Just another Monday at the bio-art lab
So, after an evening of robust debate, kimchi and sake, an update on the happenings on Day One of the RMIT SymbioticA Workshop.
As discussed in the two previous posts, the major task of the day was the construction of ‘laminar flow’ hoods within which various bio-science activities can be conducted in a sterile micro-environment. We self-organised into groups of about 6 or 7 to work on the hoods which I found particularly engaging, from a design perspective as much as a social and team-building exercize. The dynamic within our group was robust and highly cohesive as we began by attempting to snatch the best bits of equipment supplied, sizing each other up with some fairly reasonable attempts at consensus on the kind of direction to go. With the addition of items salvaged from the RMIT Architecture waste bins, there was a brilliant spontaneous mitosis (pardon the long bow analogy) of the group as we split off to pursue quite different evolutionary trajectories. As it turns out this paid off big-time as the various groups worked right down to the line like Iron Chef contestants to get our masterpieces of backyard scientific hardware completed.
This endeavor whilst obviously a fantastic end in itself was only a taster for what is yet to come this week when we put them to use. I have to admit I was momentarily unsure what the hoods were for, as demonstrated when I placed the petri dish containing our newly collected swabs from around campus inside eagerly hoping some evidence of life would magically reveal itself - such is the enthusiam engendered by today’s activities. But the prospect of incubating these bits of potential life (in an incubator, naturally) and viewing the results, among other things, awaits. Stay tuned for pictures of our sterile hoods in action, and a detailed report on just how laminar our flow really is.
In the meantime here is a rather absurd but curiously aesthetic “victimless” house made of meat:
And the original project webpage: