What are our material obligations towards disruptive technologies? This project explores the ways a ‘wonder-material’ is considered, produced and consumed in an increasingly hostile and unstable environment.

 

A single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, graphene is the thinnest, strongest and most conductive material on the planet and truly two-dimensional. Graphene has been continually lauded since its isolation by Prof Andre Geim and Prof Kostya Novoselov at the University of Manchester in 2004 and it has the potential to revolutionise energy, membranes, composites, sensors, electronics and biomedical technologies. Advancements in the study of the material provide hope but may also perpetuate troubling human structures and activities. Similarly, DIY materialists and basement experimenters may produce ill-fated fortunes or socially considerate designs.