develop a 3D-printed patch to heal defects – became common. All people were encouraged to record their own story as an audio message as they aged, allowing wisdom from the past to be shared with the future.
Paul Brown & Linda Dement
Paul and Linda are two artists with very diverse backgrounds collaborating to create a unique form of art. Paul Brown is a creative producer specialising in projects with environmental, scientific, and social themes. He is a playwright, filmmaker, former geologist and consultant. Linda Dement is originally a photographer, with her practice spanning the programmed, performative, textual and visual. Linda's works have been widely exhibited internationally and locally at the Institute of Contemporary Art London, Ars Electronica Austria, multiple International Symposia of Electronic Art and Impakt Media Arts Festivals in Europe.
