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31 items found for ""

  • Melancholic Kit | Caetano Mendes Dias

    Melancholic Kit 2023 When the Ennui sweeps through your life, the Melancholic Kit is here to assist in dealing with such melancholic moments. This kit has been thoughtfully curated and specifically tailored to accompany you in the summertime sadness when a pervasive feeling of apathy sets in and motivation becomes elusive. You don't have to navigate melancholy by yourself – come alongside and acquire a Melancholic Kit. This kit serves as a companion for times of profound boredom during a melancholic emergency. It's an invitation to share your feelings and experiences rather than facing them alone. We encourage you to join us and obtain your own Melancholic Kit.

  • Sea Day | Caetano Mendes Dias

    Sea Day 2022 "A short film statement about how I wish to see myself in the future within the design field. A critical point of view towards my frenetic life, filled with information and so little knowledge. A wish for a future with more conversations/discussions and less writing, a future with less art, and fewer books, as in, fewer artefacts, as in, fewer human footprints (especially the footprints that covered the minorities and marginalised). I speak about a future without a human history to a certain extent. A future without physical memories. I admire the future where true knowledge is passed away through our genes, from generation to generation. The moment when the only human (arte)fact, is the humans themselves, no technology besides the human body. Our bodies are already a beautiful and complex limited archive of our ancestor's knowledge . It is in our hasty need, such as this one, to print our thoughts and actions in the world that we fail in saving ourselves from extinction." Brief reflection.

  • Chemosynthetic bacteria | Caetano Mendes Dias

    Deep breath research Chemosynthetic bacteria Hydrothermal vents Deep Breath scent Origins of olfaction Sources Chemosynthetic bacteria Chemosynthetic bacteria are chemolithotrophs that live under the extreme conditions of hydrothermal vents, thriving in temperatures that can reach up to 150 °C , and with pressures reaching 250 Atmosphere. They use sulfur compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide and elemental sulfur, produced by geological activity, as an energy source to create organic material, instead of using sunlight to generate energy. Chemosynthetic microorganisms help to support the biogeochemical cycle of sulfur. They form the base of the food chain in deep-sea ecosystems, sustaining diverse organisms such as tubeworms, clams, and shrimp with unique symbiotic and commensal relationships. Tubeworms, for instance, which may grow to over 2 m, lack a mouth and gut but house billions of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in their trophosome. Tubeworms transfer haemoglobin from their red plumes to the bacteria living inside their tissues, through the use of hydrogen sulfide, and in return, the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria facilitate the tubeworms in the absorption of carbon nutrients. From your oldest ancestors, Chemosynthetic Bacteria: Chemosynthetic bacteria - Sulfur-reducing and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria - live symbiotically, complementing and sustaining each other's respiration, and energy conservation in anaerobic conditions, and they form microbial mats with various colours, contributing to the vibrant hues seen on seamounts. Let me start by reminding you of who we are. Around 4 billion years ago, in the darkens of the deep sea, we were once born, just after the oceans were formed. We are chemosynthetic bacteria, believed to be one of the first forms of life on this planet, and we have specialised sensors which allow us to perceive our environment under the sea. If you can breathe and smell now is because your sense of smell evolved from our primordial sensors, enabling you to perceive molecules in the air, just like we can perceive molecules inside the water. It was in the deep sea, that rocks and fumes self-organised to became alive and form what we are now today, tiny bacteria living inside hydrothermal vents, the unsettling undersea ridge, where extreme temperatures coming from the centre of the earth meet the freezing deep sea. You can find us inside the rocks, in complete darkness, withstanding the pressure of entire oceans while living surrounded by sulfur compounds and other substances extremely toxic for most organisms. With our chemosensors, we were able to detect sulfur compounds from the sea, which we used to generate energy. This complex mechanism allowed us to create symbiotic relationships and support the biodiversity of the hydrothermal vents. With time, our chemoreceptors took different paths and evolved to form more complex systems, such as your olfactory receptor, which helped you in the flitting moments even before you were one being. In the form of sperm, you used your olfactory receptors to help you navigate and find your egg cell, which was sending signals in the form of hormones. These olfactory receptors would later evolve into your olfactory system, during the first weeks of pregnancy. This means that inside the womb, you could smell the nutrients from your mother’s diet so that after you were born you would be familiar with them and recognize both your mother and maternal milk just by using your sense of smell. The ability to detect molecules and smell them has played a relevant role throughout the history of life. From ancient chemosensors to novel olfactory systems, the ability to perceive chemical signals has been fundamental. This journey highlights the importance of chemosensing and smelling the world around us. We believe that your olfactory system is rooted in our distant past. When you breathe in, remember our complex and beautiful interconnectivity, that weaves our ancient origins to your present existence.

