Perspectives, possibilities, applications, and critiques were voiced by Dan, designer Daisy Ginsberg, architect David Benjamin, and researcher William Shih.
From MoMA’s website:

“MoMA’s Architecture and Design department has always been a center for catalyzing lively debate around contemporary issues in design, and starting with the 2008 exhibition “Design and the Elastic Mind”—and the public programs leading up to it—MoMA has stimulated and supported those who work at the intersection of design, biology, and technology.”

Read more about the panel on MOMA’s website >

View video of the panelists:
Paola’s introduction >
David’s talk >
William’s talk >
Daisy’s talk >
Dan’s talk >
The Q&A between all panelists and Paola >

We’re also delighted to bring Maker Faire visitors two hands-on bioart workshops, with artists Ellie Irons and Nikki Romanello.

If you are planning on coming out to the New York Hall of Science in Queens to check out the Faire, please stop by and say hello!

Before the party, join our panel discussion on “The State of Bioart Today.” Suzanne Anker, bioartist and chair of fine arts at The School of Visual Arts, and Nikki Romanello, bioartist and CPG contributor, will share the stage with the show’s curators.

The panel (and party) begins at 7 PM, Saturday, August 16. Genspace is located at 33 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn (Nevins/Dekalb stations).

A limited, numbered run of catalogues will be on sale at the party.

About the Panelists

Suzanne Anker is a visual artist and theorist working at the intersection of art and the biological sciences. Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally including the Walker Art Center, the Smithsonian Institute, the Phillips Collection, and P.S.1 Museum. Her books include The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age and Visual Culture and Bioscience. Chairing SVA’s Fine Arts Department in NYC since 2005, Ms. Anker continues to interweave traditional and experimental media in her department’s new digital initiative and the Nature and Technology BioArt Lab.

Nikki Romanello collects and observes plant and animal remains to familiarize herself with the function, texture, form, and the fragility of natural artifacts. She combines art and science with the intention of bringing science into culture. Her work has appeared in the New York Hall of Science, Rivington Design House, and Hot Wood Art Center, among others. Currently, she works as a TIG welder for Token NYC, and teaches at Brooklyn Brainery.

It includes my thoughts on biohacking as well as coverage of the Biohacker Meetup at SXSW. Present on the SXSW panel are (left to right) myself, Josiah Zayner, Jason Bobe, and Jeffery Barrick. The footage of c.elegans was shot in Emalick Njie’s “Mutant Worms” Genspace workshop. In addition to that, you can see a sneak peek of the work I’m doing with Natalie Kuldell and her collection of teachable labs, Biobuilder, and of course work from CUT/PASTE/GROW with the ever amazing Wythe and Dan.

The mini-doc was created by infinitely talented Dutch-American documentary team Jongsma + O’Neill. MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT is an investigative series about creative technologists, and was commissioned by Dutch crowdsourced news site De Correspondent.

The mini-doc is in English with Dutch subtitles. The article is in Dutch, but can easily be read via an online translator.

1) Biohacker Meetup (follow on twitter: #biohackers)
More info on the SXSW schedule
I’ll be hosting the first Biohacker Meetup at SXSW. For folks of all disciplines interested in biohacking: Biologists, DIYers, engineers, artists, coders, designers, thinkers, do-ers, and anyone who is bio-curious. Also in attendance will DIYscience advocate and creator Josiah Zayner. Please join us!
Friday, March 7
2:00PM – 3:00PM
SXSW Create
Long Center
701 W Riverside Dr
Event is FREE and open to the public
—
2) The Indie Science Revolution (follow on twitter: #indiesci)
More info on the SXSW schedule
Dan will be moderating a panel featuring some interesting folks promoting indie science. Come see Dan and Cindy Wu (Experiment, formerly Microryza), Jacob Sciach (Brightwork CoResearch), and Ethan Perlstein (Perlstein Lab) talk about their jump into indie science. From the SXSW website: “An increasing number of brave researchers are venturing out from the ivory towers of academia to pursue their own independent research… We will explore the ins and outs for navigating the path to becoming a successful independent scientist.”
Saturday, March 8
3:30PM – 4:30PM
Omni Downtown
Lone Star
700 San Jacinto
You must have a SXSW interactive, platinum, or gold badge or a day pass in order to attend this event.
–
3) UT iGEM 2012: Caffeinated coli (follow on twitter: @UT_iGEM)
More info about SXSW Create
Under the leadership of Jeffery Barrick, PhD and Dennis Mishler PhD,  the UT iGEM team will be conducting their 2012 entry, “Caffenated coli”. In their own words:“Students at UT Austin engineered bacteria that can be used to measure how much buzz is in your cup of joe. Come find out how they did it, test your favorite energy drink, and learn about synthetic biology!”
Follow them on twitter throughout the weekend to keep up with what they are up to: @UT_iGEM
Ongoing
Friday, March 7: 11:00am to 6:00pm
Saturday, March 8: 11:00am to 6:00pm
Sunday, March 9: 11:00am to 6:00pm
Location is City Terrace of the Long Center (701 W. Riverside)
Event is FREE and open to the public

Natalie Kuldell

On the chalkboard, Natalie rapidly outlined the design principles we would be exploring to create the living photographs. First she drew an electrical circuit. She explained that these design principles were a simple, electronics-derived way of depicting the series of biochemical reactions that would occur within the living photograph.  Essentially, we would introduce a light sensitive gene (from photosynthetic blue-green algae) into a strain of  E.coli that cause the bacteria to create a black pigment. Red light would activate the mechanism, and bacteria in areas of the dark areas of the photo would digest a certain kind of sugar (S-gal®) that would cause a blackish color to be produced from the bacteria.

