Thursday, June 23, 2011

NANOVIBRANCY



Artist: Joel Ong
Time: Sunday, July 10 · 4:30pm - 7:30pm
Where: John Curtin Gallery
Event by: Symbiotica Lab
Original posting: NANOVIBRANCY

Nanovibrancy explores nanoscale activity through sound by amplifying the oscillations at the surface of a model tympanic membrane in real time.

The culmination of his Masters in Biological Art degree, Joel Ong will present a sound piece which repurposes the Atomic Force Microscope as a super‐sensitive listening device.

The AFM listens by scanning the surface vibrations on a silk membrane. The sample, currently researched in otology as a graft material for chronic eardrum perforations, is probed in extension of its research value, creating an audible documentation of cellular activity in situ.

Moving from the laboratory into the art gallery, the project shifts the observations of matter at the nanoscale from the scientific eye to the artistic ear, amplifying the resonances of fact and fiction, purity and interference through a site‐specific confluence of nano‐ and human‐scale listening.

In so doing, Nanovibrancy asks; "what is the experience of listening at the nanoscale?" Visitors acquire a first‐hand experience of the vibrancy of matter at its smallest perspectival scale.

Nanovibrancy is an ArtScience project realised at SymbioticA, the Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts, Anatomy and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia and has the generous support of the Ear Science Institute of Australia, the Nanochemistry Research Institute and the John Curtin Gallery at Curtin University.


Facebook event page with further details:
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118871624866907

Sunday, June 5, 2011

2 exclusive interviews coming soon!

Please keep a look out for two exclusive interviews coming soon.  Here are the details while you wait~

First up will be the interview with Ryan Romie Littrell, founder of the SoCal DIYBio, was a visiting fellow in Singapore hosted by Professor Denisa Kera at the National University of Singapore.  During his stay, Romie conducted a two part workshop at the Singapore hackerspace teaching attendees the tools and practices of synthetic biology.  Romie is part of a growing group of scientists who are fostering the interest in synthetic biology among the members of public, and democratizing the world of biotechnology.  Stay tuned for the interview with Romie for his thoughts on the future of DIYBio and the citizen scientist.

Romie guiding participants in the workshop, at one point using a hot bath to encourage their bacteria to take up new genetic code.


Shortly after that, and staying with the theme of democratization of technology, is an interview with Thomas Gokey (visual artist) and Meg Backus (public librarian) who are two innovative thinkers who share their ideas on 3D printing (including bio), fab labs, public libraries, and how these will come together to revolutionize our future.  They taught a class titled, "Innovation in Public Libraries" at Syracuse University which has an inspiring mission to re-invent libraries as not only an institution for the storage and retrieval of documents, but as an institution that can be hacked and shaped to meet the needs of today and the future.



Stay tuned for these interesting interviews!