science – Radical Atoms https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en Ars Electronica Festival 2016 Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:26:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.6 Artist Lab Quayola https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/artist-lab-qayola/ Fri, 12 Aug 2016 08:22:33 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1445 Quayola
Sculpture Factory is the latest iteration of Quayola’s ongoing research on classical sculpture. Inspired by Michelangelo’s technique of “non-finito” (unfinished), the installation explores the tensions between form and matter, real and artificial, old and new.]]>

Quayola

Quayola is a visual artist based in London. He investigates dialogs and the unpredictable collisions, tensions and equilibriums between the real and artificial, the figurative and abstract, the old and new. His work explores photography, geometry, time-based digital sculptures and immersive audiovisual installations and performances.

Sculpture Factory

Sculpture Factory is the latest iteration of Quayola’s ongoing research on classical sculpture.

Inspired by Michelangelo’s technique of “non-finito” (unfinished), the installation explores the tensions between form and matter, real and artificial, old and new.

A large industrial robot live-sculpts endless variations of the Ancient Greek masterpiece Laocoon and His Sons. While never completing the full figure, each attempt discovers new articulations of matter. The result is a hybrid vision—a slow process of discovery not focused on the original figure but on the infinite possibilities of how to reach it.

Guided by sequences of algorithms, the robot finds its way through matter using unfamiliar strategies and patterns. The original artist’s hand and unique craftsmanship are eclipsed by the truly disinterested intelligence of the machine, and a surplus of viable possibilities.

Sculpture Factory is an ongoing project developed with the technical support of DARLab from London Southbank University, QD-Robotics, Kuka and Autodesk Delcam.

Credit: Quayola

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Artist Lab Institute IRNAS https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/artist-lab-institute-irnas/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 14:36:19 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1463 Luka Mustafa & Boštjan Vihar
At the IRNAS institute, young people from various backgrounds have found each other with the common goal applying the advances in science and technology to everyday reality and creating efficient, affordable systems, available to everyone.]]>

Luka Mustafa & Boštjan Vihar

Luka Mustafa (SI) is a founder of the IRNAS institute, a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and full-time KORUZA developer, as well as a PhD candidate at University College London. He is actively involved in wlan-Slovenija, the deployment and management of national and international wireless backbones. He actively pursues the development of new and efficient systems by re-purposing mass-produced components.

Boštjan Vihar (SI) is a biomimeticist with a PhD in biology from RWTH Aachen University. He is interested in the structure and properties of living things and how to transfer the underlying principles to new technologies. At IRNAS, he is building an open laboratory for biological and biomedical research, using low-cost and DIY equipment, optimized for research but still widely available.

KORUZA and fab&sciencelab

At the IRNAS institute, young people from various backgrounds have found each other with the common goal applying the advances in science and technology to everyday reality and creating efficient, affordable systems, available to everyone. They currently focus on three areas of interest: fabrication devices for rapid prototyping, which in turn are used for research and development of optical communication systems and open/DIY bioscience. Everything they do is completely open source and made from parts which are either available anywhere in the world or can be cut or 3D printed.

At Ars Electronica 2016, their work will be presented in two parts: an ad hoc mini fab&sciencelab will be set up, where visitors can test and play with the machines, produce their own models, DIY research equipment or do simple experiments. Also an interactive installment of KORUZA—the wireless optical communication system will be presented, where visitors will be able to witness first hand how optical communication works, its advantages and potentials for future networking.

IRNAS: Luka Mustafa, Boštjan Vihar
Tkalka: co-working space in Maribor, where IRNAS is based
Kreatorlab: Fablab, close partners of IRNAS, also based at Tkalka

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Artist Lab ASSISIbf https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/artist-lab-assisibf/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 14:09:28 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1453 Thomas Schmickl
The goal of the ASSISIbf project is to establish a robotic society that can develop communication channels between animal societies (honeybees and shoals of fish).]]>

Thomas Schmickl

Thomas Schmickl, project coordinator of ASSISIbf, is professor at the Department of Zoology at the University of Graz, Austria, where he founded the Artificial Life Lab in 2007. Besides his research activities in the fields of zoology, biological/ecological modeling and bio-inspired robotics (swarm robotics, modular robotics, neural networks, artificial hormone systems, evolutionary robotics), he also teaches at the Department of Environmental System Sciences at the University of Graz.

