MAKING VISIBLE THE INVISIBLE

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LIVING CANVAS

– in collaboration with Shreiya Chowdhary – 

 

How can we make the invisible visible? How can we make our approach to microbes and bacteria more amicable and meaningful? How to spark a healthy discussion? Art could help take away the “ick” around this organisms and change the way we relate to them. Living canvas is a data visualization installation that explores [ITP] cohabitation and the impact of a shared microbiota. Its main purpose is to visualize the invisible organisms and recognize patterns through data recollection, sample collection and [bio] material.

Microbiota in general lives within our bodies and we carry and leave it as we move around. The point of this project from its inception has always been in terms of memorabilia to be a living reminder of the 40 years of people and their existence on the ITP floor and the microbiota they have left behind that makes the ITP space in the Tisch building what it is. As an end result of this installation, we want to educate the user that wherever they travel, they leave their microbiota to trace a living ecosystem of their existence, and we will be mapping that onto a physical piece so it can live on in memory

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Mapping with agar and seeds

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HOW TO MAKE VISIBLE THE INVISIBLE

seed on different media growth test

 Agar

 

Cotton without agar

Hydroponic mat with agar

 

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Hydroponic mat with agar

 

Moving away from the Petri dishes

 

Control growth on soil and testing agar with moss

 

Different growth rates on same media

 

 

 

 

microscopy

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I really appreciate this kind of experimentations we do in class. I used a small microscope that is intended to phone cameras, it’s wasn’t the easiest to use or the one with high quality but it did the trick regarding it costs about $5 dollars.

It took a while but even with such small pieces of leaf, the microscope was able to show the cells. The closer the lens was to the object, the image was better although sometimes my phone was having issues focusing on the close-ups.

Getting microscopic images for my project would be valuable, especially with the bacterias that will appear on the biosensors. Can’t wait!

Living Canvas Update #3

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My materials got lost in the NYU mail, some Petri dishes and the laboratory agar which trigger a quest all through the Asian and natural markets to get at least edible agar powder. I wanted to have M(y)Crobes sensors on use as soon as possible. It took me almost a day and seven stores later to find just two boxes of agar, but I had my material nevertheless. Then… I melted my sensors trying to sterilize them.

 

 

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Biosensors necklaces and in situ

 

 

 

Toys and centrifuges

 

 

Lately, I’ve been thinking about having a pet, I’ve been a little obsessed with it and after yesterday’s quick and dirty thesis show, Sebastian Morales thesis got my attention. It was a project where viewers were able to see living microorganisms through a website and bots generated by the number of visits had an impact on the living conditions (food) of this organisms. It got me thinking on my living canvas project, especially the part of times of data that could be recollected and its physical influence on the project and in water beards [Tardigrades], how cool would be to have water bears as pets, if the can survive in outer space they might survive clumsiness. The problems are that you’ll need a microscope to see these micro animals, but getting a foldscope might be an option if I really really wanna see a Tardigrade.

Manu Prakash inventions are brilliant that is for sure, I’ve been wanting to have a foldscope for so long but I particularly appreciated his blood centrifuge and, the economics behind it. It is easy to imagine the impact of such objects in places of the world where economics, infrastructure or geographic isolation can make the diagnosis of life-threatening diseases almost impossible, and to think is inspired in a very simple toy! Between Prakash low-cost medical inventions and Mine Kafon project, the difference that they could make in countries like Colombia. After the peace negotiations that ended a conflict of 5o years with our biggest and oldest guerilla organization, some territories were open to the government. Demining has been a non-stop endeavour, some places are still dangerous and difficult to reach as the population that lives nearby. I wasn’t expecting Mine Kafon to be open source, and thinking about it with ITP on my mind where we breath open source, most of this invention that have a huge social and medical impact should be.

 

Living Canvas Update #2

 

Thanks to Stefani who shared the files of M(y)crobes, a project made by The Cotard Syndicate which she is part of. I started 3D printing/laser cutting the biosensor, to track the individual biotic micro-system of some ITP members.

 

 

At the moment I’m waiting for some materials to arrive on the floor. Some Petri dishes to take samples of specific places from ITP, substrates and others. Also, I want to test the growing processes of different materials like bacteria, fungus [mycellium] and plants [microgreens] for this project. See how far I can affect the growth rate and path; see which materials work under the idea of an art installation, and the physical computing that I might need. I booked some office hours with Daniel Rozin this week to show him this project.

 

Living canvas update #1

How can we make the invisible visible? How can we make our approach to microbes and bacteria more amicable and meaningful? How to spark a healthy discussion? Art could help take away the “ick” around this organisms and change the way we relate to them.

 

Living canvas is a map that explores [ITP] cohabitation and the impact of a shared microbiota. Its main purpose is to visualize the invisible organisms and recognize patterns through data, sample collection and [bio] material.

M(y)crobes project for an individual track of ITP members biotic micro-systems

 

              What if each member was just one microbe?

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“There is no love without shared microbiota”