  • Caetano Mendes Dias

    Caetano Mendes Dias We have been graced with five senses, but if we do not cultivate them, we might lose them one day. With the digital space, we have been disconnecting more and more from our physical reality. Obliviating the senses of smell and taste, the only senses that have a direct physical link to our brain. They are as relevant or even more relevant than our other senses, for we need them to have the full image of what we call reality. These senses evoke strong emotions in us, they were and are our initial self-defence mechanisms, the building blocks for our decisions. Today, there is a need to contemplate things - a need for lingering thoughts, critical thinking and imagination! For, many times, problems arise from hasty decisions that should have been thought out. Especially when actions are about to happen, we need to slow down, take a deep breath and smell! As an interdisciplinary designer, I use different media to reflect upon our current social challenges. I believe that multisensory experiences can awaken strong emotions in us, creating empathy and leading to moments of reflection. I have been exploring the sense of smell as a source of knowledge and a catalyst for change, to achieve a society that is more aware of their senses and interconnected with others, humans or non-humans. For a bespoke perfume creation tailored to your unique story, send me an email . EXHIBITIONS 2024 - GRADUATION SHOW . (Collective), Microstad, Eindhoven, NL. 2024 - HUMANS IN SPACES . (Collective), The Space Coolhaven, Rotterdam, NL. 2024 - DIGITAL FOCUS. (Collective), Witte Dame, Design Academy Eindhoven, NL. 2023 - THE SYMBIOCENE FOREST. (Collective), Bio Art Laboratories & DDW, Eindhoven. 2023 - ODOURS OF THE CLIFF . (Permanent) Centro de Interpretação da Reserva Mundial de Surf, Ericeira, PT. 2023 - PORTUGUESE SURF FILM FESTIVAL . (Collective) Galeria Orlando Morais, Ericeira, PT. 2023 - 2.ª BIENAL DE JOVENS CRIADORES DE MAFRA . (Collective) Galeria Orlando Morais, Ericeira, PT. 2023 - JAPANESE KNOTWEED FESTIVAL. (Collective), Mediamatic, Amsterdam, NL. 2023 - SILVA SYSTEM PRESENTS 01. (Collective) De Fabriek, Eindhoven, NL. 2021 - AWESOME, THANKS! (Collective) Design studio, Eindhoven, NL. 2020 - CONFINED.WORK. (Collective) Online. 2020 - FONTE DO CABO. Fonte do cabo, Ericeira, PT. PRESS KIT

  • Philanthrosmia | Caetano Mendes Dias

    Philanthrosmia 2024 Why should we care more about our body odor? Philanthrosmia, is a neologism, meaning: the care for body odors (philo- love, anthro- human, osmia- smell), and gives name to a series of Body Odor Tastings, where all the participants can discuss the taboos related to body odors, while enjoying them in their food. Being able to accept our body odors as they require a lot of courage and time, as we have been pressured by social restrictions and prejudices to smell a certain way. The aesthetic construction of body odor is biased and it was built upon a colonial and racist past, where certain communities were deemed to smell worse than others due to their difference. Body odors play an important role in our lives, and our ancestors knew it better than we do for they used it to communicate with each other. Nowadays it is not so acceptable, to sniff one another in public, but could we still be implying our curiosity about body smells by enjoying their encounter in our food? During the Body Odor Tastings, all participants are invited to experience courses with whiffs of body odors, and the participants can compose a dish that recreates a body odor of their choice. Philansthrosmia creates a space for debunking olfactory-related body issues and in a broader sense, fosters more interest and awareness towards the sense of smell. This project had the help and support of Jurjen van Nes and the DAE community Experimental Grant.

