Some mad experiments took place in the AwhiWorld house as part of Frances Joseph’s consultation for her and Claudine Naselu’s research for Growing Material Cultures.
Together with AwhiWorld, she spent a weekend trying out different recipes and ideas, while also discussing how we could support the experimentation and capacity building element she was leading in our local community.
Maggie dug our her distillation set up and started generating material with Kim’s help. Meanwhile we combined and shaped different recipes of bacterial cellulose to see what mad creations would emerge.
Bacterial cellulose grown from kombucha SCOBY was brought by Frances to a) help us start our own growing process and b) form the basis for experiments.
We blended up the wobbly cellulose and then combined it with dried, locally sourced: wormwood, harakeke, cabbage tree, coffee grounds, eucalyptus, lichen and rue. This was then shaped and left to dry.
Kim also added some Arduino components to see if electronics could coexist with the bacterial cellulose in a strange symbios.
A few days later, as the SCOBY grew the recipes and sample donated from Frances, Maggie added pressed dried flowers to see if they could be encased in the material.
The experiments also slowly dried either on silicon mats or moulds or just on boards. The weather was still warm in Summer and the batches stayed healthy.
They were then turned out and photographed as part of Maggie’s practice and for documentation purposes.
Kims experiments with electronics had mixed results. Some components were rendered inert through oxidisation while others fired off spectacularly once dried.
We will be investigating this area in particular in the coming months.
Growing Material Cultures Updates and Events
Knowledge Sharing – AUT University
Our second knowledge sharing session for our Growing Material Cultures project took place on the 29th November in the School of Future Environments at AUT University. Professor Frances Joseph brought together several…
Knowledge Sharing – Geoff Wilson Gallery
Sharing knowledge from experiments and kitchen based research was at the core of our session at Geoff Wilson Gallery on November 1st. Participants informally shared what they had been learning, their highs…
Workshop Two: Growing Material Cultures
Strange new materials came to life in our hands today — from seaweed bioplastics to waterproofed biofilms. At Maunga Kura Toi, NorthTec, we held the second workshop in our Growing Material Cultures…
Workshop One: Growing Material Cultures
Workshop One in our Growing Material Cultures project was delivered at Maunga Kura Toi's studio in Raumanga and delivered by Professor Frances Joseph and Caudine Naselu. It covered how to grow Bacterial…
Fungi Hunting
Fungi Hunting - a super fun research expedition for the Growing Material Cultures project and part of the bigger AwhiWorld Strange Intellgences Lab project. Local expert and recent AwhiWorld interviewee, Caley McGillvery…
Strange Intelligences Lab Final Open Studio
Strange bacterial and mycelial fibres entangled themselves in our pop up lab for Art Beat 2025. Part of our Growing Material Cultures project and supported via our Digital Impact Programme with Creative…
Growing Material Cultures is an AUT Biofabrication Studio (School of Future Environments) research initiative delivered in partnership with AwhiWorld and funded by AUT’s Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies Contestable Fund.
For AwhiWorld it falls within our larger Strange Intelligences Lab