Diagram of the bacterial photography process

Now it was time for the hands-on portion of the class. To further support the biology-as-electronics analogy, the class used a breadboard and LEDs to show how the bio chemical reactions would create the circuits. Natalie mused, “If only biology were are predictable as electronics.”

MIT students creating a simulation of the biological circuitry using breadboards.

After everyone had tested their breadboards, it was time to create the actual bacterial photographs. Using pipettes we followed the protocols that had been outlined to create the photoreceptive E.coli. Each Petri dish’s bacteria was suspended in liquid agar to assure adequate distribution, creating a lawn for the bacteria to grow evenly.

A little about the development of these protocols: photosynthetic bacteria created from a dual biological circuit system designed by Dr. Chris Voigt, then an assistant chemistry professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), now also at MIT. The idea further developed by a group of students at the University of Texas at Austin, as part of the iGEM (intercollegiate Genetically Engineered Machine) competition in 2005 at MIT. (http://2006.igem.org/wiki/index.php/University_of_Texas_2006)

Pouring the agar into the Petri dish

Petri dishes in hand, we selected images to be printed on transparencies. This creates a shaded area that allows the bacteria beneath to activate and produce the sugar-digesting enzyme (beta-galactosidase) that creates the darks in the Petri dish. The UT students explained it nicely (http://www.utexas.edu/features/2005/bacteria/index.html), “When the bacteria grow in dark parts of the Petri dish, they digest the sugar and produce black pigment. Those in the light don’t produce the sugar-digesting enzyme and the film remains clear.”

Students selected a penguin, the Taj Mahal, even a petite handlebar mustache. Wythe selected an octopus rendering from the legendary botanist and artist Ernest Haeckel, and I pulled a dotted unicorn that I had created on my computer. After all images had been loaded onto the thumb drive, Wythe and I accompanied Natalie to the lab where her bacterial darkroom was located.

My unicorn and Wythe’s octopus transparencies taped on top of our Petri dishes

Natalie experimented many years to create the perfect “darkroom” for the bacterial cultures. Identifying the combination of the perfect distance and light intensity was no speedy feat. Her darkroom is constructed in a refrigerator outfitted with a red light and shelving for the Petri dishes to sit on. The outside of the refrigerator is covered with post cards from distant places; monuments to great achievements in beauty and construction from both humans and nature. The gothic Duomo di Milano, the majestic Grand Canyon, a gorgeous selection of Central and South American coastlines… even a Texan cowboy, perhaps a nod to the UT students. Our octopus and unicorn petri dishes safely tucked into the bacterial darkroom, we thanked Natalie and bid her farewell.

The bacterial photography darkroom

Simultaneously exhausted and enlivened, Wythe and I boarded the bus back to New York, chatting the entire journey back about the wonders of biotechnology.

Two days later we received an email from Natalie with several photos of bacterial photography from the class. There, imprinted in the agar were the students’ selections; the Taj Mahal, the penguin, the mustache. Sadly though, we were not bacteria-whispers. Our little microbes precipitated neither fish nor fauna… no octopus, no unicorn. So what had happened? Somewhere we made an error; a fine measurement in the protocols was off—perhaps we had too much of one thing and not enough of another. Who knows? We’ll get it next time!

Successful bacterial photographs created by MIT students with original transparency images

Resources:

About bacterial photography:
http://www.utexas.edu/features/2005/bacteria/index.html
http://2006.igem.org/wiki/index.php/University_of_Texas_2006

About Natalie Kuldell:
http://web.mit.edu/be/people/kuldell.shtml
http://www.biobuilder.org/

Special thanks to Daniel Gruskin for arranging the visit, and Oliver Medvedik for his suggestions on the diagram.

DIYsect is a documentary web-series that introduces people in the DIY Biology, Bioart, and general biotech community. The footage is gathered by Ben and Mary, a filmmaker and bioartist who travel across the continent to film and interview. Our goal is to discuss the way biotechnology is used in our society and what this means for the average citizen and their future.

The docu-web series is divided into 6-10 minute episodes that are free and fully accessible on the web. That way, like our subjects, we’re promoting public literacy on Biology, too.

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Images courtesy Daniel Grushkin.

Unicorn mosaic made from genetically engineered fluorescent K12 bacteria, crowdsourced from participants at SXSW Create, 2013. Thanks to all participants!

Presenting… the Unicorn Mosaic made from genetically engineered fluorescent K12 bacteria, crowdsourced from participants at SXSW Create, 2013. If you were a contributor, check below for the number that corresponds with the card you received at SXSW to see how your bacteria dish developed.

Thanks to all who participated! You have the distinction of having helped create what Adam Balkan of  New York 1 dubbed: “…probably the world’s first ever giant unicorn-shaped piece of bacteria…” and it came out great!

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