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: @@
-=='''1st class: 16. Oktober 2018 - Introduction'''==
+==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.
-===Summary===
-General introduction to working in the bio lab. Preparing the first testing '''Agar-Plates''' for bacterial growth in a petri dish:
-*petri dishes where filled with 15 ml of an [[GMU:DIY Bio: doing things with biology/Introduction to conceptual framework and tools|LBP (Baird-Parker liquid) Medium]] with Agar Agar
-*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
-===First culture medium===
+{{#ev:vimeo|336364608}}
-As described obove the filled petri dishes are now beeing observed for the following days.
+music by Bastian Körting
-===='''''Gallery'''''====
-<gallery>
-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>
-===='''''Breeding day 7 - closer look'''''====
-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.
-=====''Gallery''=====
-<gallery mode="nolines">
-File:Tag 7_cat.jpg|''Cat fur and outside nose''
-File:Tag 7_coin.jpg|''1 Euro cent''
-</gallery>
-<gallery class="left" mode="nolines" widths="250" heights="250">
-Image:Tag 7_Nährmedium.jpg|''Day 7 - Full dish''
-</gallery>
-<gallery mode="nolines">
+===Concept===
-File:Tag 7_nose.jpg|''Human nose inside''
+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.
-File:Tag 7_fridge.jpg|''glass surface fridge''
-</gallery>
-===''DIY Microscope Test''===
+===* Physarum Polycephalum===
-===='''''What was done?'''''====
+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.
-*extracted converging lens from a laser pointer
-*attached to iPhone SE back camera
-===='''''Results'''''====
+===Exhibition Photos===
 <gallery>
-File:chestetree_normal.JPG|Chestetree seed
+File:A55B0373-3D05-4694-B587-D05E62227435.jpg
-File:sunflower_normal.JPG|Sunflower seed
+File:845F15C7-E1AC-4E32-900B-2839180E2DC7.jpg
-File:both_normal.JPG|Sunflower and chestetree seed in comparison
+File:fullsizeoutput_7cc.jpeg
-File:chestetree_micro.JPG|Chestetree seed magnified
+File:fullsizeoutput_816.jpeg
-File:sunflower_micro.jpg|Sunflower seed magnified
+File:5D4C4A09-DD43-45D8-9390-D7F8F4ED38FE.jpg
+File:5DC77A10-C0B2-4023-BF17-2780B7F8C71A.jpg
 </gallery>
-*adding some filters to increase contrast und depth
 <gallery>
-File:chestetree_artsy.JPG|Artsy chestetree seed
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1c.jpg
-File:sunflower_artsy.JPG|Artsy sunflower seed
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_82b.jpg
 </gallery>
-===Literature===
-===='''''László Moholy-Nagy'''''====
-=====[[:File:Moholy-Nagy_Laszlo_Von_Material_zu_Architektur_EN.pdf|''From material to architecture (Full text english)'']]<br>''(Source: https://monoskop.org/images/a/af/Moholy-Nagy_Laszlo_The_New_Vision_and_Abstract_of_an_Artist.pdf, page 14 - 19)''=====
-=====[[:File:Moholy-Nagy_Laszlo_Von_Material_zu_Architektur.pdf|''Von Material zu Architektur (Volltext deutsch)'']]<br> ''(Quelle: https://monoskop.org/images/b/b5/Moholy-Nagy_Laszlo_Von_Material_zu_Architektur.pdf, Seite 10 - 18)''=====
-===='''''Dimitris Papadopoulis'''''====
-=====[[:File:Dialnet-GenerationMMatterMakersMicrobiomes-4903686.pdf|''Generation M - '''M'''atters, '''M'''akers, '''M'''icrobiomes'']] (source: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/4903686.pdf)=====
-=='''2nd class: 23. October 2018 - Ethics - Microscopy - Physarum Polycefalum'''==
+====Copyright Jens Bondarenko Photography====
-===Summary===
-===='''''Paper reading'''''====
-We first discussed two papers we read at home. One from [[:File:Moholy-Nagy_Laszlo_Von_Material_zu_Architektur_EN.pdf|Moholy-Nagy]] and the other one from [[:File:Dialnet-GenerationMMatterMakersMicrobiomes-4903686.pdf|Dimitris Papadopoulos.]] Moholy Nagy refers to the primitive human being from back in the ages and how he considered the human beeing back in the age when he lived. A lot of criticism and what effects those negative sides of specialized humans have versus paper number two to be considered more as a manifest with no critic or political views.
-===='''''Ethics'''''====
-Today we've been also talking about [[GMU:DIY Bio: doing things with biology/Ethics|ethical questions]] that come up while working living tissues. To sum it up: At all times you always need to be aware of working with living organisms. Be respectful and know that you are always responsible for what you do and that, in the end, you have to deal with the consequences.
