wet dreams. living machines

There is a program about genetically modifying animals to suit our rapidly increasing food needs. Looks interesting and I will make a valid attempt to watch it (homework dependent of course)

Goodluck for Monday everyone.

Blake

Since my last update my beans have been growing well. After spending this weekend away I got home to find that 3 of my experiments have been successful! The broad beans have found their way out of a dark box to the light, started growing happily inside the plastic tubing and have chosen a path to the light over clear or dark plastic tube.
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The beans in my other experiments are growing well and I hope to be able to start training the growth along a stick and cutting them soon now they are reaching a suitable height.

I’ve been looking about on the Superuse and RCA websites to get a feel of they type of presentation and story telling method i like.
to
Firstly design that uses off cuts, by products or waste interests me greatly. I love how a discarded piece can be utilised to make a totally new object or it’s form inspires a new life for it.
Anneke Jakobs‘ work is beautiful and interesting i particularly like the chandelier .
The work by Trashformaciones is also another great one especially the kitchen sink cube and bathtub chairs. So again the idea of reusing but not always just thinking about the final product but what else it could then produce, like with the sink cube the night shining into or out of the sink holes creates a surreal object and space.
Miwa Koizumi‘s work with PET bottles is also another inspiring one. I find her stuff to be great inspiration in thinking about the final presentation in terms of story telling, creating a scene or showing performance through the work. Rather than presenting on a flat 2d medium i’ld like to bring it out more, and get more involvement. I’m not sure how to do this yet but we’ll see.

On a more garden-y note using used nappies in roof top gardening because of their nitrogen content and absorbency.

Thats about it from me, see you in class.

TOSIKA:
check these out… here… and here

I didn’t quite understand this weeks homework. So I thought i’d explain about my ideas for presenting my work.
At the moment im trying to find an affordable fridge to prove my design through. But in the mean time ive been organising my research and ideas into a method for presentation. I thought a nice A3 book/folio would be good. It could outline my ideas and research from begining to end result and have sketches, photos of production ect.
Im also in the middle of finalising how the battery would work before i make it. So far I think everythings going well. I know exactly how everything will be set out so its just a matter of doing it.
-ghill

So this past week i have been tending to the growing herbs and thing of ways to grow them in a wall, hanging or bench top garden.
I made a little sketchy model using modeling clay with little pockets to house the plant and drainage holes that flow down to the one below.

Other ideas are systems that hang over a sink, moss covered backing to absorb excess water, hanging pots… Its just a matter of sketching, and playing around with different designs.

here are some photos of the seedlings; the ones in normal agar have gone the best, sugar ones overcome with mold and the ‘aquasol’ ones a little dead looking. I’m keeping the basil and alfalfa alive to put into the finished design and hopefully create a working model…. so they better live until then!

So after the feedback from last week my deliverable is a poster illustrating the concept and process of creating a simple form from animal and vegetable waste. 

I would like to creat a materials prototype product from bone and resin – a smaller piece to explore the nature of bone and resin textures and playing with these materials.

The next step is more in depth scientific research into deciding on methods of decomposition to harness and ways in which to create resin.

so:

two sections that converge:

1) carcass: bacteria to eat away – > boil/sun -> sanding

2)vegetables -> compost -> seperation of oils -> creation of resin -> creating of cast

=> creating a final product that uses both resin and bone.

In response to last week I found it highlighted the wide ranging stuff I had been doing that was a bit unfocused and that I really did need to zone in on creating a step by step production line of how I would do it.

Poster Layout: Flow diagram +  Explanation

Abstract: Reflecting on why I wanted to create such an expression – social pardigms of waste and the intense amount of energy involved in production. 

Proect statement:  The structure of the documentation of the process being as important as the outcome product.

Flow chart: Images and explanation of each step.  Within this either/and using thorough precedent or doing experiments to display the biological process at work.

So following the feedback from last week I’m starting to generate ideas for the final… product if you will.

I’m thinking about creating a little herb/plant growing ‘device’. The point is to provide a miniature garden that is grown inside in a kitchen as the plants are to be edible. It is to try and engage people in growing plants in a new way, twisting what was an old English country kitchen garden. And to look cool in your kitchen. The result will hopefully be a living model.