ASSISIbf

ASSISIbf Animal‌ and‌ Robot‌ Societies‌ ‌Self-Organize‌ and‌ Integrate‌ by‌ Social‌ Interaction‌ (bees‌ and‌ fish)

The goal of the ASSISIbf project is to establish a robotic society that can develop communication channels between animal societies (honeybees and shoals of fish).
Our robots will self-program by evolutionary algorithms until they have learned to interact with animals in the desired way. This new technology aims to lay new foundations on the way in which humans can interact with animal societies in order to manage the Environment.
The researchers expect their work to have an impact on agriculture, livestock management and environmental protection (monitoring). At the festival, researchers will establish an interspecies connection between bees and fish. With the aid of two different types of robot designed specifically for each species, and a virtual world representing all the agents of the translation system, bees and fish will solve a task together, live.

Project credits:

EU-FP7 Project no. 601074. Objective ICT-2011.9.10: Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems—FoCAS; Duration: five years; start: February 1, 2013; Budget: €6m
Consortium: University of Graz—Artificial Life Lab (Project coordination); Université Paris Diderot—LIED; École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne—LSRO; University of Zagreb—LARICS; Fundação da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa -BioISI; Cybertronica Research

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The Institute of Isolation https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/the-institute-of-isolation/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 13:32:40 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1434 Lucy McRae
The Institute of Isolation is a short film exploring the body beyond Earth’s edge, following Lucy McRae as she tests the effects that extreme experience might have on evolving human capacities.]]>

Lucy McRae

The Institute of Isolation

The Institute of Isolation is a short film exploring the body beyond Earth’s edge, following Lucy McRae as she tests the effects that extreme experience might have on evolving human capacities.

A series of sensory chambers simultaneously challenge her body and brain to adapt to her plight; the microgravity trainer conditions the body for possible life in space, or time spent in an anechoic chamber explores the psychoacoustics of silence. The film is based on the premise that we are in a different phase of evolution—driven not just by nature, but human intent. In her self-reflexive narrative, Lucy contemplates whether isolation could be designed to augment fundamental aspects of human resilience.

Project: Lucy McRae, Julian Love, Lotje Sodderland, Daniel Gower

Developed with Ars Electronica Futurelab (Claudia Schnugg, Michael Mayr, Veronika Pauser, Andreas Jalsovec and Christopher Lindinger) and with special thanks to Juan Enriquez, Ricardo Bofill, Professor Nikolas Rose, Professor Emmanuele A Jannini, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Rombaut Shoes, GSK Human Performance Lab, University of Southampton, Dr Steve Dorney, Dr Peter Glynne-Jones, La Sainte Union Catholic School, Fischauer Thermalbad, Klinische Abteilung für Thorax- und Hyperbare Chirurgie, LKH-Universitätsklinikum Graz, Oberösterreichische Gebietskrankenkasse, Outro Studio, Mark Ruffs and Daniel Gower.

The Project has been realized in the framework of Sparks, supported by the European Commission H2020 programme.

Credit: Claudia Schnugg

Make Your Maker

A crude laboratory plays host to a series of macabre experiments, based on the premise that “food and the body are inseparable”. Lucy’s film takes on genetic manipulation, creating glowing comestibles that drip and flow to mould bodily shapes that are then harvested, sliced and repackaged for consumption.

The Future Day Spa

The Future Day Spa is a personalized, physiological experience that delivers controlled vacuum pressure to the body. Based on the principles of negative pressure, participants hand their bodies over to a part-human, part-machine process as they are induced into a state of relaxation. The project employs wireless technologies for measuring biometric data, to begin understanding the physiological capabilities of a treatment.

After trials on over 100 individuals, one participant disclosed that he denied himself any physical contact with other humans and at the end of his treatment responded with a self-initiated hug. Denying oneself touch silences the release of oxytocin in the brain, a hormone said to be involved in social recognition and the formation of trust between people. This unexpected response has raised interesting parallels between the behavioral effects of oxytocin release and the the Future Day Spa’s role in shifting human emotion.