-===='''''Practical Part'''''====
-Another hands on in the Lab. I decided to prepare a new Agar medium to grow some Physarum Polycephalum.
-===Physarum Polycephalum===
-Physarum is a slime mold that is often used as a model for testing in the lab as it is well researched and known. See below documentation of the whole process.
-===='''''Documentation'''''====
-=====''Setting''=====
-This is my first try with this organism. I want to get in touch with it and feel more comfortable working with it. So I need to know how it behaves and interacts with its environment. After the first run I will have another one with more specific adjustments, such as taxis based on different environment factors (i. g. chemicals, sound, movement, nutriens). But first I used the most basic setting:
-*100 ml tab water
-*2g Agar
-*mix Agar with water and microwave it till it starts to boil
-*fill the petri dishes and let it cool down till its gel
-*extract parts from another culture of physarum and attach it to the medium
-Thats what I did. I prepared two petri dishes. One with a plasmodial from and the other one with sclerotial form. The use the sclerotium I added some water to "wake" it up from its dormant state. I too it home and took a few pictures:
-=====Day 1: 23. Oktober 2018, 21:45=====
 <gallery>
-File:plasmodium_fresh.JPG|Plasmodium from existing organism, Food: Oats and wheatgems
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_873.jpg
-File:sclecotium_watered.JPG|sclerotium from existing organism in dormant state, Food: only wheatgems
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_877.jpg
+File:UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_87c.jpg
+File:bnw_jensbondarenko.JPG
 </gallery>
-I fed the plasmodium 1 (alive already) with oats at one boder (I placed the organism in the middle) and with wheatgems at another border to see what happens. Plasmodium 2 (dormant before) was also placed in the middle but fed only with wheatgems. Alfter feeding I placed them in complete darkness with 20°C.
-=====Day 2: 24. Oktober 2018, 10:45=====
+====Copyright Candy Welz====
-*Extraction from plasmodial state for cultivation - Growth 2nd day
 <gallery>
-File:plasmodium_T2_1.JPG|Plasmodium extracted from another living organism
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_019.JPG
-File:plasmodium_T2_2.JPG|Plasmodium extracted from another living organism
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_020.JPG
-File:plasmodium_T2_3.JPG|Plasmodium extracted from another living organism
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_078.JPG
-File:plasmodium_T2_4.JPG|Plasmodium extracted from another living organism
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_079.JPG
-File:plasmodium_T2_5.JPG|Plasmodium extracted from another living organism
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_080.JPG
-</gallery>
+File:Candy Welz_20190412_081.JPG
-Not much rich growing and reaching out for food overnight. I guess thats because the organism had access to food at all times. So from this state on I can't guess if Physarum preferes the oats or the wheatgems. Lets see in a few days.
-<gallery>
-File:Sclerotium_T1versusT2.jpg|Overnight Growth comparison
-File:Plasmodium_T1versusT2_2.JPG|Overnight Growth comparison
 </gallery>
-*Extraction from sclerotial state for cultivation - Growth 2nd day
+===Further research and references===
-<gallery>
+<!--File:collagebiolab.JPG|400px|left-->
-File:sclerotium_T2_1.JPG|extracted from sclerotial state of another organism
-File:sclerotium_T2_2.JPG|extracted from sclerotial state of another organism
+[[/Dokumentation 16.-25.10.2018|1. Course diary 16.-25.10.2018, General Doc and Polycephalum]]<br>
-File:sclerotium_T2_3.JPG|extracted from sclerotial state of another organism
+[[/Physarum Polycephalum and light|2. Cultivating Physarum Polycephalum]]<br>
-File:sclerotium_T2_4.JPG|extracted from sclerotial state of another organism
+[[/Armillaria Gallica|3. Armillaria Gallica]]<br>
-File:sclerotium_T2_5.JPG|extracted from sclerotial state of another organism
+[[/Cyanobacteria|4. Cyanobacteria]]<br>
-File:sclerotium_T2_6.JPG|extracted from sclerotial state of another organism
+[[/Helpfull Resources for culturing|5. Helpful Resources]]<br>
-File:sclerotium_T2_7.JPG|extracted from sclerotial state of another organism
+[[/Initial idea: Bauhaus Feedback Loop|6. Initial idea: Bauhaus Feedback Loop]]
-</gallery>
-Rich growing overnight. As result of beeing in domant state for some time, I guess. It also seems like it feels attracted by the wheatgems. Also need to state that it only got one source of food.
-<gallery>
-File:Plasmodium_T1versusT2_1.jpg|Overnight Growth comparison
-File:sclerotium_T1versusT2_2.JPG|Overnight Growth comparison
-</gallery>