Dear 57 North,
I would like to introduce myself and see if you and your hackerspace group might be interested in being involved in a new project, I and the group I work with are planning on commencing here in Aberdeen over the next few months. My name’s Amy and I work with the not for profit organisation SEADS (Space Ecologies Art and Design): https://seads.network/. SEADS has worked on a variety of projects over the last decade that focus on cross disciplinary art-science based collaborations, involving local communities, with an emphasis on open source working.
One project that has been run several times in multiple different countries is called ‘Biomodd’. The premise is to fuse living ecosystems (in some form) with technology, to develop a type of hybrid interactive art installation. A key requirement is the use of e-waste to build new computing systems that can interact with the living systems to generate data, and feedback between one another. Here’s a link to some of the previous iterations of the project: https://seads.network/hyperproject/biomodd.
We are wanting to initiate a new Biomodd project here in Aberdeen and were wondering if you and your group might be interested being involved? The aim is to work towards an exhibition of the installation near the end of May this year at an appropriate (yet to be determined) venue in the city.
As for myself, I lived in Aberdeen for about 20 years before moving to France a few years ago, but I’m now back here working remotely and I think it would be really interesting to initiate something like this in Aberdeen. My background is in biological sciences and I now work in the space sector, so I will definitely need some people (like yourselves) with more electronics and computer focussed science skills to help out with this 😅
If you’re interested or anyone within your group might be, then please let me know and I’d be happy to meet up online or in person to discuss further 🙂
Extra links/resources about past Biomodd projects:
Biomodd exhibition history
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KMVKezD1HNn5FtE_XcK2xUgUG6M9HW1hgCttou04i34/edit?usp=sharing
Biomodd video documentation
Bruges, Belgium, 2021
Biomodd [BRG13]: Artists discussing the concept
https://youtu.be/uOhLuhipFTs
Biomodd [BRG13]: The creation process and the fusion of ecology and technology
https://youtu.be/owk-L5htH2g
Biomodd [BRG13]: The local community
https://youtu.be/L6IC-WGSWxw
Biomodd [BRG13]: An international project
https://youtu.be/Lmqw0Zt3azo
Taichung, Taiwan, 2016
Biomodd [TAI8]: Project concept and the local community
https://youtu.be/ODBYskjPHck
Biomodd publications
When Ideas Migrate: A Postcolonial Perspective on Biomodd [LBA2]
https://isea-archives.siggraph.org/presentation/when-ideas-migrate-a-postcolonial-perspective-on-biomodd-lba2/
Biomodd: A Case Study in Combining Online Learning With On-Site New Media Art Practice
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263844702_Biomodd_A_Case_Study_In_Combining_Online_Learning_With_On-Site_New_Media_Art_Practice
Biomodd as a Paradox
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263844675_Biomodd_as_a_Paradox
Integrating social, technical and biological systems
https://www.being-here.net/page/1423