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BIOS and Biomodd Collaboration
A dynamic and evolving aspect of the BIOS lab has been AwhiWorld’s partnership with SEADS (Space Ecologies Art and Design), an international transdisciplinary collective.
Maggie and Kim are members of SEADS, exploring ways to activate portals between the BIOS lab in Te Tai Tokerau and SEADS, [Biomodd [ABD14]] installations in Scotland and Brazil, using signals and VR.
The collaborative research project has been centred around connecting the often isolated area of Te Tai Tokerau to creative innovation research happening globally through the SEADS network.
Signals, Code and Virtual Reality
The current iteration of the collaborative research project involves BIOMODD nodes in Aberdeen (Scotland) and Bahia (Brazil). Real-time sensor data (from plants and mosses) has been collected in concurrently running physical installations: one in an empty phone shop in Aberdeen township and the other in a home in Bahia Brazil. AwhiWorld has received some of this data to play with in the BIOS space.
Nine sensors in Te Tai Tokerau collected data from the Umbilical Affinities installation during BIOS, seven of these nine have then fed back into the larger gallery space as live 2D and 3D visuals and sounds. (Sensor data has also been VJ’d during live performance.) Additional sensors have sent data to the SEADS server for research within the network.
As part of their collaboration, shared virtual worlds were created in a Three.js web-based virtual environment (led by Frederico David A. de Sena Pereira) and in a native VR environment called Sansar (led by Daniël Vandersmissen/Dan Yapungku). Signals from BIOS have fed into the web-based VR site, affecting items in that space in real-time). (Images are of Sansar-based VR by Daniël Vandersmissen/Dan Yapungku and web-based VR by Frederico David A. de Sena Pereira).
BIOMODD
Biomodd is an ongoing global project hosted by SEADS. Running since 2007 with over two dozen iterations globally, the project began to disrupt the idea that nature and technology opposed each other.
Biomodd Aberdeen (ABD14), co-curated by SEADS coordinator Amy Holt and artist/collective member Mary Pedicini), was located in an empty shop in Aberdeen. In his home in Bahia, Frederico David A. de Sena Pereira, a collective member, set up a signal-producing micro garden. Moisture sensor data from moss and other bio-matter fed signals into the SEADS server.
Web-based and native (SANSAR-based) VR environments created by SEADS network members (Frederico David A. de Sena Pereira and Daniël Vandersmissen) were made in the virtual world.
Other SEADS Collective Members’ supporting elements of the work include Jorge Guevara, Rob Figueroa, Pim Tournaye and Pieter Steyaert.
(Images by Amy Holt and Frederico David A. de Sena Pereira)
BIOS
In Whangarei, Kim of AwhiWorld and Alan Thomas, (BIOS co-producer – ThoTho) have created a work called umbilical affinities. Created from an intertwined set of pumps, tubes and circuits, the work moves bio-matter around the BIOS lab.
The liquid has breaks in its flow – air bubbles – which are picked up as light and dark contrasts by multiple optical sensors on an Arduino. This in turn triggers signals which are then turned into 2D and 3D visualisations and sounds and sent throughout the physical space of BIOS as well as to the SEADS server. Frederico David A. de Sena Pereira from SEADs created code that turns the signals into visualisations within his web-based VR site.
Both SEADS VR environments are displayed via portals on Kim’s mobile workstation (which also has numerous windows to other realities) and in various other parts of BIOS.
A View from SEADS
Dr Angelo Vermeulen is a co-founder of SEADS. He previously served as crew commander for the NASA-funded HI-SEAS Mars simulation in Hawaii. He is a biologist, computer scientist and artist dedicated to research in the bounds between disciplines. Angelo says the network is very excited about its collaboration with Tai Tokerau.
“This marks the first instance in which we have established simultaneous connections with various installations worldwide. This achievement presents exciting opportunities for collaborations in the future and serves as an excellent demonstration of cross-cultural creative innovation in action.”
What’s Next?
SEADS is a partner in the Awhi Incubator project and, while Maggie and Angelo have worked together before in Fo.am, Brussels) this is the beginning of a relationship between the two organisations, with future projects planned throughout 23/24. Exploring signal generation and reception as well as VR collaboration are two key areas of interest.
Maggie notes: “Our region in NZ has experienced many disruptions in the last few years through COVID-19 and significant weather events due to climate change. Through our connection to SEADS, we connect globally, building resilience in our creative sector and supporting innovation to continue in an increasingly disrupted environment.”
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