  • Invisible Lives | Caetano Mendes Dias

    Invisible Lives In Between Life and Death 2022 Looking At Nature On Different Scales Finding Similarities Between Things What do human artefacts look like under the microscope? What happens to yeast when food starts fermenting? How is the life of our body periphery? What kind and how many insects do we kill in our houses? And what are the relations between all these questions? Insect Spit Hair Ear wax Nail Death skin Nose mucus Sperm Loquat wine Elderflower syrup Fermentad grapes Mold Paper bag Transparent plastic bag Sandwich packaging with an insect White plastic bag Blue plastic bag Insect Spit Hair Ear wax Nail Death skin Nose mucus Sperm Loquat wine Elderflower syrup Fermentad grapes Mold Paper bag Transparent plastic bag Sandwich packaging with an insect White plastic bag Blue plastic bag Everything relates to each other at some point and at a certain level. A plastic bag is one plastic bag but is also a combination of bacteria, air, void, paint, and many other things that we don’t consider. Are all this group of stuff that forms the plastic bag constituents of it, or are they the plastic bag itself? In Ontological reductionism, everything is composed of simples. Simples are the tiniest things that can’t be decomposed and subdivided. A plastic bag is just a combination of simples arranged in a certain way, just like an insect is a combination of simples arranged in a certain way. Can we define a clear line between a plastic bag and an insect? Does the plastic bag even exist? If we agree that it is just a combination of simples, what happens if we remove some simples from it? We didn’t eliminate the plastic bag, and it still has the same properties, but can we still consider it a plastic bag? Probably everything composes something bigger and something smaller at some point. Can we say that we are an individual? We are composed of different organisms that form bigger organisms. We are made of air but is the air that we breathe part of us, or are we part of air? The air that gives life will transform at some point and kill us. There is no individuality nor collectivism, just a combination of different stuff, trogs. Our reality is based on Trogs that we created, but what if we had organized things differently and seen different connections between things? For example, is there something else between a nail and a piece of hair besides themselves? Just because we don’t have a name for that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Our definitions of things are just one way to cut up the plastic reality, they represent made-up symbols within a specific context, but they don’t exist beyond us. They are just concepts. Any assortment of things will compose a thing no matter if we acknowledge it or not. How our understanding of alive defines the idea of biological equity? "Nothing can be transformed into another nature without having been previously converted into ash, lime or earth." Nodo Sophico Enodato

  • Deep Breath | Caetano Mendes Dias

    Deep Breath 2024 Deep Breath is a spatial scent that transports us back to the deep sea. The first forms of life on the planet are believed to have lived in the deepest depths of the ocean. These micro-organisms, our earliest ancestors, can be found inside the rocks of hydrothermal vents. Chemoreceptors, or primordial sensors, enable them to survive in this harsh environment filled with sulfur compounds and other substances toxic to most organisms. As they moved into new environments, their receptors evolved into complex systems, allowing them to breathe oxygen and smell their environment, like we do. Deep Breath reminds us of the importance of our olfactory receptors and of just how interconnected we are with all life forms on this planet. Read more about Deep Breath here. Purchase - Deep Breath Eau de Parfum here PRESS KIT

  • Locus Amoenus | Caetano Mendes Dias

    Locus Amoenus 2023 A digital representation of a dream place. A world of eternal inner peace, where lovers dance freely and bless each other with juicy fruits and fortune. Music: Proteus - A Nineteenth Century Vision by Yuval Ron

  • Deep Breath scent | Caetano Mendes Dias

    Deep breath research Chemosynthetic bacteria Hydrothermal vents Deep Breath scent Origins of olfaction Sources Deep breath scent Dive into the boiling deep dark sea. Deep Breath is an aquatic fragrance with a flitting sulfuric note from the bottom of the ocean, immersed in a marine ozone heart that lingers a pacific and soothing fresh sea at the base. The main ingredient of the Deep Breath is the most abundant molecule in the sea, emitted into the air by aquatic life, Dimethyl sulfide, or DMS. Dimethyl sulfide is at the heart of the sea’s smell. And it’s there as a byproduct of the mechanism that algae evolved to deal with the saltiness of seawater. DMS resembles another sulfuric molecule, a simpler molecule called hydrogen sulfide, which is the key ingredient that sustains life under the sea in the hydrothermal vents, where life might have started. Sulfuric molecules might even be just a few of several elements that played an important role in life’s boiling beginnings, but they were prominent enough to mark some of the oldest rocks thought to carry traces of biological metabolism. Deep Breath is a journey through the evolution of life and it shows how what might be toxic for us now was once central to our lives. It goes from the depths of the ancient sea, where rocks came to life to the surface of the water of our present days.

  • Living Donut | Caetano Mendes Dias

    Living Donut 2020 A ceramic piece designed to grow chia seeds on its surface using the water absorption properties of ceramics. Living Donut questions how we live in balance with other species and how we take care of them. The living donut is an expression of my biophilia for plants and fertility, it is an invitation to reconnect with nature. The word fertility comes from the Latin, ferre (to bear, to transport), and just like the Living Donut, we need to have the strength to bear and transport life.

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