Hackteria workshop at Piksel09

http://hackteria.org

Bioelectronix for Artists

19 - 21 November 2009, Piksel09

The workshop is an experimental hands-on workshop with multilayered outcome for people interested in BioArt, DIY-biology, microscopy, audio/visual experimentation and simple technological interaction with living microorganisms. Participants will become involved in sourcing and isolating microorganisms such as tardigrades or nematodes. They will learn how to hack webcams for live-video microscopy and then develop free libre open hardware and software environments. This will let these organisms be both viewed and become the subjects for simple interactions. A primary aim of the activity is to demonstrate that scientific/artistic experimentation can take place within the DIY and open source domains, and that biology and custom electronics can be friends.

Workshop leaders

Andy Gracie (UK/Spain) http://www.hostprods.net/

Workshop info

3 days, Thu - Sa, 12:00 - 18:00 each day

max 12 participants

Fee: 210 NOK
(covers all the consumables and material which can be taken home)

hackteria | open source biological art

Hackteria is a collection of Open Source Biological Art Projects instigated in February 2009 by Andy Gracie (UK), Marc Dusseiller (CH) and Yashas Shetty (IN). The aim of the project is to develop a rich web resource for people interested in or developing projects that involve DIY bioart, open source software and electronic experimentation. As a community platform, hackteria is encouraging the collaboration of scientists, hackers and artists to combine their expertise, write critical and theoretical reflections, share simple instructions to work with lifescience technologies and cooperate on the organization of workshops, festival and meetings.

Theoretical Description
In this workshop the experiments will take place in a close-up view of living microorganisms, which appears to be a world by itself - maybe due to the scaling and the amplification of a microscope, but maybe also due to all parameters of imagination that the microcosmos provokes. With the image and the movement of the organisms, the participants are encouraged to collect inspiration and bridge video and sound to what they experience with these small "animalcules", as termed by their first observer Leeuwenhoek in 1677.

We also hope to work with the participants in the context of Jakob von Uexkull's theory of 'Umwelt', the idea of how living beings subjectively perceive their environment and a system of signs interpreted by an organism which can be communicated with other organisms via chemical, visual, and acoustic signals.

Practical Description
The activities of the workshop will take place in 'close-up' - that is to say that a central focus of the activities will be the hacking of webcams to build DIY video microscopes. Using materials such as PDMS silicone, commonly used in bionanotechnology, the participants will design and construct their own bespoke device within which experiments in bioelectronic interaction can take place. We will also approach the making of simple biosensors with which to, for example, measure changes in gas or pH, or even to monitor the heartbeat of daphnia.
The organisms we use in the process will be sourced from the local environment. Tardigrades, rotifers, nematodes and daphnia are fairly common creatures and can be found in samples of moss, soil or pondwater. At the start of the workshop we will take participants on an exploratory and sample collecting urban hike and then take them through the process of building extraction devices and isolating the required organisms.

The DIY video microscopes will allow various forms of video tracking via PiDiP and PoDoP and its possibilities for generation of sound environments or other interactions available through Pd.
The culmination of the workshop will be a review of the systems the particpants have developed and a brainstorming session on how these could be used for performance and/or installation settings. Given time we may even be able to test one or two of these ideas.

The participants will learn
How to hack webcams to be used as microscopes, observe the behaviour and motion of the waterbears and other microorganisms, hack into electronic devices to integrate into bioelectronic culture devices and build habitats for the animals.

Material needed
The participant should bring their own laptop/computer
general lab stuff they might have access to common hardware they might want to adapt

Material available
Various basic labware such as glassware, tubes and petri-dishes
usb-microscopes
microorganisms
silicone embedding material
soldering stations
electronic parts
arduinos etc

Software
The software will be based around the use of Pd (and some of its libraries) and Arduino. Participants will also be free to use Processing / Wiring or any other open source tools they prefer.

Proposed schedule
Day 1
welcome/introduction and overview
inputs from participants
how big are the things we want to work with? first views of the microcosmos
webcam hacking
build a microscope
urban micro_walk / collection of microorganisms
set-ups for extraction and isolation of organisms

Day 2
microscopy overview
improve microscope
intro to bioelectronix
puredata for microscopy
silicone bioelectronix fabrication

Day 3
improve the microscope / leds, motors and sensors
design and build the bioelectronix device
Bio-Arduino / control your bioelectronix device
simple bio-sensors
bio2sound interfaces
sound2bio communication
observation and bio-hacking
brainstorm about concepts for installations/performances

Sponsors
This project is partially funded by the Swiss Cultural Foundation and Migros Kulturprozent