My seeds are all still growing, both in and out of the agar. Some that sunk a little are having a bit of trouble breaking through the surface of the agar, but i’ll just let them keep going and see how big they can get (while still being small!). As for the growing medium for the final project, i think cotton wool has advantages as it suspends the seeds dry then allows them, to hold on and grow into it when wet and they start to germinate. Also the agar does dry out a little, and has shrunk away from the sides of the container.

As for the feedback; i found it ok, admittedly not too critical but rather condensing what i said in a clearer way. I dont think people should be stressing about what is expected because its a bit more self directional and i trust Boo to tell us if we are lacking or not meeting the mark she had in mind. But maybe thats just the way i prefer to work.

Hi,

Just posting some possible ingredients of bioplastic products. And an illustration of a bioplastic product life cycle.

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bioplastic-2

Hi everyone,

Here are some more links that have provided me with more insight and direction. The most interesting ones are the cow stomach bacteria MFC and the bacteria that can eat metals as fuel and then used to reclaim earth.
I have decided to funnel my idea down to powering a mobile telephone of an Ipod. Both have reasonable power usages rates and can be easily recognised and understood by other people. At the moment, most two chamber MFC’s have about 20% the electricity to power 1 christmas light. But this will change!

Geo-Cleaning

The Awesome Potential!

Cows are useful.

A Video of most Awesomeness!

See you all monday so we can smash a few!

Blake

Ok, so I’m looking into the foody/plant side of where is elective can take me.

I’m interested in this whole thing of “micro herbs“. It seams to be pretty big in the culinary world with the top restaurants, whose menu’s revolve around small servings thats all about experimenting with flavor and texture, and charging a lot but it is fine dining.

I just find it fascinating that things are made miniature by us selectively breeding or growing them. A strange one is the munchkin cat, a breed that has emerged in the last 20 years. While its not really invasive GM is selectively breeding of the cat to get short legs.

Anyway so i’ve started trying to grow things on my kitchen bench top again. After my last sprouting effort, where everything started going slimy i thought i would try a more controlled method. I have separated each type of seed into containers and am trying to grow them on cotton wool (like the popular primary school exercise). I found more Alfalfa, Barley and Mungbeans at home, and bought Basil and Broccoli from Bunnings. The alfalfa is made for sprouting, and i have sprouted Mungbeans before but I’m not sure about the Barley. I read that before sprouting Barley it must be soaked for 12hrs, same as the alfalfa and mungbeans.

The Basil and Broccoli are just sprinkled on top of the damp cotton wool so hopefully they start showing sings of life soon.

I think what went wrong last time was i over crowded the seeds, so drainage of water may have been poor, and it was during that hot spell, and being covered they may have been a bit hot and steamy. So we shall see how this method varies and hopefully i wont have stinking seeds again. I might also get a spray bottle to mist the seeds rather than making them too wet by pouring water in.

I wanted to try and grow some in agar but haven’t had any luck buying any yet (Please help Boo, both Asian supermarkets i went to said they didn’t have it). I’m not sure if i would put the seeds on top, in the arag or wait til they are sprouted with little roots before putting them into agar using it like soil. Maybe i’ll experiment with each method.

As to where this can take me… I have been looking at hydroponic and bench top garden units that are currently available.
the AeroGarden is a pretty slicked up growing device that doesn’t come cheap and has many brand name accessories to go with it.
I also found the http://www.sundanceind.com/vertical_gardens.php more directed to growing wheat grass but it features a neat system of rotating the trays as you use the final product and grow more.
And the Grow Indoor, with a site so American its scary.

I also had a look at mer sophisticated hydroponic versions such as this “Omega Garden” that rotates around the light making it look like something from the film Sunshine where oxygen is harvested from growing plants.

ALSO i found this cute little design of a living business card. Tying in on the idea of miniature gardens and growing plants in a confined space its an interesting little piece.

So from all this I think my BRIEF will revolve around designing or speculating on compact little gardens for harvesting. I would like to see how small we can make things and maybe pushing these bench top gardens to be a bit messier, they all seam so clinical and neat but any one who gardens will tell you its about getting in there and dirty, so why are these little gardens so clean and refined? Perhaps leaving more to chance, incorporating natural cycles such as insects and microbes…. who knows.