GMU:DIY Bio: doing things with biology/Antje Danz: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:07, 22 May 2019

Polycephalum Feedback Loop

Exhibition Republic of Spirits

In April 2019 I was part of "republic of spirits". An one night only exhibition project for the founding day of the Bauhaus 100 years ago. My setup was experimental and hands on. I wanted to share my passion and knowledge with all the people passing by. So I created a lab like environment with basic stuff you would find normally in a community lab. Easy for everyone to use. I took Polycephalum,* Euglena and Pyrocystis fusiformis with me and let people discover it, ask questions and take PP home.

music by Bastian Körting

Concept

We are surrounded by small worlds we can barely see or even guess they are there. What if there would be a possibility so get in touch with those small species. What if we send them a certain message they would reply to. This installation tries to create a feedback loop to connect two beings that don’t speak the same language and try to communicate those two perceptions of defining art. And I invite those two beings to collaborate on the idea of Bauhaus. The human being and the slime mold Physarum Polycephalum. We as human beeings sending the idea of how we see Bauhaus, its shapes, its colors, to Polycephalum and receiving direct feedback of how the Slime Mold perceives it in its own small world. Maybe we can find things in common which will be combined in the Bauhaus Being. Seeing the world with two different point of views and in the end put it together. Getting a new vision or idea of how art can be defined, not only from a human point of view.

* Physarum Polycephalum

Polycephalum is semi-intelligent organism that can remember things and paths it took. He reacts directly to stimuli from the outside by making movements or changing in electric potential within the membrane. This electric potential can be translated into sounds or any other form of art. Drawings, patterns… It also can find the shortest path to the most preferable food source and communicate it to members of the same species. We’ve been experimenting with different food media and one of the colonies painted pink traces in the potato-oat media we cooked. The traces disappear after some time. Everywhere Physarum Polycephalum moves it leaves those chemical slime tracks so it remembers where he has already been in order not to move back to the same place twice. This is a so called external spatial memory it creates. And it also communicates its experience with other colonies in the same area.

Exhibition Photos

Copyright Jens Bondarenko Photography

Copyright Candy Welz

Further research and references

1. Course diary 16.-25.10.2018, General Doc and Polycephalum
2. Cultivating Physarum Polycephalum
3. Armillaria Gallica
4. Cyanobacteria
5. Helpful Resources
6. Initial idea: Bauhaus Feedback Loop

