BLOOD OBJECTS

BLOOD OBJECTS
Basse Stittgen (Germany)

Can blood be made into plastic? And would you want to touch an object made from HIV+ blood?

Blood objects are plastic products made from human blood. To turn blood into plastic, the blood is dried to form a powder before being heat-pressed at around 200°C and 10 tonnes of pressure to produce a very hard bio-plastic. These objects confront the visitor with the taboo of blood being used as a practical material.

Exploring the science and stigma behind blood infections, this work uses the blood of people with major infectious diseases to create completely sterile, functional products. While each of these individuals know they are positive, many people who donate blood don’t realise they are carrying a blood-borne infection. Within Australia, donated blood samples are tested for five major infectious diseases: human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus, Human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) and syphilis. This screening is important to prevent infected blood being used for transfusion.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA, the average risk of HIV infection from a needle-stick exposure to HIV-infected blood is 0.3%, while the risk from exposure to Hepatitis B virus-infected blood can be up to 30%. Commonly, we perceive the risk of HIV infection to be higher. Heating the blood to over 120°C sterilizes the sample and renders it non-infectious. Similarly, treatments are now available for HIV, which result in the virus being undetectable in someone’s blood. Yet why are some people still uncomfortable to hold these products knowing there is no infectious risk? Is it similar to the reason why some people will not shake the hand of someone who is HIV+? Such cultural stigma is an everyday reality for many people living with major blood-borne infections.

Basse Stittgen is a designer from Germany currently finishing a Master of Social Design at the Design Academy Eindhoven. His interests as a designer lie in material research and the possibilities of new materials, along with the interaction between the user and the object.