Bioelectronix for Artists @ CEMA, Srishti School for Art, Design and Technology. 24-29 July 09, Bangalore, India
more on the new hackteria page
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Archive for the 'hackteria' Category
A first hackteria workshop has been going on last week at NK, Berlin. First of all, it was great fun and we could get the project a big step further.
go to the hackteria webpage for a detailed description.
and see our pictures on flickr
the topic of the workshop was to build your own little microscope using cheap webcams and investigate the use of the microscopic world of image in audio/visual arts.
DIY microscopy
a small hack to the optics of a standard webcam with an adjustable focus-lens, allows to create video data, with a magnification of around 100 to 400x (depending on the model) at a working distance of a few mm. The highest magnifications can be achieved by inverting (putting upside down) the lens. Addition of good lighting by the use of leds allows to create images using a bright-field method (shine through the stuff) or dark field method (look at the reflections and scattering).
diy_microscopy_overview from Marc Dusseiller on Vimeo.
and another one by gaudi
we will hold a first workshop about the topic of hackteria.cc, meaning DIY practices for biology, microscopy and the resulting artistic visualisation and sonification.
Saturday 30 May - Wednesday 3 June 2009, 12.00-18.00 daily
Location: eNKa / ElsenStr. 52 (2.Hof) Berlin, Germany
Telephone: +49 (0)176 20626386
Course Participation fee: 100 euros
Please register early to ensure a place. Places are limited to 16.
Registration is required for this workshop and can only be done via email to: enka_nkATgmxDOTde
For Workshop leaders Biographies and full description and additional reading go to myspace.com/enka52
Overview
Experimental make-workshop with multilayered outcome for people interested in sound, DIY-biology, microscopy and interaction of living microorganisms. Knowledge in physical computing, video and sound processing, electronics and puredata is welcome, but not compulsary.
Description
In this workshop the experiments will take place in close-up view of microorganisms (e.g. water bears aka tardigrades,amoebae and collected organisms from urban environments), 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. Growth and behaviour of these
microscopic animals remind us of our own micro-macro-development. 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.
The participants will learn
How to work with the usb-microscopes and hack webcams to be used as microscopes, observe the behaviour and motion of the waterbears and other microorganisms, find sounds from the lab equipment, hack into electronic devices to integrate into bioelectronic culture devices and build habitats for the animals. Also they will discover sounds from the different instrumentation and utilities of the laboratory. Recycle and compose arrangements for Lab-visual and Lab-sound scapes and benefit from a cross fertilization between the whole (scientific) equipment (you can bring your own too!) and an artistic metaphorical language.
The outcome can be a video with a microscopic soundtrack, a living object with singing waterbears, a performance with laboratory sounds, or an openLab Hackteria installation.
Material needed
The participant should bring their own laptop/computer, a webcam with an adjustable lens and some general lab stuff they have access to.
Material available
various labware, glassware, petri-dishes, usb-microscopes, microorganisms, soldering stations, electronic parts, arduinos etc..
working constantly on a pd-patch to use with my microscopes....
see some videos on my viddler page
and an example of tracking a tardigrade
or some other protozoa, flagellates and whatsoever...
Finally the cultures arrived from sciento, UK. I got some amoebae, rotifers, tardigrades and a weird little japanese swimming thing i forgot the name of. they all seem happy and lively and obviously survived the travel in the mail.
first experiments using the webcam as a microscope revealed nice images, see above. and a newly made pd-patch allows me to record nice time-lapse movies to check out the amoebae....
