“Bacteria Battery”/Biotricity – public workshop & lecture
Dates: September 7 – September 8, 2013
Location: Riga, Latvia
The public workshops & lectures introduced wider public with the technology of the installation “Bacteria Battery” – a unique technology in creating alternative translated into sounds, both, discovering the great possibilities of the collaboration of art and science and promoting the awareness of importance of sustainable living, giving a special attention to the many possible alternative energy sources and technologies.
Urban Ecosystems
– bee keeping and mapping the foraging fields in the city by Annemie Maes (BE)
Date: September 2 – 7, 2014
Location: Riga
“Urban Ecosystems” – workshop by Annemie Maes (BE) was dedicated to relationships between bees and ecosystem in cities, as well as mapping population of bees and plants in cities. At creative workshops artist showed how to create honey battery and design hives for city bees.
The workshop continued to explore the complex world of honeybees, which artist and workshop leader Annemie Maes has extensively investigated for some years. The workshop had been started with an introduction on Urban OpenGreens project and the role of the honeybees within this ecosystem. Following, the participants studied the bees’ behaviour and architecture based upon insights from biology, art, design and materials science. The participants explored specific structural patterns present in physical and biological environments (city/nature walk), from macrostructures to biological microsystems. Starting from the collection of gathered organic materials, the participants developed novel, bio-inspired designs for bee houses. Participants were collaborated in the discussions, with drawings and by creating objects.
3D BioLAB.
Pond-Battery by Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits, Voldemars Johansons, Arturs Gruduls (LV).
Date: September 9 – 14, 2014
Location: Riga
3D BioLab workshop participants explored relationship between of art and science, by more particularly focusing on data visualization through 3D printing, and there were organized special activities geared towards public innovation.
HABITUS: SEEING AND BELIEVING, LIFE AS AN IMAGE.
Workshop on visual perception psychology, real-time mapping and “shadow” projections by Hanna HAASLAHTI (FI).
Date: September 23 – 28, 2014
Location: Riga
The workshop started with a presentation of Hanna’s research and her art work – Habitus,
with notes about the body painting tradition of the Hain people and introduction of the Gestalt laws of perception. She continued with a lecture and workshop on “Seeing and Believing, Life as an Image”.
Cameras connected to computers yield many applications, which has become necessary feature of contemporary life. In this lecture the participants were looking at how the computer vision techniques have transformed from the malevolent all-seeing eyes of big brother to ubiquituos vision systems that feed our pleasure of being constantly watched.
The participats also took a look at the Gestalt laws of perception and how it can map the invisible space of connections between individual things. In the practical part, the participants explored the kinect 3D sensor and went through the principles of realtime mapping.
Audio.holic by Monika Pocrnjic (SI).
Creative Workshop
The workshop suggested that any object that produces sound can also be a musical instrument. The workshop provided an opportunity for developing experimental musical objects, made up of various materials and used for the purpose of manipulating sound. The workshop ended by Monika Pocrnjic performance Audio.holic.
Workshop “YogHurt”: future alternative food creation processes by Maja Smrekar (SI)
As the food prices keep growing due to reduction of products amount and increase of world’s population, the artist Maja Smrekar is looking for new solutions and alternatives for food production in the future.
The “YogHurt” workshop provided an opportunity to produce yoghurt enriched with genetically modified organisms that contains enzymes of the artist’s own body. The workshop main audience where new media artists as well as wider public were invited to see the TogHurt creation process.