It was originally designed to prepare the body for space, and these results have initiated broader research to explore how spa methods can naturally produce oxytocin in the brain and be developed to treat social isolation, autism spectrum or depression. The next steps are to detect the electrical activity in the brain during a Future Day Spa treatment and understand the role machine touch might have on the body and our emotions.

Commissioned by Inventor Lab and Qualcomm and produced by Pollyanna Whitman.

Credit: Lucy McRae

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Artist Lab Jussi Ängeslevä https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/artist-lab-jussi-angesleva/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 12:27:37 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1417 Jussi Ängeslevä
Beyond Prototyping is a research project looking at the dynamics between the designer, manufacturing process and the consumer in creating everyday products in the age of digital fabrication.]]>

Jussi Ängeslevä

Professor Jussi Ängeslevä teaches at the University of the Arts Berlin and the Royal College of Arts alongside leading the creative efforts at ART+COM studios as a Vice-Creative Director. Throughout his career his focus has always been intentionally in between fields: combining understanding of visual, physical and interaction design with algorithmic, electronic and mechatronic knowledge to create innovative and elegant experiences.

Credit: Michael Burk

Credit: Michael Burk

Beyond Prototyping

Beyond Prototyping is a research project looking at the dynamics between the designer, manufacturing process and the consumer in creating everyday products in the age of digital fabrication. The “meaning” of an artifact transcends its physical utility and technical characteristics and is increasingly a personal narrative. The three case studies, Ciphering, Locatable and Highlight illustrate different strategies of how the experts and the target audience can together create meaningful, unique artifacts, based on an algorithmic design idea and through an online platform for intuitive interaction. The designs play with a distinct functional definition of a product and distinct aesthetics, which are expressed through the end user’s encoded input of meaning, resulting in well-designed and robust but individual products that go beyond prototype status.

Credits: Jussi Ängeslevä; Iohanna Nicenboim; Michael Burk; Universität der Künste Berlin; Technische Universität Berlin; Einstein Stiftung Berlin; Bartmann Berlin; Recoltoir; Masonyte; pb.io; Hybrid Plattform; Jens Wunderling

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Urpflanze https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/urpflanze/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 11:02:26 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1411 Susana Soares
The diversity of leaf shapes, sizes and structures allows plants to adapt to nearly every environment. The precise molecular switches that control this process are being discovered. Research on plant morphology is putting together the genetic blueprint that controls plant structure and shape.]]>
Susana Soares

Can we or should we design plants for extreme weather conditions? Can we afford not to?

The diversity of leaf shapes, sizes and structures allows plants to adapt to nearly every environment. The precise molecular switches that control this process are being discovered. Research on plant morphology is putting together the genetic blueprint that controls plant structure and shape. The findings could be the first steps to a new generation of plants that are more resilient to unpredictable weather patterns, meet the challenges of the global demand for food and even influence the climate.
Urpflanze features hypothetical plant archetypes with specific features that enable them to adjust to living conditions in the future, such as extreme drought, floods and increasingly higher CO2 levels. The illustrations are based upon and inspired by plant morphology research from the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield.

The project attempts to give a brief overview of current research, questions whether we can or should design specific adaptations for a rapidly changing environment, and where can we draw parallels applicable to us.

Credits:
Urpflanze original idea by Susana Soares; Designer and project coordinator: Susana Soares; Animations and interactive design: Monica Santos; Webmaster: Dante Marinho;
Collaborators: Professor Andrew Fleming, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences—Science advisor; Acknowledgments: Science Gallery Dublin and Strange Weather curators CoClimate

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Trāṭaka https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/tra%e1%b9%adaka/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 10:41:12 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1399 Alessio Chierico
Trāṭaka is an interactive installation based on a brain-computer interface. Trāṭaka is a Sanskrit term meaning “to gaze” and it refers to a meditation technique for concentrating one’s attention on a flame.]]>
Alessio Chierico

Trāṭaka is an interactive installation based on a brain-computer interface. Trāṭaka is a Sanskrit term meaning “to gaze” and it refers to a meditation technique for concentrating one’s attention on a flame.
The work is composed by a brain-computer interface that detects the brain waves and defines parameters such as the level of attention. Wearing this device, the user is invited to concentrate their attention on a flame in front of them. The level of attention detected by this system, controls an air flow under the flame: a higher level corresponds to a faster air flow. The interaction process is aimed at user engagement to increase their attention in order to put the flame out. This will happen when the highest level of attention is reached: the air flow becomes strong enough to extinguish the flame.