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==First class 16. Oktober 2018==
+==Polycephalum Feedback Loop==
-Preparing the first testing '''Agar-Plates''' for bacterial growth in a petri dish:
+===Exhibition Republic of Spirits===
-*petri dishes where filled with 15 ml of an [[GMU:DIY Bio: doing things with biology/Introduction to conceptual framework and tools|LBP Medium]] with Agar Agar
+In April 2019 I was part of "republic of spirits". An one night only exhibition project for the founding day of the Bauhaus 100 years ago. My setup was experimental and hands on. I wanted to share my passion and knowledge with all the people passing by. So I created a lab like environment with basic stuff you would find normally in a community lab. Easy for everyone to use. I took Polycephalum,* Euglena and Pyrocystis fusiformis with me and let people discover it, ask questions and take PP home.
-*cooling down
-*inoculateing with different surface smear
-**In my case: '''human nose (inside)''', '''cat nose (outside) and fur''', '''fridge glass surface''' and '''1 cent coin'''
-*left with room temperature for the following days
-===''Evolution''===
-<gallery  class="float-left">
-File:petrischale mit Nährmedium.jpg|Day 1
-File:Tag 3_Nährmedium.JPG|Day 3
-File:Tag 6_Nährmedium.JPG|Day 6
-File:Tag 7_Nährmedium.jpg|Day 7
-</gallery>
-===''Closer look at day 7''===
+{{#ev:vimeo|336364608}}
-Somehow I got the impression that the petri dishes weren't sterile as after 7 days almost the full dish is covered with a white film. You can only guess by slightly different colors where I initially inoculated the dish. Something seems to grow over the originally inoculated sections. See below some close ups. In the section of the example I took from my nose, a small yellow dot appears. I think this is what was intended to be growing. The rest just looks almost the same.
+music by Bastian Körting
+===Concept===
+We are surrounded by small worlds we can barely see or even guess they are there. What if there would be a possibility so get in touch with those small species. What if we send them a certain message they would reply to. This installation tries to create a feedback loop to connect two beings that don’t speak the same language and try to communicate those two perceptions of defining art. And I invite those two beings to collaborate on the idea of Bauhaus. The human being and the slime mold Physarum Polycephalum. We as human beeings sending the idea of how we see Bauhaus, its shapes, its colors, to Polycephalum and receiving direct feedback of how the Slime Mold perceives it in its own small world. Maybe we can find things in common which will be combined in the Bauhaus Being. Seeing the world with two different point of views and in the end put it together. Getting a new vision or idea of how art can be defined, not only from a human point of view.
-<gallery mode="nolines">
+===* Physarum Polycephalum===
-File:Tag 7_cat.jpg| '''Cat fur and outside nose'''
+Polycephalum is semi-intelligent organism that can remember things and paths it took. He reacts directly to stimuli from the outside by making movements or changing in electric potential within the membrane. This electric potential can be translated into sounds or any other form of art. Drawings, patterns… It also can find the shortest path to the most preferable food source and communicate it to members of the same species. We’ve been experimenting with different food media and one of the colonies painted pink traces in the potato-oat media we cooked. The traces disappear after some time. Everywhere Physarum Polycephalum moves it leaves those chemical slime tracks so it remembers where he has already been in order not to move back to the same place twice. This is a so called external spatial memory it creates. And it also communicates its experience with other colonies in the same area.
-File:Tag 7_coin.jpg| '''1 Euro cent'''
-</gallery>
-<gallery class="left" mode="nolines" widths="250" heights="150">
+===Exhibition Photos===
-Image:Tag 7_Nährmedium.jpg|'''Day 7 - Full dish'''
+<gallery>
+File:A55B0373-3D05-4694-B587-D05E62227435.jpg
+File:845F15C7-E1AC-4E32-900B-2839180E2DC7.jpg
+File:fullsizeoutput_7cc.jpeg
+File:fullsizeoutput_816.jpeg
+File:5D4C4A09-DD43-45D8-9390-D7F8F4ED38FE.jpg
+File:5DC77A10-C0B2-4023-BF17-2780B7F8C71A.jpg
 </gallery>
+<gallery>
-<gallery mode="nolines">
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1c.jpg
-File:Tag 7_nose.jpg|'''Human nose inside'''
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_82b.jpg
-File:Tag 7_fridge.jpg|'''glass surface fridge'''
 </gallery>
-===''DIY Microscope Test''===
+====Copyright Jens Bondarenko Photography====
-*extracted converging lens from a laser pointer
-*attached to iPhone SE back camera
 <gallery>
-File:chestetree_normal.JPG|Chestetree seed
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_873.jpg
-File:sunflower_normal.JPG|Sunflower seed
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_877.jpg
-File:both_normal.JPG|Sunflower and chestetree seed in comparison
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_87c.jpg
-File:chestetree_micro.JPG|Chestetree seed magnified
+File:bnw_jensbondarenko.JPG
-File:sunflower_micro.jpg|Sunflower seed magnified
 </gallery>
-*adding some filters to increase contrast und depth
+====Copyright Candy Welz====
 <gallery>
-File:chestetree_artsy.JPG|Artsy chestetree seed
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_019.JPG
-File:sunflower_artsy.JPG|Artsy sunflower seed
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_020.JPG
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_078.JPG
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_079.JPG
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_080.JPG
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_081.JPG
 </gallery>
+===Further research and references===
+<!--File:collagebiolab.JPG|400px|left-->
+[[/Dokumentation 16.-25.10.2018|1. Course diary 16.-25.10.2018, General Doc and Polycephalum]]<br>
+[[/Physarum Polycephalum and light|2. Cultivating Physarum Polycephalum]]<br>
+[[/Armillaria Gallica|3. Armillaria Gallica]]<br>
+[[/Cyanobacteria|4. Cyanobacteria]]<br>
+[[/Helpfull Resources for culturing|5. Helpful Resources]]<br>
+[[/Initial idea: Bauhaus Feedback Loop|6. Initial idea: Bauhaus Feedback Loop]]