Process¶

Ideation & sketches¶

Design & Fabrication¶

Microorganism Cultivation and Experimentation¶

Over the past few weeks, I have been working in the laboratory cultivating microorganisms (MO) obtained from my everyday environment. My goal is to inactivate the culture media in which they are growing, then dry them and assemble the sculpture using a combination of biomaterials and MO. At the same time, I have been capturing images of the cultures to analyze their patterns, textures, and movements, which will enrich the visual conceptualization of the project.

Construction and Biomaterials Experimentation¶

For the structure of the project, I cut pieces in MDF and cardboard. Some of these cardboard pieces were filled with straw and inoculated with Pleurotus to generate mycelium in the shape of my face and foot. This exploration with mycelium aims to integrate living materials that evolve over time, adding a biological dimension to the project.

Conceptual Expansion Through Reading¶

My research has been enriched by reading three key books:

The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari

An Immense World by Ed Yong

These texts have shifted my perception of biology, the connection between organisms, and how biomaterials can be experienced by individuals who cannot see them.

Exploring the Sensory Perception of Biomaterials¶

Motivated by the idea of how biomaterials can be experienced beyond sight, I began researching tools that convert images into sound. I discovered and experimented with the Cougula, which allows images to be transformed into audio. However, the initial sounds produced were quite harsh, so I used PaulXStretch to refine them and achieve a more harmonic sound texture.

Coagula is an image synth. This means that it is both a simple image editor, and a program for making sound from those images. Coagula uses one sinewave (beep) per image line, one short blip per point (pixel) on the line. Red is left, Green is right, Yellow is green+red, so it's in the middle. Blue makes each sine into a narrow noise-band, so you can create hard noise or organ-like sounds.

PaulXStretch is a free, open-source application and plugin that stretches audio to create ambient soundscapes. It's based on the PaulStretch algorithm, originally developed by Nasca Octavian Paul.

Integration of Sensors and Real-Time Sound Generation¶

During this search, I came across the work of Matías Primo, which led me to explore new ways to translate the properties of biomaterials into sound. Currently, I am working with an Adafruit board equipped with three touch sensors that, when activated, generate a signal to produce real-time sounds. This technological integration will add a new dimension to the project, allowing viewers to interact with biomaterials through sound.

Application of Sounds in the Final Video¶

The sounds generated from these experiments will be incorporated into the final project video, providing a multisensory experience that allows biomaterials to be perceived not only visually and tactically but also auditorily.

This process has been a profound exploration—not only of materials and technologies but also of how sensory perception can transform the understanding of biomaterials and their relationship with the human environment.

These advances have been possible thanks to the support and patience of Eng. Rafael Pérez Aguirre

find half- or test-fabrication files here¹"

Prototypes¶

prototypes are your first step towards shaping your final piece, product, material et cetera

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Mentoring notes¶

Mentors in all sessions may share with you their comments, notes, advise, projects and technical equipment to check out. This is good place to share those, so that you can find them later on when you need them the most!

Half-fabrication files¶

Test file: 3d modelling test ↩