This installation aims to create a context where users are motivated to explore their concentration abilities, with a “calm” interaction materialized by the movements of the flame.

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The Drinkable Book https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/the-drinkable-book/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 09:15:40 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1387 Theresa Dankovich
Introducing the Drinkable Book by Folia Water: no pipes, no pumps, just a lightweight, long-lasting, inexpensive paper filter that kills bacteria and viruses while removing parasites, algae, cryptosporidium, giardia, cholera and other waterborne pathogens. Pour dirty water in and clean water comes out.]]>

Theresa Dankovich

Introducing the Drinkable Book by Folia Water: no pipes, no pumps, just a lightweight, long-lasting, inexpensive paper filter that kills bacteria and viruses while removing parasites, algae, cryptosporidium, giardia, cholera and other waterborne pathogens. Pour dirty water in and clean water comes out.

Invented by the Folia Water co-founder and chief technical officer Dr. Theresa Dankovich, the Drinkable Book filter has a silver coating that kills bacteria and viruses. Larger parasites and algae are strained out by the paper itself. One ten-cent filter purifies 100 liters of water. A backpack full of these filters can purify enough water for 500 people for a year. Originally created through a collaboration between chemist Theresa Dankovich, PhD, non-profit WATERisLIFE and ad agency DBB NY, the Drinkable Book features information to raise awareness about the need for clean water, sanitation and hygiene printed on its pages.

Inventor: Theresa Dankovich, PhD, Folia Water co-founder and chief technical officer Designer: Brian Gartside of DBB NY
Non-profit partner: WATERisLIFE

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The Living Language Project https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/the-living-language-project/ Wed, 10 Aug 2016 16:01:21 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1358 Ori Elisar
The Living Language is a bio-design project exploring the boundaries between culture and nature. It is a suggestion for a new evolution process of the Hebrew alphabet during the 2000 years it was considered to be a dead language.]]>
Ori Elisar

The Living Language is a bio-design project exploring the boundaries between culture and nature. It is a suggestion for a new evolution process of the Hebrew alphabet during the 2000 years it was considered to be a dead language. The core element of the project is the bio-ink out of the Paenibacillus vortex bacterium, which is used to create old Hebrew characters that evolve themselves into modern ones. The project was created as part of Elisar’s final thesis at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. He explores how language can be expressed visually. The project deals with the tension between controlling the behavior of living organisms and letting nature run its course. It also explores the developing states of the Hebrew language. Using the research, experiments and results, Ori questioned nature, culture, character and language with some own theories and asked in which biological fabrication can technologies interact with the design world.

The project was created as part of Elisar’s final thesis at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Israel.

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The Kankisenthizer https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/the-kankisenthizer/ Wed, 10 Aug 2016 15:45:21 +0000 https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/?p=1354 Ei Wada
In 2015 Ei Wada started a project called Electronicos Fantasticos! where he recycles used home electronics and turns them into electronic musical instruments.]]>
Ei Wada

In 2015 Ei Wada started a project called Electronicos Fantasticos! where he recycles used home electronics and turns them into electronic musical instruments. The concept is to awaken a Yōkai (a supernatural creature in the Japanese folklore) who was living but is asleep in the abandoned technology. One of the main roles in the project is The Kankisenthizer. This converts electromagnetic waves into sound by spinning ventilation fans (called kankisen in Japanese) and storing the light that flickers through the blades as power in a small solar battery. Changing the number of fan blades creates a musical scale. The performer holds the solar battery and moves between the fans, or directly touches the blades and changes the voltage to control the number of rotations while producing the music.

Technical support : Souichi Yamamoto (NICOS LAB)
Promoter : NPO TOPPING EAST
Thanks to NICOS LAB

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