An exhibition and series of talks about involving nature in 21st century design is being presented by a group led by the University of Birmingham’s School of Computer Science.

The exhibition will feature Roboshark, the robotic shark with a mind of its own; Fugue, an interactive artwork based on the human immune-system; Pulse, jewellery based on protein data and many other exhibits. Each exhibit interprets the idea of nature inspired design in a different way.

Dr Thorsten Schnier, Research Fellow at the University’s Centre of Excellence in Computational Intelligence and Applications (Cercia), says ‘Nature is the ultimate designer. Designs in nature are the most robust, resource efficient, scalable and beautiful. In the 'Nature inspired creative design' network, people from a variety of backgrounds come together to find out how nature's methods can be used in human design activities.’

The 'nature inspired creative design' research network, funded by the Arts and Humanities and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Councils (AHRC and EPSRC), has close to 100 members. The event is hosted by the Visualization Research Unit (VRU) at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD).

The exhibition is being held at the School of Art, Margaret Street, Birmingham City Centre from Thursday 14th to Saturday 16th September 10am- 4pm. Talks take place between 11am and 5pm on Thursday and Friday. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information visit www.nature-inspired.org

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For further information

Kate Chapple, Press Officer, University of Birmingham, tel 0121 414 2772 or 07789 921164.