BIOS - Creative Innovation Lab May/June 2023
AwhiWorld took over the Mair Gallery at Whangarei Art Museum and turned it into a leading-edge creative innovation lab from May 27th to June 18th.
The gallery transformed into a large-scale immersive, interactive installation with multiple content zones, including:
- science-art-tech installations, including international collaborations
- a future fibre zone weaving natural fibres and traditional techniques with leading-edge e-textiles and biomaterials
- an interactive research and practice area for local artists to test their ideas
“It’s our biggest lab to date”
BIOS was conceived and curated by Dr Maggie Buxton, who says, “This is the largest scale lab we’ve hosted in Northland. Previously we have used formerly empty shops – the scale involved is much larger, and the range of work and technologies used is much more ambitious.
The idea is to support creatives to experiment and research and celebrate process rather than end results. With all my labs I also aim to audience awareness to science, art and technology-based practices and celebrate cross disciplinary practice as an art form.
A massive wave of creative innovation is happening as technology becomes more accessible and creatives find ways to counter the massive disruption we have had in the last three years. So this project, as with all of my labs, is about celebrating creative technology and building creative resilience.”
Kim Newall collaborated as an artist on nearly all zones in the space and performed as a VJ during all performances. He provided creative technology expertise to build the digital infrastructure that enabled every zone in the lab and wrangled signals with our partners across the globe.
AwhiWorld was extremely grateful for the support of ThoTho (Alan Thomas and Vivian Thonger) to help produce BIOS. They had previously participated in our Plant Lab project and in BIOS brought their cross-disciplinary expertise and artistic vision to several zones in the space: The Space Between , The Xylemancer and umbilical affinities (co-created with AwhiWorld). They also performed several times during the BIOS installation Vivian (poetry), Alan (improv bass), alongside Kim (Vjing), actively supported several students in the Awhi Incubator and engaged enthusiastically with the public who visited. A wonderful collaboration!
AwhiWorld also engaged with several local and international organisations:
- SEADS (Space Ecologies Art, Design and Science) is an international transdisciplinary collective connecting its Biomodd installations in Aberdeen (Scotland) and Bahia (Brazil) to our lab via an ongoing research collaboration.
- Ako Hokianga|Hokianga Educational Trust and Maunga Kura Toi contributed works to our Future Fibres zone that mixed contemporary and traditional practices and materials.
- Treecreate’s Dr Tracey Benson brought her knowledge of working with eco-dyed upcycled cloth and projection to the lab.
- Professor Frances Joseph and her postgraduate students delivered a series of seminars (Grow Your Leather, Recycle and 3D Print Plastic Waste, Make Bio Plastic) as well as ran a workshop introducing community partners from the Awhi Incubator project to E-Textiles)
As well as our mini-seminar series on fibres, we also conducted several other workshops and mentoring sessions throughout the BIOS lab was in place. This included one-to-one sessions on Arduino, a mini-workshop on 3D scanning and a large-scale projection mapping workshop held in the gallery space itself.
After BIOS these sessions directly fed into Whangarei Night Lights Festival both in a four-day residency/lab AwhiWorld held on site, as well as miscellaneous gallery exhibitions and installations Incubator participants created around the area.
BIOS was in Whangarei Art Museum from 27th May to 18th of June 2023.
Take a look at social media – follow IG and FB on @awhiworld.com for documentation of BIOS.
Who supports us?
The Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Innovation Fund provided the resources for the lab, which is part of a larger initiative called the Awhi Incubator project.
The project supports creative technologists, cross-disciplinary practitioners and creative innovators to build their practice and showcase their work to a larger audience.
Inside BIOS
BIOS Zone 5: The Evolving Zone
Zone 5 was an evolving zone featuring base content by Maggie Buxton documenting experiments with bio-plastics, 3D printing and stereo microscopy. Cylindrical lightboxes commissioned by Lindsay Marks displayed content from creatives participating…
BIOS Zone 6: The Mobile Portal Unit
The Mobile Portal Unit is a work by Kim Newall, designed to perform, converse with and disrupt the lab using a signals and code. The unit connects Te Tai Tokerau to parallel…
BIOS Zone 7: Future Fibres Research in Progress
An exciting element of BIOS (and the Awhi Incubator) were the community collaborations with Northland fibre artists and Toi Māori practitioners. After a fabulous workshop at Rawene, run by Dr Frances Joseph,…
BIOS Zone 3: Projection Testing Zone
A Space For Ideas to Come to Life A unique aspect of the BIOS lab was the opportunity for Awhi Incubator participants (and other creatives by appointment) to try out their digital…
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…
BIOS Zone 1: umbilical affinities
Flasks sit, filled with unknown fluids. Tubes move liquid in and out, powered by an array of pumps. Signals arrive, signals are sent. Information is interpreted, and information is recorded. In umbilical…
BIOS Zone 4: The Xylemancer at BIOS
About The Xylemancer The Xylemancer—an interactive installation in BIOS, presenting botanically minded verse selected and distilled solely from page 83 of hundreds of books. An algorithm selected the content for you…
BIOS Zone 2: The Space Between
In Alan Thomas’s work, The Space Between, images of microscopic living processes are projected onto blocks of dried and drying potters clay. Drawing on bioreceptivity (the ability of a material to be…
BIOS Workshops and Events
Future Fibres Seminars & Workshops
Future Fibres Seminars and Workshops at BIOS Future fibres will be at the centre of research in AwhiWorld's upcoming BIOS lab in May/June this year. We are excited to partner with Professor Frances Joseph of Intra-Action Initiatives & AUT University's Huri Te Ao/The School of Future Environments to deliver a series of FREE Future Fibres…